El Greko

I think the reason for killing the horses was the quarantine problem, not cost.

I believe that it was suggested that they just be left behind, to benefit the countries like Egypt etc where they were. The Light Horsemen had seen the way horses were treated there and wouldn't stand for it.

All I need now is someone to ask me to support that with a reference, and then I'm really in it. That's a deep memory from somewhere - maybe my father, who was a British cavalryman himself.