The Mongolian government is currently holding a lot of the U.S. government's horses.
When Mongolia's president Khaltmaa Battulga arrived at the White House late last month, he told President Trump's 13-year-old son Barron Trump he would be receiving every child's dream: a horse. And just a few weeks later, the Trump administration has been saddled with another horse, this time for newly confirmed Defense Secretary Mark Esper, The New York Times reports.
The Thursday gift celebrates Esper's first international trip as part of Trump's Cabinet. He named the 7-year-old equine "Marshall," as in World War II Gen. George Marshall, and declared that "he likes his name," per the Times. Barron Trump, who isn't an official member of the Trump administration, meanwhile named his horse "Victory" a few weeks ago. It's not clear if Barron and Victory, who Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said would be staying in Mongolia, have ever met.
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To be clear, this very normal practice in Mongolian diplomacy. Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel got a Mongolian horse on a 2014 visit, which he named "Shamrock" after his high school mascot. Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was also gifted one in 2005, but amid some bureaucratic issues, couldn't take Montana back home. He and Montana were thankfully reunited once again a few years later.
Former Vice President Joe Biden also got a horse in 2011 and gave it his Secret Service code name of "Celtic," but it apparently promptly "reared up" because it probably didn't like "the Irish epitaph," Biden said at the time.
