Six new stallions join mounted police
A stallion named Duke leads the pack during ceremonial tasks due to its physique
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Six stallions from the Royal Western India Turf Club, Mumbai joined the Mounted Police forces in the city on Tuesday.
The stallions named Waves of magic, Negro Dave, Aryan, Mountain Barrier, Blue knight and Brazil used to race at the Mahalakshmi Race Course in Mumbai and reached the city in specially arranged trucks on Monday night.
All horses, aged between five and seven will now be rechristened and taught to follow Malayalam commands. They will be ready for ceremonial purposes in three months. Incidentally, the stallions will be given typical Indian names like Vijay, Chethak etc.
Though last year, the police had to spend Rs 5 lakh to buy and bring three stallions from Mumbai, this time six healthier horses could be bought for just Rs 3.5 lakh due to planned efforts, police officials said.
With the new additions, the Mounted police facility at Kannettumukku will have 20 horses. Though the average life expectancy of a horse is just around 25 years, the police stable have several horses above 30 years. A stallion named Duke leads the pack during ceremonial tasks due to its physique.
The new horses were chosen by a group led by KAP 5th Battalion commandant Thomson Jose and veterinarian Dr EK Eshwaran.
“For the next one week they will eat food items like horsegram, oats brought from Mumbai. The police mounts will be disciplined so that they do not kick or bite their handlers,” said unit chief SI Balamurali.
Presently, a team comprising two horses each patrol the Thycaud- East Fort stretch and Vazhuthacaud-Jawahar Nagar stretch. Often the City Police Commissioner H Venkatesh himself takes horses out on patrol.
Every day, the stallions get food worth Rs 450 each. Every day, each horse will have to go through an hour-long grooming which includes massages and haircut apart from hours of physical training.