Joey remains at the head of the cavalry and is ridden now by Trooper Warren: a kind, gentle lad who is not a particularly good horseman but whose conscientious treatment keeps Joey going throughout the harshness of the winter. Captain Nicholls ends up being killed in an early battle. The fighting is terrifying and confusing Joey describes how he can feel Captain Nicholls riding him at one moment, while the next moment he cannot. Topthorn, ridden by Captain Stewart, and Joey, ridden by Captain Nicholls, are at the front of the cavalry. The mood is one of fevered excitement however, once the men and horses reach their encampment and the reality of the situation sets in, their high spirits dissipate. The voyage is rough the horses and their soldiers are seasick. The cavalry regiment is eventually sent by boat to France, where the troops will join the front lines. Captain Nicholls comes to Joey's defense and instructs that he be given more food: he is to be the Captain's horse and therefore should not lose conditioning. Although he is an excellent rider, he makes up for his short stature by bullying the horses in his care. Joey does not like the man training him that man, Corporal Samuel Perkins, is a former jockey. He makes friends with Topthorn, a beautiful black thoroughbred, and the two are inseparable from that moment on. Captain Nicholls promises to take great care of Joey and also to keep in touch with Albert.

He tries to join the army with Joey but is too young, so he promises Joey that, as soon as he is of age to enlist, he will go and find the beloved animal. Too late, Albert rushes to market and is unable to reverse the sale. It is the onset of the First World War, and the British army is buying horses for the front Albert's father takes Joey to market and sells him to an honorable soldier called Captain Nicholls. However, Joey forms a deep bond with the farmer's son, Albert: the two become soul mates as Albert works hard to transform Joey into a farm horse (his father threatened to get rid of Joey unless he could work with Zoey in the fields). He likes her very much but dislikes the farmer who has purchased him. Joey's new home is a farm, with plenty of land and a comfortable stable where he is given a stall next to a placid, motherly horse called Zoey. He has never been apart from his mother before, and he starts crying for her, hearing her cries for him becoming fainter as he is taken farther away. Two men bid feverishly against each other until the auctioneer brings down his hammer and Joey is led away.

Joey's earliest memory is of being taken to the town marketplace with his mother while an auction that he did not fully understand took place around him.

War horse book