'Horses saved me': Hero horse makes pitstop in Thompson's Station during cross-country trek
As the sun rose in rural Williamson County Monday, a 22-year-old, 1,600-pound deep-brown horse named Mark started his day with some much-needed therapy.
After 13-plus hours on the road, Mark's muscles needed treatment before he began the final nine-and-a-half-hour push of his road trip from Virginia to Missouri. He watched closely as barn manager Naomi Minardi moved a treatment apparatus over his body, curious at first and then welcoming.
He licked his lips, letting his helpers know he'd accepted and learned their touch.
He looked deeply into the eyes of onlookers and barn workers as if trying to start a conversation. And when they lifted their hands for him to sniff, he used his muzzle to softly nudge their knuckles as if to say 'hello."
The horse never showed any signs of anxiety or frustration as people admired his shiny coat and towering presence.
He was every bit the professional.
Mark's special 'layover'
Over the span of 20 years, Mark served the Caisson Platoon, helping to deliver final and full honors for fallen military service members in over 7,000 funerals at Arlington National Cemetery.
The horse served in the funerals of former Senator Bob Dole and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. He's also the subject of an award-winning children's book "Mark's Special Mission at Arlington National Cemetery," exploring the history and traditions of the Caisson Platoon and its herd of horses, as well as Mark's daily life.
On the last day of July, Mark climbed into a trailer pulled by Air Force veteran Juliette Ritzman, 59—his new owner and adoptive mother—on their way back to Missouri, where she and her husband now live in retirement.
Halfway through the trip, Mark, Ritzman and two of her equestrian-loving friends made a pit stop at the Jaeckle Centre hidden in the rolling hills of Thompson's Station, Tenn.
It was intended as a midway rest stop.
Local resident Jackie Jarboe knew the Jaeckle Centre could help. It's a place that offers a layover program for horses in transit as well as the tools to support them during long-haul trips.
"(The owner), Teresa, has got a heart of gold, and when we asked if they could stay here, she said it would be an honor," Jarboe said. "I think that tells you a lot about this facility."
On the morning of his departure from Tennessee, Mark received pulsed electromagnetic field therapy just moments before getting back on his trailer. The treatment is meant to act as sort of a "deep-tissue massage," according to Minardi.
"He's an older horse, so it kind of just helps loosen him up, like if we were in a car driving for hours," she explained. "You know when you get out and you feel absolutely miserable? This is just going to help him, overall, feel a little bit better to get back on (the trailer)."
Where to?
When they reunited in the morning, Ritzman draped an arm over Mark's withers, as if to wrap her arm around the shoulders of a friend. He turned his head toward her in a motion that seemed to complete the hug.
Ritzman watched as Minardi delivered his treatment.
The trip had been a long time coming for Ritzman, who finally got word that Mark would be coming home with her after three application attempts.
"The process is very competitive," she said. "This is the furthest west they've opened the adoption to...They sent two soldiers out to look at our property, to make sure our property was what we said it would be.
"'When I asked why they picked us, they said it was mainly safety. My background with the military is a lot of safety, and we're kind of private people, as far as location, and we've always been that way."
Ritzman said she wanted a Caisson horse because she felt connected to them.
"I'm an old soldier. I have 40 years on the books," she said. "I have a lot to give. I don't feel my pain, but sometimes, I have pain, and in a sense, horses saved me.
"In the military community, we're very Type A, and we're very guarded, too... The story that this horse has, for twenty-plus years, just giving and giving, never complaining, probably just needs a break. It's like, I feel where he's coming from."
Tears ran down Ritzman's face as she waited for Mark and spoke of her first visit with Mark two weeks earlier.
"He just came up to me," she said. "I was petting him, and he wrapped his head around me... Some horses are very standoffish if they don't know you, but there was no sense of fear with him, and I thought, 'Okay, this is meant to be,' and I don't say that a lot."
Nearby, Ritzman's friend, Jill Czarnowski, cried with her.
Czarnowski, a fellow equestrian, flew from Denver to Virginia to accompany Ritzman on the road trip home. Czarnowski and Ritzman's friendship grew from a shared love of horses. A love that so many have worldwide.
"(Horse lovers) get it," Czarnowski said. "We were in a gas station and were walking Mark around off this little area, and one of the truckers came over and said, 'If you have any problems, we live just down the road.'"
When they arrived in Missouri that night, Mark had 60 acres of land to roam. The space to finally breathe.
"I hope, for the first month, we'll just give him the time to relax," Ritzman said. "And then, just over the course of time, I would like to introduce people who are afraid of horses to Mark.
"That was never my intention, but seeing his personality I think it'd be good for him to have all that love."
Anika Exum is a reporter covering Williamson County at The Tennessean, part of the USA Today Network — Tennessee. Reach her at aexum@tennessean.com, 615-347-7313 or on Twitter @aniexum.
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Military horse stops in Thompson's Station during journey to new home
