A NEW SPIRIT
Pittsburgh police have a new employee, a horse donated by a Steelers player
If the Tennessee Titans seemed large to Stephon Tuitt on Thursday night, Spirit, a Shire draught horse, was huge, weighing 1,615 pounds with two more years to grow.
“I wouldn’t want to line up against him,” Mr. Tuitt said with a laugh.
Mr. Tuitt, a defensive end for the Steelers, greeted the 5-yearold horse Friday at the Allegheny County Police Stables in South Park. Inspired by his mother, Tamara Bartlett, who is a deputy sheriff in Atlanta, he said wanted to do something for the Pittsburgh police and learned that donating a horse might be the best thing.
“I always grew up in the police department, so to be able to do this — it’s huge to have a horse representing the people going out to risk their lives every day,” he said.
Mr. Tuitt’s 3-year-old son named the horse after the one in the movie “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.”
But Spirit is no mischievous and hot-headed horse like the one in the movie. Upon arriving in the Steel City on Tuesday, he has walked over to greet babies, dogs and joggers on the track next to the stables.
Spirit was originally found at a farm in Port Jervis, N.Y., thought to have been abandoned by a couple who either died or moved into a nursing home. A veterinarian technician took him in before a buyer was found in Pittsburgh, said Shannon Leshen, the officer who has been
assigned to him.
Although Spirit is a “people person horse,” it will be a while until the mounted unit can hit the streets for events and patrols, said police Cmdr. Ed Trapp.
Police horses have to go through training and learn commands to trot, turn or back up. Then, they are taught to steel themselves against sensory distractions such as the sound of walking on pavement, crowds or even a waving flag.
Pittsburgh police announced earlier this year that the mounted unit would return — the department had been eliminated after budget cuts in 2003. The department now hopes to obtain four to six horses. Cmdr. Trapp said he hopes to have the horses out and about by March.
Cmdr. Trapp said he hopes that the mounted unit can be run mostly on donations and community sponsors.
“One of the things we’re trying to do is avoid putting a unit in a position where a budgetary constraint can cause it to go away,” he said. Aside from the animals themselves, residents can pony up donations that will be used to cover anything from hay to vet visits.
Spirit is the second horse to join the Pittsburgh mounted unit after Guinness, who joined in October. Police hope to get two more next week, named Titan and Big Bear, if the latter can pass a veterinary exam.