Retired combat horse doesn't recognize its former veteran—Then the Unthinkable Happened. The Horse’s Reaction Was Bone-Chilling... Retired warhorse. Forgotten veteran. A sky the color of gunmetal over an Ohio back-road ranch. James Harper pulled up in a dust-bitten Ford, VA card tucked behind his driver’s license, hands shaking like the last day of a long tour. In the corral: Samson—once the kind of horse who could read a heartbeat through Kevlar—now a statue with scars. No ear flick. No step fo