Politics & Government

Four of First Company's Horses Successfully Bid Upon

The state continues to review the bids for the horses.

Four of seven horses the is currently eliminating from its herd due to state mandate have been bid on in the adoption process.

The state is currently reviewing all bids for those horses from the Avon headquarters, and has not made final decisions on what owners will adopt them.

"It looks like four horses have successfully been bid on from the 1GHG herd," Maj. Michael Downes, commandant of the First Company wrote in an e-mail to Patch. "Those horses are Deuce, Cody, Dillon and Chester."

Find out what's happening in Avonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Two more horses are going to be returned to the standard breed retirement organization in New Jersey that donated them if the unions do not ratify the SEBAC agreement on the second go-around. The Military Department has ordered both the First Company and the Second Company in Newtown to reduce their herd sizes to 10. The Avon troops currently have 17 horses.

That leaves one horse that the unit needs to find a home for unless the unions approve the concession package proposed to close the $1.6 billion deficit and avoid layoffs and program cuts.

Find out what's happening in Avonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

State Rep. Chris Lyddy, D-106, and other legislators are negotiating with the Military Department to make the Second Company a pseudo public-private enterprise so that it can stay in Newtown through private funding, as another fallback option if the concession package is rejected. This, however, would not change the mandate to reduce the herd size to 10.

Bids for the First Company horses were accepted until Aug. 12, and the bid review process commenced Aug. 15. The horses bidded upon will go to the highest qualified bidder and the applicants will contractually be given their horses by Friday, Aug. 19, The new owners would need to pick up the horses in a trailer.

“This is a much more humane solution than was originally discussed for the horses that deserve to be properly taken care of,” said Downes, who explained previously that otherwise the horses would have gone to the highest bidder at a University of Connecticut equine auction, which wouldn’t necessarily mean they went to the right owner. “It’s far better to retire the horses and make sure they get good homes.”

If the unions pass the SEBAC agreement, the Second Company will not need to co-habitate the Avon facility and will stay in Newtown, and both units will no longer have to reduce their herds. Even if that is the case, that may leave Avon short some horses, as the adoption contracts do not require the horses be returned if the mandate is reversed.

“We might lose the horses anyways,” Downes said previously.

He said they will look at options to increase the herd if the mandate is reversed and they are short horses.


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