On Tuesday 6th May, on a lovely, warm, sunny day, a group of 18 visited the Police Horse Stables at Wilfred Fuller VC Operational Training Centre in Clevedon. We were met by PC Jenny Williams, who has served with the Police for 24 years, the last 3 of which she has worked in the Mounted Section. Her previous years were spent in pursuit vehicles.
We were guided to the stables and introduced to several horses. All police horses in Clevedon are Irish geldings, and a minimum of 17 hands tall. They are chosen for their calm nature. The trainee police horses are called ‘Remounts’; when they have qualified, they are given a police name. There were 2 Remounts in the stalls, named Arthur and Max. More of Max later.
The trained horses present were Pilton, Mendip and Sandford. PC Jenny’s colleague advised us not to get too close to Mendip, who is possessive about his stall and is prone to biting people who get too close to him, with somewhat comical results for those who did not heed the warning. Mendip does, however, have a lovely, friendly and approachable manner when he is out on patrol. We also caught a glimpse of the sergeant’s horse, Brutus, being returned to his stall.
After meeting the horses, we were shown the horsebox, which also doubles up as a mobile police station when they are out on patrol. This vehicle weighs in at 18 tonnes and when fully loaded, it is certainly not a high-speed pursuit vehicle.
The last part of the tour was in the indoor training ring where PC Jenny and her colleague put Max, a dappled grey, through his paces, showing us how the horses are trained. All stages of training are started quietly and slowly, allowing the horse to become accustomed to distractions and noise, gradually building up their exposure to strange objects, like items found at Glastonbury festival, and crowds and noises, as at football matches, for example. Giving Max his due, he never blinked or flinched at anything put to him, even when we were asked to make some noise with bells, tambourines and maracas, and PC Jenny’s colleague even marched around Max banging a drum and waving a large flag.
We then posed for a group photograph and thanked PC Jenny for an excellent and informative tour of the Avon & Somerset Police Mounted Section in Clevedon.