Commending courage

On 12 January, officers from the Metropolitan Police Mounted Branches 1 Unit along with our very own Estate Foreman and former mounted Sergeant Jon Taylor were commended for their courage, professionalism and restraint whilst dealing with a large scale, spontaneous and violent demonstration outside the Indian High Commission on 22 October 2015.

Our Estate Foreman Jon Taylor gave 32 years combined service in the Police and Military before joining our team at The Horse Trust, and was commended for leadership and resilience. The officers were praised by the Commander of the Met’s Task Force Chief Superintendent Craig Haslam. The officers and horses were deployed straight from the Buckingham Palace Guard Change to the incident to support the officers on the ground after event organisers lost control of the demonstrators, and central London traffic was grounded to a halt. During an altercation, one officer suffered a head injury and was taken to hospital. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “The Metropolitan Police Service was aware of a planned demonstration at the Indian High Commission. Additional officers, including those from the Mounted Branch, were mobilised to the area and a small group of protesters became violent towards police.” The mounted police assisted by marshalling the protesters and filtering people away from the area.

The Horse Trust is incredibly proud of our long association with the Mounted Police across the country. It is our duty and privilege to ensure these hard working horses receive the happy and healthy retirement they deserve after dealing with dangerous and volatile situations such as these during their working lives.

Visit our resident’s page to meet our horses who have retired from the Metropolitan Police Mounted Regiment.

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