PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Portsmouth Mounted Patrol has two police horses, Canyon and Shadow, but the pair can’t respond together because their trailer's too small for both of them.
The pair are draft horses.
"[Canyon] is, I think 18.1 hands tall if I remember correctly, which is huge. Then we also have Shadow, who is a Percheron-Friesian cross which is two draft horses mixed together to get an even bigger horse. And I believe he is 17.3 hands, so they are both extremely tall," explained Carey Henry, president of the Friends of the Portsmouth Mounted Patrol.
Watch previous coverage: Canyon, Portsmouth's newest officer, changing community one gallop at a time
You might remember Canyon from his 2023 story with News 3 (that's when he got a taste of the microphone).
@coastalcurr3nts How’s this for a sound bite? 😂 #newsbloopers #newsreporter #fyp ♬ original sound - WTKR News 3
You also might see the gentle giants around town.
"It's great for community engagement. People will come up to you and talk to you. They see you in the car and they don't pay you any attention, but if they see you on the horses, they love coming up and meeting the horses and we strike up a conversation with the person," said Officer Maurice Leverett from the Portsmouth Police Department Mounted Patrol Unit.
Leverett also mentioned that the pair helps the department provide crowd control, patrol areas around the city, and respond to emergencies.
The pair, however, can't go out together because they're bigger than past mounted patrol horses and don't fit together in the trailer.
"The safety requirements change when you have a 1,000-pound horse versus a 2,000-pound horse," explained Henry.
"So if we have to respond to something, we have to take a horse out, come back and get the other horse. It really makes our response time doubled," Leverett added.
To address this issue, the nonprofit Friends of the Portsmouth Mounted Patrol is raising money for a bigger trailer. They want to ensure the horses can get to scenes quickly or evacuate in weather emergencies if needed.
"Being able to move them swiftly and together keeps them not only calmer when they are together because they are buddies, but it gets us out of harm's way faster. Then, of course, their main purpose for police enforcement being able to get them to a scene or an event faster and together, time is of the essence sometimes," Henry emphasized.
The city covers basic expenses for the unit, but Friends of the Portsmouth Mounted Patrol typically helps raise funds for equipment and other needs. The nonprofit stated they are hopeful they’ll be able to fund the trailer faster than the city can work it into the budget.
The nonprofit is holding its next monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 20 at 6 p.m. at 206 High Street. For more information on that or the group's fundraiser, visit the Friends of the Portsmouth Mounted Patrol's Facebook page.
This article was researched, reported, and written by a WTKR News 3 journalist. AI was used to minimize typos and ensure style continuity.
