February 2021 Issue

EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN February 2021 Page 19 Rutgers University form of public safety. We’re yet another highly visible show of public safety to make people feel more comfortable,” Watrous said. “We’re not as intimidating. People come up to us to have a conversation all the time.” All three horses in the patrol came to Rutgers through the Stan- dardbred Retirement Foundation. They are not similar in appearance, spanning 15.2 h to 17. 2 h. and running from dark bay to grey, but they all have a good attitude for their job. The patrol looks for even tempered horses that have been broken to ride. They should have confidence, be steady, not spooky and have good ground manners. Austin, raced as Eagle Power, has been with the patrol the longest of the three. “He has a grumpy old man personality. He puts up with anything but never puts his ears forward,” Watrous said. Norman, raced under the name Northern Haze, is the youngest horse in the team at age 14, and the largest at 17.2h. “He has a little kid personality. He’ll push his boundaries a little bit, but he knows what his job is and he’s happy to do it,” Watrous said. Kash, known as Kash Con- trast when he raced, is the newest addition to the team, with just a year and a half of experience in the mounted patrol unit. He spent time as a buggy horse after his racing career ended and has adapted well to the patrol work. “He’s real sweet. We’re still working out some of his eccen- tricities,” Watrous said. Officers had an opportunity to attend a mounted police clinic last October that helped the club develop a program of desensi- tization training. The horses have been working on a variety of situations such as learning to push a large ball around while walking or overcoming their fears of construction fencing by having it hung near their feeders. “We’re working with them, doing something every day to help them get over silly little fears. We only have a limited amount of time to work with them,” Watrous said. Watrous gives the example of one of the horses having a fear of walking over sewer grates, an item they come into contact with very often. When stationed at a location with a sewer grate in the area, they make a point to stand near the grate and walk over it as much as possible. “As with any kind of horse training its very adaptive,” she said. The patrol had to adapt to pandemic conditions when students were sent home due to Covid-19. With that temporary change and graduations, the patrol was down to just five officers at the start of the year, and Kaitlin Quinn replaces Watrous as club president. Applications were being accepted in January for new members. “I think you get a lot of confidence out of this experience,” Watrous said. “You are a focal point in the community because you’re in an urban setting riding a horse.” For more information, visit the club website at www. rumounted.wixsite.com. (Continued from page 7) www. EquineColicReliefUSA.com • Email: zebecash2@hotmail.com