The "farrier" assists the Regimental Veterinary Officer in of taking care of the horses. When the farrier is mounted on parade, he carries the traditional symbol of an axe. In battle, one of the farrier's jobs was to kill horses that were badly injured. They also had to cut off one of the hooves so that there was proof of the horse's death so that a new one could be purchased. The horses are all black three quareter bred Irish draught horses except for the trumpeters' horses, which are grey, and the drumhorses which are large draught horses. They are almost invariably coloured horses, Shires or Clydesdales and are "piebald" (black and white), "skewbald" (brown and white) or roan. The drumhorses each carry two solid silver kettle drums on parade.