Van Helsing
My glass is half empty.
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- Apr 23, 2004
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The last horse to survive an IRA nail-bomb attack in Hyde Park 22 years ago has died peacefully.
Yeti, a black gelding with the Household Cavalry, escaped injury but was traumatised by the blast, which left four men and seven horses dead.
The covered carcasses of horses after the IRA bombing
He returned to service until 1986, when he retired to The Home of Rest for Horses, Buckinghamshire. He died at the home aged 36.
The IRA attack happened on July 20, 1982 when a car packed with gelignite and nails exploded as mounted troopers of the Blues and Royals made their way to the Changing of the Guard ceremony.
Sefton, one of the horses badly injured in the blast, became a national hero after recovering from his wounds.
He retired to The Home of Rest for Horses, near Princes Risborough, along with Echo, a Metropolitan Police horse also wounded in the attack. Echo and Sefton have since died, survived by Yeti until his peaceful death on May 19.
Brigadier Paul Jepson, chief executive of the home, said that Yeti had captured people's hearts.
"He was the epitome of a grand old gentleman; increasingly frail but never losing his zest for life and never, ever forgetting his manners," he said.
Yeti's name, however, will live on. Following a Household Cavalry tradition, another horse now bears the bomb blast survivor's name.
God bless and goodbye
Yeti, a black gelding with the Household Cavalry, escaped injury but was traumatised by the blast, which left four men and seven horses dead.
The covered carcasses of horses after the IRA bombing
He returned to service until 1986, when he retired to The Home of Rest for Horses, Buckinghamshire. He died at the home aged 36.
The IRA attack happened on July 20, 1982 when a car packed with gelignite and nails exploded as mounted troopers of the Blues and Royals made their way to the Changing of the Guard ceremony.
Sefton, one of the horses badly injured in the blast, became a national hero after recovering from his wounds.
He retired to The Home of Rest for Horses, near Princes Risborough, along with Echo, a Metropolitan Police horse also wounded in the attack. Echo and Sefton have since died, survived by Yeti until his peaceful death on May 19.
Brigadier Paul Jepson, chief executive of the home, said that Yeti had captured people's hearts.
"He was the epitome of a grand old gentleman; increasingly frail but never losing his zest for life and never, ever forgetting his manners," he said.
Yeti's name, however, will live on. Following a Household Cavalry tradition, another horse now bears the bomb blast survivor's name.
God bless and goodbye
