A goddess joins the cavalry
ON June 14, history of an equine nature was made in the gardens of Clarence House, when Lt-Col Tom Armitage, commander of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, presented new drum horse Willa Rose to The Queen. The 18.2hh Shire is the first mare to bear the silver kettle drums in the Household Cavalry’s long history and joins fellow drum horses Atlas, Apollo and Perseus.
Thus a Queen on earth named a Queen of the heavens in a short ceremony, witnessed by members of the Household Cavalry, whose business it is to care for the drum horses, and Huw Murphy of Dyfed Shire Horse Farm (‘My rural heroes and heroines,’ July 13, 2022), who bred this ‘gentle giant’. It was also the moment that Dyfed Willa Rose was given a new name: Juno, wife of Jupiter, king of the gods in the Roman Pantheon. Juno’s groom stepped forward to receive a headcollar inscribed with the new name and Juno herself received a well-deserved peppermint or two.
To record the mare’s place in history, artist Mandy Shepherd, who has inherited her late father David Shepherd’s talent for painting animals, presented The Queen with a portrait of Juno that captures the mare’s towering presence. Her power is a vital quality; as a drum horse in the Life Guards, given the rank of major, she will carry kettle drums weighing 52kg (115lb) each on ceremonial occasions; Blues and Royals drums are 50kg (110lb).
Mr Murphy talked about the mare’s exceptional temperament and recalled her apprenticeship on his Pembrokeshire farm, giving carriage rides to children, being driven through the streets of Cardigan to
