o By Timothy Holekamp
to get where they need to be quickly and then, oſten, to fight while mounted. Te government of East Prussia expended huge resources between 1732 and 1945 to improve the Trakehner horse for that purpose and was richly rewarded with the breed’s success in that role. Few people here realize that hundreds of thousands of military horses were deployed in Europe in World War
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II, mainly on the Eastern Front. Te best of them were East Prussian Trakehners. However, aſter 1945 the use of horses worldwide for military
purpose finally evaporated due to the mechanization of weapons and transports. During the years of occupation of Germany that followed, cavalry horses were ubiquitous and as war booty came to be used by the occupying U.S. Army for what was called “constabulary,” a nice term replacing “police force.” It all ended sixty years ago. Today Trakehner horses are bred
and trained as competition sport horses, not military horses—or so we thought.
From Mischief to Mountie Out of over 100 horses my wife Cheryl and I have bred and started, there was only one Trakehner foal to which we gave a name with a naughty connotation. “Hooligan” entered this world as a very athletic and quite frisky colt in 1999, sired by our temperament-improving event horse Amethyst. His dam Havana
60 January/February 2013
rakehner horses were created and carefully bred to be military horses, more specifically for the cavalry, a particular tactical role that involves soldiers using horses
was by Matador out of Harda by Prince Rouge xx. Cheryl trained him to the end of his third year and then we sold him to a quite ambitious 16-year-old named Jill Wagner who loved him to pieces. Jill spent a couple of years as a working student with Michael Plumb, then went to college and sent “Hoo” home to her mother Karla’s farm in western Michigan. Both Karla and Jill noticed some remarkable things about
Hooligan. He had power to spare, a bit of a mischievous eye and expression, and yet he demonstrated a profound gentleness and steadiness whether under saddle or in hand. Karla had a young woman nearby compete him in dressage for a while, which he loved, and then primarily he became a pasture pet. Hooligan certainly was enjoying the easy life, yet Karla knew he was too nice of a horse to stand idly around. Karla was a realtor but also did volunteer work in traffic
control for Kent County’s Sheriff’s Department in Grand Rapids, Michigan. While on a vacation in Florida, she took the opportunity to visit the Mounted Unit of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Department. Tere she met Sergeant Chris Laster, the deputy who commands their ten-horse unit. Aſter careful investigation of their operation, Karla realized that this might be the perfect career for their Hooligan and decided that she wanted to donate him to Sgt. Laster and his mounted police unit. Tey worked out the details and the rest is now history still in the making.
Mounted Police and their Steeds Sgt. Laster’s equestrian background is prety typical for an American mounted policeman. Describing his early riding experiences, he says, “I mostly just hacked around with some
Top: Legacy (leſt) and another mount in a parade. Leſt: A member of 759th Horse Platoon, US Army, circa 1950, in occupied Germany, stands with an East Prussian horse.
A Trakehner gelding returns to his Cavalry roots as a popular mounted police horse.
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Courtesy Sarasota, Florida County Sheriff’s Department.
American Trakehner Association Private collection of Sam Cox (
www.militaryhorse.org)
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Our BIG BOLD
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