05/25/2026
Remembering those who have fallen, Memorial Day 2026.
Unlike Veterans Day, which celebrates all who have served, today is about taking a moment to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice serving our nation.
We do not have a local Memorial Day Parade, as many of you probably do, but we have been honored to provide the riderless horse for our Veterans Day Parade every year. As this is something you will see today, I thought I would share the meaning of it with all of you.
Symbolism of the riderless horse:
"The riderless horse is a single horse (black or dark in color), without a rider, and with boots reversed in the stirrups, which sometimes accompanies a funeral procession. The horse follows the caisson carrying the casket. A riderless horse can also be featured in military parades to symbolize fallen soldiers.
The custom is believed to date back to the time of Genghis Khan, when a horse was sacrificed to serve the fallen warrior in the next world. The riderless horse later came to symbolize a warrior who would ride no more.
In the United States, the riderless horse is part of the military honors given to an Army or Marine Corps officer who was a colonel or above; this includes the President, by virtue of having been the country's commander in chief and the Secretary of Defense, having overseen the armed forces.
Alexander Hamilton, former Secretary of the Treasury (1789-1795) was the first American to be given the honor. Historian Ron Chernow noted that Hamilton's gray horse followed the casket with the boots and spurs of its former rider reversed in the stirrups. Traditionally, black riding boots are reversed in the stirrups to represent a fallen commander looking back on his troops for the last time.
Abraham Lincoln was the first president of the United States to be officially honored by the inclusion of the riderless horse in his funeral cortege, although a letter from George Washington's secretary recorded the president's horse was part of the president's funeral, carrying his saddle, pistols, and holsters."
