For the past decade, downtown Gainesville, with its noisy bars and drunken crowds, has been characterized by a less well-known sound: the clip-clopping of police horses.
As a part of the Gainesville Police Mounted Patrol Unit, four horses are assigned to manage downtown crowds.
On Tuesday, the unit’s oldest members — 18-year-old Zeus and 19-year-old Merlin — took their final walk as members of the force, their blue and silver badges pinned to their bridles.
Zeus, a Russian warmblood, and Merlin, an Irish draft and percheron cross, would typically work from late in the evening and early into the morning, handling crowd control and community relations, said GPD spokesperson Officer Ben Tobias.
“When the downtown bars close at night there’s anywhere from 15 to 20,000 drunk people in the streets,” he said. “Studies have shown that two officers on horseback is equivalent to 10 officers on foot when it comes to crowd management.”
Over time, however, the two horses had become less willing to do their jobs, said Cpl. Tracy Fundenburg, who had been partners with Zeus for six and a half years. They lagged behind the others; retirement was the best choice.
“These horses have done a lot of work, but to them work is fun,” said Tobias, who worked with the horses during his three years with the MPU from 2007 to 2010. “Merlin and Zeus loved everything about their jobs, except Merlin and his dislike of manhole covers.”
Merlin will actively avoid manhole covers, he said.
“If we trick him and try to get him close to a manhole cover, and he looks down and realizes he’s near one, he will jump,” he said.
Officer Ryan Foster, who has been with Merlin for about a year, said Merlin loves candy canes. It’s his favorite treat and he can hear the sound of a wrapper opening from across the pasture of the Alachua Conservation Trust in Micanopy.
But his calm demeanor has made him the perfect horse on the job, Foster said.
Even so, their hard work has earned them their retirement.
Zeus will live in Newberry with Cheryl Rhoden, who donated him to GPD, and Merlin will live with Andrew Hinson, a former member of the GPD’s MPU.
For now, Fundenburg and Foster will ride the other two MPU horses, 8-year-old Bolt and 11-year-old Rusty.
Fundenburg began to tear up when she thought about saying goodbye to Zeus and his “larger than life” personality.
“Just like you and me, if you get tired of dealing with your boss, tired of dealing with customers, tired of getting up early and going to work, and you’re tired of putting your uniform on for work, you’re ready to retire,” she said.
Contact Catherine Dickson at cdickson@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @ced0624
From left: Officer Ryan Foster rides Merlin and Cpl. Tracy Fundenburg rides Zeus. The two horses have been working for Gainesville Police’s mounted unit for about 10 years. On Tuesday, the horses retired.
