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This police horse thing

I\’ve only just realised:

David Cameron is \”likely\” to have ridden Rebekah Brooks’ ex-police horse, it has emerged

It was an ex-police horse. A retired one.

So, what does the Met do with retired police horses? Offer them out to whoever agrees to take care of them or what?

Would be interesting if someone actually did some journalism and went and found out really.

11 thoughts on “This police horse thing”

  1. David Cameron is “likely” to have ridden Rebekah Brooks

    ???

    I must learn to read to the end of the sentence.

  2. So Much For Subtlety

    They do not even have to do any journalism. Two seconds with Google would do:

    http://www.gmp.police.uk/mainsite/pages/mountedenquiries.htm

    What happens when they finish work?

    All police horses suitable for re-homing go to the International League for the Protection of Horses. If you want to offer a hope to a retired police horse you can visit the ILPH Website.

    The ILPH has renamed itself. It is here:

    http://www.worldhorsewelfare.org/

    So I click on their “Rehome a Horse” button:

    Welcome to Rehome a Horse

    Once the horses and ponies that come into our care have been fully rehabilitated and are ready for rehoming, they are added to our Rehome a Horse website. Click the map or use the search below to find out about the horses which are currently available. If you don’t find anything suitable straight away, please visit the site regularly because it is updated weekly. If you would like to apply to rehome any of our horses on this site, please complete the short online application which will go directly to the relevant rescue and rehoming centre for consideration.

    For more information on how our rehoming scheme works, please follow the links on the left-hand menu.

    So I follow the links on the left hand side:

    Step 2: Apply online

    Once you have selected your horse(s), click the ‘Apply to Rehome’ button to go to our short online form. To help ensure a successful rehoming, we make sure there is a match between what you need from the horse, and what the horse needs from you. So you will be asked a few questions about where you would keep the horse, the grazing available, and in the case of ridden horses, your level of riding expertise and how you intend to use the horse. We will also ask for your address and contact details. Then click the button to submit your application.

    So basically it looks like any Jacinta can offer to take a horse. They have to fill out a form which will be examined by a group of Amandas. Who will then approve it. Or not.

    I don’t see what the big deal is. A Rebekka surely qualifies. That they are doing it without masses of Sharons in the civil service being involved is a jolly good thing all around.

  3. Thanks, SMFS
    I couldn’t be bothered to find out and now I have. I just assumed they would fetch only a nominal amount and the buyer / re-homer would be vetted. Can’t have police horses being turned into saucisson de cheval now can we. (But those sausages are delicious!)

  4. It’s a bizarre story.

    A supposed controversy about a retired police horse looked after at Brooks’s stable that may or may not have been ridden by the PM is made public roughly the same time as the allegation that News International was involved in a murder plot.

    And the Times had more about the alleged murder plot than the BBC.

  5. According to the original Beeb report from a few days ago, the retired horse was returned to the MetPol after a couple of years and they put it back into service. So, either a whole new meaning of ‘retired’ or a confused narrative.

  6. Of course it’s misuse of public resources to give an old police horse to a politician’s friend. The only acceptable use for such a horse is salami di cavallo, gustafskorv or the like.

  7. Well, to my horror, I sympathize with Rebekka and Dave.

    Police horses are very high quality – carefully selected, extremely well trained, and of good character (unlike, of course, R and D). Domesticated horses live between 20 and 30 years and are usually too knackered to ride in the later years. I once saw a 21-year-old drop stone dead at the end of a splendid canter on a bright and frosty morning.

    So when police horses are retired, they get farmed out to competent people who’ll look after them at their own expense. That is very plausibly what happened here, since the horse was allegedly 21 and R’s hubby runs a horse farm. Only odd thing was it (the horse) was given back after 2 years, allegedly in worse condition (though that could have just been aging). I doubt they put it back into service at age 23.

    OTOH, all the reported facts could be total bollocks.

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