[Update] Co-Location Plan for Horse Guards Reduces Herds for Both Avon and Newtown

Seventeen horses from the Avon and Newtown Horse Guards will need new homes if the state Military Department's recommendation to reduce herd size to 10 horses apiece goes into effect.

When two horse and property caretakers from the Newtown unit, one full-time and the other part-time, received pink slips Thursday, the Second Company Governor's Horse Guards learned that the Newtown facilty is ordered to close by Sept. 1 and that the troop operation and horses would be co-located to the First Company's Arch Road facility in Avon.

Both herds will be limited to 10 horses each if Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's budget adjustment plan, which was based on department suggestions for cost savings, moves forward.

The First Company has 17 horses, though they had the "authorized herd strength of 22" in the previous fiscal year until a February freeze during the budget process, according to Maj. Michael Downes, commandant of the First Company. He said that the unit last acquired new horses in the fall, picking up five, and all are assimilated into the herd. The Second Company has 20 horses, he said.

That means the First Company will lose seven and the Second Company will lose 10.

This is not the first time that the state has reduced the Horse Guards' herds, Downes said.

"When I joined in 2002, we had 38 horses and our barn was full," Downes said of the Avon location. "I would say, over the course of the last decade the state has periodically reduced the herd. This is certainly the lowest level that I’ve ever seen that we’re being asked to reduce the herd to."

In the previous budget season, the state was going to reduce the herd cap to 17, but that did not happen because Downes and Second Company Maj. Gordon Johnson proved each unit could financially support 22 horses, falling back on private donations and fundraising if needed.

There are 25 people, out of the 43 active members in the First Company, who ride. Since there are not enough horses for all of them, they have to alternate. Of that group, 19 are certified for equine search and rescue, and four more are training. Ten of the 17 horses are currently certified.

"It’s certainly going to put a restraint on my ability to recruit new troops," Downes said, since there will be fewer horses available for riding.

The First Company will keep the horses most suited to its needs, Downes said, and veterinary evaluations will be taken into consideration. Usually, a vet will recommend horses for adoption.

The First Company's horses are all donated, so Downes said that the unit first asks the original owners whether they want the horses back. If not, they need to be adopted out. Downes said he is not sure there will be enough time to find proper homes for each horse because of the small window of time to reduce the herd.

The fallback is to send the horses to the University of Connecticut's Equine Extension Program, which auctions horses off to the highest bidder.

"They served the state well, and they deserve to live out the remainder of their years in good homes," Downes said.

Downes said that the two squads will likely remain separate units with their own commanders, but that they will cohabitate the Avon facility.

Legislators have until an Aug. 15 public hearing to contest any items in the budget adjustment plan and otherwise the numbers will go into effect on Aug. 31, according to GianCarl Casa, undersecretary for
legislative affairs in the Office of Policy and Management.

Until then, Downes said, "This is what I’ve been ordered to do, so this is what we’re going to plan to do."