WILMORE, Ky. (LEX 18) — Nearly two months into the spring semester, graduation is quickly approaching. At a training at Asbury University, the hopeful program graduates include students, horses, and police officers.
“Seniors are going to be instructing this clinic, and then the police officers will get to work with their horse, get to know them,” said equine director Elizabeth Guthrie.
Students at Asbury University’s equine program have become teachers for a few days, training police officers from mounted units across the country.
“To me it's, it's kind of a dream job,” said Sgt. Greg Masten, from the Scottsdale Police Department in Arizona. “I mean, I didn't grow up on horses or anything like that. I kind of lucked into this position, but it's a fairly unique job.”
“People love horses. They want to come up and talk to the officers on the horse versus, you know, an officer in a car. They were much more approachable and, uh, I think it's all because of these guys.”
“These horses have a purpose here,” said Kaia Chesbro, a trainer and Asbury senior. “They're not just for me but for their departments and hopefully their communities that they get to serve.”
Asbury has provided horses for mounted units since 2002, but this is the first year that officers have been able to come here to Wilmore to work with their horses before they're sent to their new homes.
“We have officers here from all over the country, taking time to learn more about their young horses that will go into service,” Guthrie said.
Police departments from as far as Florida, Massachusetts, and Arizona selected their horses when they were younger, and this training, making its debut, allows them to better learn the horses and the language they’ve been trained with.
Guthrie shared she “really wanted to create a space where they could learn more about the language that we've taught these horses and how to communicate with them.”
“It's nice to come out here and kind of see firsthand and get to be hands on with them and kind of learn how to speak to him basically,” Masten added.
Guthrie shared the turnout was a little bigger than expected, with 20 officers attending the training.
“I think it's a great honor that they're looking at Asbury to resource and to serve their communities,” Guthrie said.
The training today included a lot of familiarization between the officers and the horses, but it will go deeper as the program runs through March 8.
