The Household Cavalry Museum

Grandma’s here!

My mother has been visiting for the last week and we’ve been playing tourists – which is really nice, because I don’t think I make the most of living so close to London. Plus, I get to spend lots of time with my mum and Pumpkin gets to see her Grandma.

Since Mum is a bit of what you might call a horse enthusiast*, I thought we might do something with an equine theme. So, we headed to Horse Guard’s Parade and spent a bit of time at the Household Cavalry Museum.

*She helps to rescue horses from pretty horrible fates. I don’t know how many of the lucky animals she has now managed to save and find new homes for… but it’s a lot. A LOT.

Oh, wait. No. First we went to Vintage Lindy Lou’s and had sandwiches and scones. I was a bad blogger, though, and didn’t take any pictures before I ate. I was so hungry and it was so good, I’m surprised there were even crumbs left to photograph.

Then, we headed into Central London and the museum.

If you’ve ever walked down Whitehall, You’ll probably have spotted a couple of equine sentries at the entrance to Horse Guard’s Parade. I’m always so impressed by how well the animals – and their riders – deal with the masses of people crowding around them all day long. Obviously, they’re extremely well trained, but as somebody who has spent a lot of time around horses, I can tell you that this is something pretty remarkable.

We passed through the gates and into Horse Guard’s Parade. This is where the Trooping of the Colour takes place every year – and it’s used for many other events too. I snapped this photo of the Old Admiralty Building, which faces out over the parade ground but didn’t manage to get an exterior shot of the museum or the Horse Guard building because my camera started acting up. Oops!

Once we were inside, one of the first things that caught my eye was this little model of the Horse Guard building. It’s actually a clock that’s set to 4:00.

Apparently, this is because Queen Victoria once found the entire Guard drinking at gambling at that time. She ordered that a daily inspection be carried out at 4pm every day for 100 years.

Once past the little clock, you come to several display cases full of uniforms and saddlery.

I was perplexed by the long strand of horsehair that was hanging from the front of the case. Was it a false tail for horses that had thinning hair? Perhaps one of the topknots from the ceremonial helmets that had been turned into a fancy, although slightly awkward keyring?

No and nope. The label said it was used under the chin of the horse. Mum and I were both a confused about that – Do horses need more facial hair? I suggested it was so the horse would have a beard to stroke when he was trying to appear wise, but Mum didn’t think that was right.

Eventually we spotted a bit of video footage that showed it in use. Yep, it just dangles there, from the chin of a horse of a high-ranking officer. Probably really annoying the horse.

The next room had a very interesting lay-out. It was like stepping into a barn with individual stalls. On one side, there was a big glass panel. On the other side of the glass panel were real horses – and the one closest to us was some sort of draft horse – maybe used to pull the queen’s carriage? He was enormous anyway.

On our side of the glass panel, there were no real horses, but there were interactive displays a few plastic horses and some pieces of clothing that kids could try on. So we tried Pumpkin in one of the ceremonial jackets.

The last room displayed various artefacts from throughout the Household Cavalry’s history. Pumpkin kindly modelled one of the more historic hats for us.

One display case included various awards and memorabilia.

It included this massive silver trophy.

Another display had items from the battlefield. The items on the right, riddled with bullet holes, caught my eye.

These were all in the breast pocket of a cavalry member and they saved his life when a sniper’s bullet passed through the cigarette case and diary and stopped in the French dictionary. Wow.

When we finished at the museum, we had a nice walk through St James’s Park. Unfortunately, this is when my camera had some major issues so I didn’t get any more pictures.

There’s an outdoor photography exhibition going on in the park called Fields of Battle. The images showed various battle grounds from the first world war – and how they appear today. The photographs were both eerie and beautiful and I might go back before the exhibition closes on November 11th to have a better look.

The Household Cavalry Museum is located just off Whitehall and just a short walk from Charing Cross Station. It’s open daily and at the time of writing, admission was £7 for adults. Visit their website to find out more.

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