A poem by G. J. Whyte-Melville (1821-1878). See, for example, The Place Where the Old Horse Died.

Whyte-Melville was a professional soldier turned writer who produced a large number of novels and poems (today mostly forgotten) on historical and hunting themes. Several of his poems seem to have been set to music, and The Place Where the Old Horse Died was evidently popular in its day. Kipling mentions it in Plain Tales from the Hills.

The various traditional Poor Old Horse songs (there are two strands, one belonging to maritime custom and the other to a regional form of mumming) are another matter entirely.