Mounted soldiers in the US Army Caisson Detachment support one of the military’s most sacred missions: transporting fallen service members to their final resting places inside Arlington National Cemetery. The casket is placed on a wagon, known as a caisson, and conveyed through the cemetery by three soldiers. Each soldier rides one horse and controls another with their right hand.
Many of these soldiers start off with little to no experience with horses. After being selected based on their composure, discipline, and physical fitness, they must complete an 12-week basic horsemanship course, followed by six weeks of advanced instruction.
The Caisson Detachment returned from a nearly two-year suspension in 2025 after an investigation revealed that the deaths of multiple horses were connected to unsanitary living conditions.
The Army hired equestrian champion Chester Weber, an heir to the Campbell’s Soup fortune, to revamp the training. Weber assembled a team of world-class equestrian professionals and provided his family’s Florida stud farm as a location for the advanced training program, which culminates with a validation test that all soldiers must pass before they can ride in funeral missions.
Chief video correspondent Graham Flanagan went inside training to find out what it takes to be a mounted soldier in the US Army Caisson Detachment.
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