13 minute read
IN THE SADDLE
The Garda Mounted Support Unit may seem like a dream job, but it is a challenging one too, writes Adam Hyland.
“ I t is easy to come to work when you love it,” Sergeant Brendan Duffy of the Mounted Support Unit tells me as he shows me around the grounds of their headquarters behind Áras an Uachtaráin in the Phoenix Park. “If you don’t enjoy working here, there is something wrong with you.”
That sentiment is echoed by Garda Laura Doolan, who is busy cleaning her horse Fiachra. “If I ever get bored with work, I just look at the bridle on the reins, which were originally used on the Guinness horses, and am reminded of the pride and the history connected to them. I also think about how much of a joy it is to work with horses every day. When my friends ask me why I like the job so much, I show them a picture on my phone that is the ‘view from my desk’.”
Fiachra is a stunning white horse, and is enjoying the attention as we gather around him. “He’s not as tall as some of the others, but he looks like he is because he holds himself up very straight and high,” Laura says. “He’s got a real ego to him.”
The beauty of the horses is reflected in their setting, a converted model farm that was gifted to the Unit in 2000 by then-President Mary McAleese, and Garda David Earley, who rides a huge brown horse called Donagh, shows us that everything the Unit needs to do its job can be found here, including stables, an equipment room, feed room, and on-site farrier room where Master Farrier John Boyne works his magic.
“We were established in 1998 but moved up here when it was still under construction,” Sergeant Duffy tells me, “and we renovated the existing buildings and built new
ones opposite it to house the horses. There was a lot of attention to detail to keep all the original materials and the authenticity of the building. It’s a perfect location for us, because we are a 45-minute walk from the city centre, we are close to the M1 for transport around the country, and we have the perfect grounds to do training on. The beauty of being here is that there is no financial value to selling it, we are invited guests of the President, on their land. So, there is no danger of us being moved on.
“What people don’t realise is that it takes an incredibly long time to build up a Unit with expertise, it’s not something you can switch on and off, or provide fast-track training like in other units.”
While the horses look great, a lot of work goes into making them so presentable, which Sergeant Duffy stresses is a very important part of community policing. “People see us out and about and they are drawn to us because the horses look magnificent,” Sergeant Duffy says, “but they don’t necessarily understand the amount of work that goes into making them look so good. The job is very physical, very hands-on, there’s a lot of upkeep and maintenance, and we would get criticism from the public if the horses were too thin, or dirty, or not shod properly, or not behaving themselves.”
Sergeant Duffy, who had previously served in the Garda
Water Unit, has been with the Mounted Support Unit since its inception, when An Garda Síochána acquired seven horses from the Yorkshire Police. “Those horses were dreadful,” he says, “but I think that was as a result of the horses not being used properly. When you see what we have now, and how far we have come, it’s amazing. Each horse still has its own quirks, but they are ideal for the job. We have never been busier, and we are near our maximum strength, with 14 horses, and are expecting another one shortly to reach the maximum of 15 for the first time.”
DUTIES The current 14 horses, one sergeant, 13 gardaí and two garda staff, are kept busy with numerous duties. “We are a multi-purpose unit, and do high-visibility proactive policing patrols, crowd control and public order, searches, community policing, some ceremonial work, and a lot of
policing engagements at events across the country, because we are a national unit. “The normal routine is that all of the horses are fed and mucked out first thing in the morning, and that means all hands on deck. After breakfast they will go on proactive patrols if they don’t have a specific job on. Because we are based in the city and most of the headline crime is happening here, we tend to patrol the city, but we go out to other counties as well.
“If we don’t have a specific task we proactively deploy and do the likes of car checks, community visits, events and concerts, match days – it’s a big scope. We have numerous roles, a lot of different jobs rolled into one that no other unit provides, a comprehensive package. We also work a lot with the other support units – mountain search, dog, water, etc. We have a huge search capability because we can get into inaccessible areas, we have a high vantage point so we can see into ditches and over hedgerows. Also, visually, the presence of the mounted unit can show people in the community that the gardaí are out there working, actively looking for a missing person.
“When we finish, each person has to bring the horse back, clean and groom them, clean their tack (saddles, reins, etc), make sure they are nice and warm, feed them, etc. We keep them in the stables with a bar divider because they are pack animals and they want to be able to see each other, they are interactive, so we try to replicate their environment as much as possible.
“Crowd control and public order is something that keeps us busy, but visually, our presence has an enormous impact, and if something kicks off, we know that our members are properly protected.”
VISIBLE PRESENCE This is just one advantage of having gardaí on horseback. “The high visibility is a big advantage,” Sergeant Duffy agrees. “A garda going down Grafton Street is lost in the crowd, but if you have a horse going down the street, he’s visible from 300 yards, and there is a certain reassurance in that. Irish people also have a very big affinity with all things equine, and they are very interested and engaging, they come over and chat and want to look at the horse, and that is a very big positive. It gives a very good image of the gardaí, which is badly needed. Anything positive we can bring, as well as having a practical policing role, is great. And that’s not just me saying that because I am here 21 years!”
Other countries are recognising this importance too. Denmark is planning to bring back its mounted unit disbanded in 2012, while Holland is planning to expand theirs.
“I attended a conference in Hungary last year, and the amount of interest from police forces all through Europe was very notable,” Sergeant Duffy tells me. “The positivity created by horses is huge. They also did a study in Oxford
University about the positive effects of police forces having a mounted unit, and the results were extraordinary. I am still blown away by the awe with which people look at the horses, and the respect and interest shown. The communication and engagement with the public is phenomenal.”
The Unit predominantly uses Irish Draught breeds, although Sergeant Duffy tells me that with these becoming scarce, he is open to acquiring any suitable breed. “But they have to be even-coloured, so they can’t be piebald, they have to be a minimum of 16,3, they have to be visually attractive, they have to pass an initial veterinary inspection, they are subject to a six-week trial, a final veterinary inspection, and then their training starts in earnest.”
That training mostly consists of exposing the horses to the type of things they are going to see and experience on the job, complemented by what they learn from being around more experienced horses.
“We have a dedicated training staff here that work with the younger horses, and they have done advanced training courses both here and abroad. You learn quickly what levels the horses are at and whether they are going to cut the mustard, but right up to the final week they can get spooked by something unfamiliar.
“As their training goes on, they are being handled properly, they are getting good food, their energy levels grow, and that’s when you can really see what you have. If you take a horse from a grass-fed livery, they can be very docile, but when you feed them the high-nutrition
stuff their dynamic changes. We are very mindful of that, because we have to be very careful. No matter how welltrained they are, if a horse freaks out or canters off into a crowd, we have a big problem on our hands because these animals weigh between 700 and 900 kilos. That danger is always there.”
STRESSFUL ENVIRONMENTS For Sergeant Duffy, this is what makes what appears like a very calming, almost ideal job, actually very stressful.
“If something goes wrong… that’s what you are always trying to manage. You have a lot to look after, you need to keep the horse calm. It’s all very fine sitting up on one of these horses, but in a full public order situation, you really earn your money. Even when going through town, there is a basic stress level there – you need to be aware of and watching what is going on around you all the time. Whether you like it or not, sometimes your heart will be in your mouth. You just never know when a horse will react badly to something.
“It can be great fun when it’s nice and leisurely and things are going well – there’s nothing nicer – but when you have to go to a public disorder incident, or a protest, it is hard work because you have to control the horse in a difficult and potentially frightening environment for them. You can’t teach a horse to be prepared for every possible scenario. They are flight animals, primarily. If they are threatened, or think they are, that’s what they do. We try to get them used to those things that might unnerve them, but there is only so much you can do.
“You have a major responsibility with the horse, as you can’t just switch him off or walk away from him, because the first thing he is going to do is run from the city centre all the way back to the Phoenix Park. They have a massive homing instinct. But it wouldn’t be pretty, because he wouldn’t respect traffic lights, or cars, or people. So, there is a huge responsibility, and you have to think ahead all the time, and be able to react properly.
“Overall, the Mounted Unit is the most high-risk unit in all of policing, statistically and in actuality, nothing comes close. Here we have had broken necks (Sergeant Duffy broke two bones in his neck once), broken toes, broken fingers, broken collarbones, bruises, bites, you name it, we have had it.”
This is why extensive training is required for both horses and garda personnel, and only those deemed to have the right personality are allowed to join.
“We have people here with varying experience,” Sergeant Duffy says. “Some are born in the stable while others come to it later in life, but what I look at is a person’s personality – are they a good team player, are they social, do they have a positive outlook on life, are they ok with being asked a thousand times what the horse’s name is? We look at their equine background, if they have one, and they are assessed, but what we are really looking at is how they engage and interact, with other gardaí and with the horses.
“If we are happy with what we see, they go forward for interview, and if successful, start a 16-week training
course, and after that they are under review for six months. Generally, the people who get in for training tend to love horses, and if you don’t, you have no business being here.”
IN DEMAND Interest in positions in the Unit is huge, with more than 280 applicants for the most recent two vacancies. “About 80% of them were female,” Sergeant Duffy tells me. “Maybe its because women tend to have an affinity with horses. But I try to keep a balance between males and females, and at the moment our Unit is 50/50. It just works well.”
Despite the demands of the role, members of the Unit tend to stay for as long as possible. “We don’t have a big turnover because people tend to want to stay here,” Sergeant Duffy says. “Even when promotions come up, none of the personnel are that anxious, because it would mean moving away from what they absolutely love. People really do love it and appreciate it when they get in here, and so they should.
“Every day presents a new challenge, especially when you have a young horse, and sometimes personnel may have trouble with a horse’s behaviour, but we sit down and try to work out what is happening and try to fix it. Sometimes, you just have to let the horse go back to being a horse again for a while, before returning to him. When we have the numbers we have now, we have the luxury of being able to do that, to have horses for courses, if you will pardon the pun.”
Although the expectation is that every member of the Unit should be able to ride every horse, personnel are usually assigned an individual horse with which they form a strong bond. “That works really well because if you have a happy team, you have a good team,” Sergeant Duffy says. “The same goes for the horses, it has to work for both of them. That relationship comes from putting the work in.”
Garda Lisa Halligan works a lot with the younger horses. “The way she works with them, her attention to detail, is just incredible,” Sergeant Duffy tells me. “She is extraordinary. If there is a horse that is slow to get up to speed, she takes them under her wing and works wonders every time. People sometimes ask how come her horses are all so well behaved, and I say, why do you think? It’s the work she puts in.
“A lot of teamwork goes into this job,” Sergeant Duffy adds. “To get these horses doing what they are doing, as well as they are doing it, doesn’t just happen. We are a very useful part of the police force. We need to get back to basics when it comes to visual presence on the beat, and I think we are definitely the most noticeable in that respect.”
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