Hubby sent this story to me and I had to show you all…
Here’s “Murphy” – overweight but waiting to be discovered in his field. And he was! The trainer for the Portland Mounted Police saw him and put him to work.
Now, Murphy is a star!
Click here to read the original version.
Handsome!
MURPHY’S STORY!
1
“Being honest,” owner Randy Snow told the newspaper last year, “we ended up with five horses on the ranch, and old Murphy was always low man on the totem pole.”
Murphy got overweight because he wasn’t being ridden and because the owners couldn’t afford hay. So Murphy roamed the property feeding on grass, a diet The Oregonian likened to an all-pizza diet for humans.
The police bureau’s horse trainer, Jennifer Mack, saw possibilities, though, and the city bought the gelding for $3,000.
2
Murphy went on a strict diet and an aerobic exercise regimen that included an electric walker, a kind of treadmill that prods a horse to keep walking in a circle.
After months of work, Murphy made the grade, and started patrolling in the city’s upscale Pearl District.
He’s among the eight animals that patrol downtown to the delight of Portlanders. Budget hawks sometimes call for cutting the unit but get nowhere.
And Murphy has turned out right, judged perhaps the second best in the unit when he began patrol duty in January.
“He’s awesome,” Wells said then. “He wants to keep learning. I couldn’t have a better partner.”
Murphy and his trainer… she looks so little on him!
MG, our Bucket Fund horse for July needs support! He’s doing better – a bit. They say life is coming back into his eyes! Click to learn his story or to donate!
