The US Space Force was always going to be in for a bit of mockery online, but they haven't made it easy on themselves. As well as there being nobody to fight in space, there's the fact that their uniforms are camo (how many trees are they expecting to find in space) and their logo is pretty much exactly the logo from Star Trek.

Now that all those furors have calmed down, they've gone and got themselves a horse. Yes that's right, Space Force has a horse and people are a bit confused about its role. 

In a tweet on Thursday, the Space Force confirmed that "protecting our access to space involves many unique aspects", including looking after... military horses. 

_{If you want to get to space, I guess you have to go through the cavalry?}

People, including the U.S. Navy's Chief of Information, were quick to question what the hell was going on.

 

A few people questioned why (when many people don't have the personal protective equipment they need) the US Space Force is wearing full body armor while brushing their horse.

But mainly the question was this pleasing rhyme:

Well, the answer is that the Space Force have sort of been landed with a conservation program that used to be run by the Air Force. I guess you have to keep them busy while we wait for aliens to fight.

The video explains that the working horses are part of a conservation program, but are also used to access and patrol parts of the perimeter of the 30th Space Wing Vandenberg Air Force base that aren't easily accessible by foot or vehicle.

“We are able to go through creeks and water with the horses, high hills that we wouldn’t be able to get through with off-road vehicles,” U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Michael Terrazas, 30th SFS conservation patrolman, said in a separate piece explaining the conservation program. “There are places we’ve gone where the water is so deep that my boots are wet while on horseback, but the horses can walk through with no problems.”

“We enforce fish and game laws and the horses help us walk off the beaten path to complete our mission,” he later added, ensuring that the tongue twister "the Space Force's space horse for sure enforce fish laws" will echo in my mind for the next month.

So sorry, space horse fans, these horses are very much going to remain on Earth.