QLocal's delighted to post this very special report written by four pupils at Ormskirk CE School. It's recently run a brilliant project on the famous War Horses - their school is on the route they took from Ormskirk station to the busy Lathom Remount depot.

'What we have learnt through the school study of the First World War war horses'

By Austin (Y3), Eva and James (Y5) and Martha (Y6)

The horses walked on the path leading through our school and along Greetby Hill. We were amazed that the horses were brought by train (from all round the world) to our town of Ormskirk. They would have eaten the fresh grass at our school before they were led on to walk to Lathom.

The horses had to be trained thoroughly before being allowed to go to war. The war horses would have to carry heavy ammo, weapons and transport supplies and people. As the war went on their loads would got heavier because the guns got bigger.

At the war the horses couldn’t eat much grass because the ground was so muddy and full of trenches. They travelled by foot long distances so their legs ached. On hot days they could have got ill because there was little shade and not much fresh water.

The horses often didn’t get much treatment when they got ill, if they had broken bones they were ignored (or killed). Although most horses carried supplies and pulled guns, many brave horses died after going into battle with soldiers on their backs. Millions of horses died.

Also this project taught us about the war in general. Millions of soldiers went to war to fight for their countries and died there (fortunately more soldiers survived the war than died). In the trenches, the soldiers had no bathroom facilities, no clean clothes, no heating and beds. They would have seen dead friends, witnessed and committed murder. The Great War inspired many people to write emotional poems about the war and lost loved ones.

The main thing Austin said he had learnt was: “I just want wars to stop, because so many people die”'