The Horse Trust in Speen in Buckinghamshire, is a place where 21st Century army 'war' horses retire.

Interest in the working animals has spiked recently because of Steven Spielberg's latest hit film, War Horse, which tells the story of Joey a horse who is sent to France to serve in the British Army.

With movie-goers wondering what happens to modern-day war horses once their working days are over, there has also been criticism over the Army's attitude toward retiring the animals.

But The Horse Trust says both themselves and The Ministry of Defence Animal Centre (DAC) work hard in interests of the animals' welfare:

It is a sad fact of life that for some animals re-homing or retirement is not an option due to injury, illness or very occasionally because of a behavioural problem that is serious enough to make the animal a danger to itself or its human owners. Horses are only put down by the Army as a final resort when it is certain they have absolutely no prospect of a pain free or happy, safe and secure future; those that can enjoy a peaceful retirement receive it with either with new owners or at The Horse Trust.

Amongst the former Army horses retired to The Horse Trust are 26 year old Sevastopol, a striking grey ex-trumpeter with the Blues and Royals, Hapsburg a 19yr old bay gelding from the Kings Troop Royal Artillery and Auriol, a 'Cavalry Black', recently loaned to the Honourable Artillery Company's Light Cavalry having recovered from concussion laminitis.

The Riding Master of the Light Cavalry, Charles Gillow says:

It has been reassuring to the Light Cavalry to know that the Horse Trust is ready to look after our retirees when they can no longer handle the work.  Currently, we have three ex-Light Cavalry horses enjoying their retirement at the Horse Trust.

Here's a bit more history about real life war horses and a video from The British Pathe archives, showing some of the retired animals being fed, back in 1933!

In 1914, The Home of Rest for Horses, as The Horse Trust was named at that time, designed and produced the first motorised horse ambulance to send to France to transport wounded horses from the front line to the veterinary stations.

In two years the ambulance had travelled some 13,000 miles and had carried in excess of 1,000 injured horses.

So successful was The Home of Rest for Horses' ambulance that the War Office commissioned it as the official specification for their vehicles for this use. By the end of the war 14 of these vehicles were in operation in France saving the lives of thousands of horses, ponies and mules.

The first equine war veteran retired to The Horse Trust's Home of Rest for Horses in 1919 was San Toy, a horse that had served in both the Boer and First World Wars and was joined by a number of other WWI Veterans including Roger. Roger's story was truly remarkable. A German Cavalry horse, thought to have been a German Officer's Charger, Roger was found rider-less on the battlefield during the infamous battle of the Somme by a British Army Officer who caught him, got him to safety and at the end of the war brought him back to England to retire to the Home of Rest.

(c) British Pathe