Tens of thousands of horses were used in battle throughout World War I. Before the war started in France, there were many horseracing tracks and courses, with breeding farms in the countryside and some within the larger cities. Stable boys, servants, and groomers all worked hard to ready the horses for races. Owners were impatient and demanding with jockeys, trainers, sponsors, track maintenance personnel, and really just anyone who was not them. Horses were heavily relied on in “The Great War” mostly for transport. They were first involved in the war in a British cavalry attack near Mons in August of 1914. Both Britain and Germany had a cavalry force that each numbered about 100,000 men when the war broke out in Western Europe in 1914. This number required a large number of horses. Most