Army buys Virginia facility to stable The Old Guard’s caisson horses

Celebrities come and go in Middleburg, Virginia, a Piedmont hamlet of fewer than 1,000 people, where horses outnumber the residents ten to one and beagles and foxhounds abound. John and Jackie Kennedy, Sen. John Warner and his wife Elizabeth Taylor, Linda Tripp of Clinton-Lewinsky fame, and, as of last month, Vice President JD Vance and his family, all have resided without fanfare in this pastoral area an hour from Washington, D.C. But the region’s newest neighbors — the U.S. Army and 73 horses of the Old Guard’s Caisson Detachment — have divided a community that values the proper care of the horses and the detachment’s mission at Arlington National Cemetery, but fears the move could cost local jobs and restrict access to the region’s premier thoroughbred training facility. The Army finalized an $8.6 million deal on Aug. 6 to buy the Middleburg Training Center, a 149-acre horse farm with 11 barns and ample paddocks and pastures, to house and train the horses that support burials at Arlington National Cemetery. Army officials said they considered more than 100 properties before choosing the Middleburg Training Center, which has newer barns and facilities and room for more than 200 horses. During a town hall with residents in Middleburg on Aug. 6 — the same day the Army closed on the property — a panel of officials said the center provided the requisite environment for equine care and met needs for easements, as well as environmental, historical, and cultural concerns. “We need…