Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment conducts King's Life Guard without horses

Troopers from the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment have begun conducting their daily duty of King's Life Guard without their horses.

"Essential infrastructure maintenance" is being carried out at Horse Guards, which means the regiment's horses are being rested and personnel are guarding solely on foot for most of September.

The dismounted soldiers, drawn from the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals, are also wearing a different order of dress from their normal attire, known as "dismounted review order".

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Normally, the men and women of the regiment, who are typically at the start of their military careers as professional soldiers, wear white buckskin breeches and their world-famous knee-high jack boots, which can take up to eight hours to polish. 

But thanks to the lack of horses on duty, instead the troopers are wearing dismounted review order – which includes navy blue patrol trousers and wellington boots, referred to as "welly boots" among personnel.

The soldiers are also being relieved of the responsibility to clean and polish the "black kit", consisting of the leather reins, saddlery and brasses worn on the horses. 

These changes, albeit for just a few weeks, mean the troopers have less kit to clean and therefore more free time to themselves between duties. Personnel are said to be happy about this.

BFBS Forces News can report that the maintenance work is centred around the cobbled floors inside the horse boxes where the horses normally stand while on duty.

The cobbles are being raised and re-laid to make the surface safer should something go amiss.

The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment has conducted duties at Horse Guards for centuries. 

The site stands as the entrance to the court of St James's and is therefore the official entrance to Buckingham Palace.

As King's Life Guard and the only Armed Forces personnel honoured with the right to bear arms in the close presence of the monarch, the soldiers of the Household Cavalry stand guard at the site every day of the year – including Christmas Day.

The Army has advised that horses will return to duties on 24 September.