The riding skills, uniform dress and horse tack of the Lackawanna County Sheriff’s mounted police unit were recognized with several awards at the North American Police Equestrian Championships this Fall in Montgomery County, Maryland.
The annual competition is divided into three areas:
Uniform – This entails judging an officer’s uniform, horse tack and mount appearance. Dress uniforms or solemn ceremony attire are worn for this section of the competition.
Equitation – The officer is judged on his/her riding ability, involving the walk, trot, canter, and half pass. An advanced dressage test is also involved in this portion of the program.
Obstacle – This part of the competition measures the horse’s and rider’s ability to complete and overcome obstacles that they may encounter on the street, such as storm drains, rioting people, and back firing trucks.
At this year’s competition, which was held at the Montgomery Agricultural Fair Grounds in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Deputy Jesse Van Deusen placed sixth in the obstacle course and eighth overall for combined equitation and obstacle, riding his assigned horse, Alex. Deputy J.P. Gillott placed seventh in uniform competition and seventeenth overall in the combined equitation and obstacle, riding his assigned horse, Scout.
Auxiliary class riders Gerald Griffin from the Parks and Recreation Department and Dawn Davis from Children & Youth Services placed seventh and tenth, respectively. The Auxiliary class competition faces the same challenges as law enforcement, except that they are separated into law enforcement officer and non law enforcement officer groupings. Mr. Griffin rode Byrd and Ms. Davis rode Phineas.
The Lackawanna County contingent competed against agencies from all across North America. There were 101 riders from 65 different police and sheriff departments. The contestants were from Michigan, Kentucky, Massachsetts, Connecticut, Texas, Toronto, Ontario, and Quebec, to mention a sampling of the locations.
The Lackawanna County Sheriff’s Office has been competing in The North American Police Equestrian Championships since 2004. In years past, the department has placed first and was selected as the best appearing horse and rider combination in North America.
Next year’s competition will be held in Richmond, VA, and hosted by the Richmond Police Department’s Mounted Division.
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