Arlington Cemetery will restart horse-drawn caisson burials next week
After a two-year hiatus, the caisson ceremonies will restart on June 2. The unit that performs the interments has been rebuilt with younger horses, leadership changes and new training facilities.
Matt White
Published May 27, 2025 2:32 PM EDT
For the last six weeks, teams of six immaculately groomed horses with three soldiers riding them have been quietly walking the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The quiet patrols are a key final step in the return of caisson ceremonies to Arlington, familiarizing a new generation of horses at Arlington with the sights, sounds and distractions of life there.
“You think it might be big crowds or the trolleys,” said Army Major John Strickland, a spokesperson for the 3rd Infantry Regiment, which oversees ceremonies at Arlington. “They generally can handle those fine, but it could be, like, an umbrella. Or a bag, the way bags sound when you open them.”
The caisson teams, one of Arlington’s most hallowed traditions for laying veterans to rest, were pulled from duty in 2023, after a scathing Army report on the health of horses in the program and the death of two.
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