FLORENCE — Plenty of law enforcement agencies have canines on the force. But the Florence Police Department now has two horses, which makes them special, because a horse is a horse, of course.
The two newest additions, Magnum and Star, pranced around the Florence Rail Trail on Wednesday during their first day at work and became familiar with their new stomping grounds.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT
See the trail system that Magnum, Star and their officers will patrol, click here.
But this is no dog-and-pony show. The two horses and their riders have some real work to do, Florence Police Chief Anson Shells said.
The department created a mounted patrol as a way to increase police presence on the rail trail, he said.
“We see how busy the trail system has become. You can come out here any weekend and see how many people (are there),” Shells said. “We use ATVs, scooters and our golf carts, but there are areas of the trail that are difficult to access with that equipment.”
Then Cpl. Ginny Rishkofski-Howle and Lt. Sam Toney, who own Magnum and Star, respectively, came to the chief with the idea to use their horses for patrol work.
“(Ginny) came to me. She had patrolled the trail on the other vehicles and we recognized the benefit,” Shells said. “I thought it was a great idea.”
The mounted patrol will be used for the trail, festivals and for search and rescue operations, he said.
“Horses are really good for crowd control — probably the best option there is,” said Shells, who worked as a police officer for the city of Columbia, which has a mounted patrol.
Magnum, a thoroughbred-quarter horse mix, is well suited for the job, Rishkofski-Howle said.
“Nothing bothers him. I could shoot a gun off his back ... he can stand in front of a patrol car with the light flashing full force,” she said. “He is ideal for this type of work.”
Star, a Tennessee Walker cross breed, also is calm, Toney said.
“She’s good with kids,” he said.
Both horses received about six weeks of special law enforcement training before they joined the department.
Toney, who has owned Star for three years, said even though his horse is friendly, he’ll be the only one allowed to ride her.
“It’s just not good to let a bunch of people ride a horse,” he said. “It’s just like driving a car. Everybody drives different.”
“A horse is an animal and it can get confused,” Rishkofski-Howle said. “It’s just like a dog. It’s a dog and its handler and it’s a horse and its rider. We’re a team.”
The mounted patrol will be a normal presence on the trail in about two weeks. The two officers will take turns patrolling the trail, Shells said.
— Staff writer Jamie Rogers can be reached at (843) 317-7266.
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