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More than a century ago, the brick and timber barns lining the north end of Fort Myer housed the horses of the U.S. Army's premier cavalry installation. Today, those same buildings serve a different but equally important mission — and thanks to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, they're getting long overdue upgrades to match it.
The stables at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall are home to the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment's Caisson Platoon — the horses that pull the flag-draped casket at Arlington National Cemetery funerals for veterans, fallen service members, and heads of state. The buildings date to the post's cavalry heyday in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when hundreds of horses called Fort Myer home and equestrian culture was a fixture of official Washington life.
Since Fall 2023, Baltimore District has been repairing and modernizing both structures. Project manager Chuck Stodter said the scope goes well beyond patching up old buildings.
"These were built in the early 1900s — they're historic cavalry barns," Stodter said. "So much of what we've done is try to bring them up to a more modern equine standard."
That means bigger stalls — all expanded to at least 10 by 15 feet, topping the industry standard of 144 square feet. Stodter said the team also focused heavily on reducing the chronic wear these animals accumulate over a working career. One of the primary ways they did that was through the flooring — installing orthopedic mattress stall mats in every stall so that horses spending most of their day standing are doing so on a surface that works in their favor.
"They're standing in an extremely comfortable environment that is beneficial to them — reducing some of those overuse injuries that any working horse is going to get," he said.
Rubber equine-specific pavers were added throughout the aisles as well. A follow-on contract will tackle utility upgrades including sprinkler and fire alarm systems, rounding out what Stodter described as an effort to give the Old Guard a fully functional, modern facility within a historic shell.
The purpose, Stodter said, is straightforward — these horses serve the warfighter, and they deserve conditions that reflect that.
"Those horses serve our veterans, the warfighter, through the work that they do in Arlington National Cemetery," he said. "And that work is extremely pivotal."
The stable renovation is one piece of a broader, four-year push by Baltimore District, The Old Guard, and the Military District of Washington to modernize the Army's entire caisson program. Stodter said the projects — interim stables, the Middleburg Training Center acquisition, and the Building 236 renovation — were designed to work together, giving the program updated infrastructure while keeping its most storied facilities in service.
"What's been awesome is watching all of these efforts tie together," he said, "to help create the best caisson program they can — and to have the absolute top-of-the-line best living conditions for our military working horses."
For Stodter, the work hits close to home. He has family and friends buried at Arlington, and managing a project that directly supports the cemetery's burial mission has given the job a personal dimension he didn't take lightly. He also noted that Building 236 — arguably the most prominent of the historic cavalry stables still standing — carries its own significance worth protecting.
"Being able to contribute to that effort has been personally extremely fulfilling," he said. "And in the end, those working animals have the best environment to be able to serve our veterans in Arlington National Cemetery."
| Date Taken: | 04.08.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 05.04.2026 12:46 |
| Story ID: | 563332 |
| Location: | DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Web Views: | 4 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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