Mongolia’s minister of defense, Bat-Erdene Dashdemberel, left, presented U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel with a horse as a gift on Thursday. Credit Alex Wong/Getty Images
By Helene Cooper
Published in the New York Times
ULAN BATOR, Mongolia — Before Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel even landed here in this isolated landlocked country, he knew there was no way that he was going to be allowed to keep the horse.
After all, his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, didn’t get to keep the horse he got — and called Montana, so named because he said the Mongolian landscape reminded him of the state where his wife, Joyce, was born. Back in 2005, Mr. Rumsfeld became the first American secretary of defense to visit Mongolia, and he received Montana with great fanfare. And then he left him there.
The reason was Montana immediately brought up delicate issues of diplomacy, such as whether American taxpayers would have to pay for its upkeep. Such issues prompted much head scratching, and Mr. Rumsfeld had to leave Montana, a steed with a black mane, behind.
When President George W. Bush followed Mr. Rumsfeld to Mongolia a short time later, the White House quietly persuaded Mongolian officials not to gift him with a horse, and they complied. Mr. Bush did, however, have to drink the local brew — fermented mare’s milk.
More than eight years later, Mr. Hagel arrived and got some milk curd for his trouble. He nibbled on it at the airport before heading into the city.
As Mr. Hagel’s motorcade entered the imposing grounds of the Mongolian Ministry of Defense, his gift horse stood off to the side of a ceremonial yurt, its tawny tail swishing idly in the breeze. A Mongolian herder stood beside it, holding the reins and peeking around the yurt at the dignitaries. There was excitement in Mr. Hagel’s motorcade.
But first things first. Before getting his gift, Mr. Hagel had to go through the protocol of meetings with his Mongolian counterpart about the array of issues that dominate American-Mongolian relations — namely thanking Mongolia for sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mongolia’s minister of defense, Bat-Erdene Dashdemberel, had kind words for the strength of the American-Mongolian bond. “Mongolia is a peace-loving country,” the defense minister said of the country that still reveres its native hero Genghis Khan. “This principle is the core of the relationship.”
O.K., time for the horse ceremony. The herder brought the horse up to Mr. Hagel and Mr. Bat-Erdene gestured toward its mane. “This will be your horse from now on, you can name it.”
“Well, thank you,” Mr. Hagel replied. “I am honored.”
Then, for the moment everyone was waiting for, Mr. Hagel said, “I’m going to name this horse Shamrock.”
Huh? Not Nebraska? Not Omaha? Not even Cornhusker?
Nope, Shamrock. “Shamrock was the name of the mascot of the high school I graduated from,” Mr. Hagel said.. He said that period, when he was a football and basketball player at St. Bonaventure High School in Columbus, Neb., “was one of the most important times of my life.”
Then he turned sadly to Shamrock. “You be good while I’m gone,” he said.