Washington Post: Park Police horses to get new, more modern home on the Mall
Park Police horses to get new, more modern home on the Mall
By Micheal E. Ruane, published in the Washington Post, October 8, 2020
Suzanne Youngkin, one of the principal supporters of planned new stables, is licked by Tedi afters he gave the horse a mint. Government officials and executives of the Trust for the National Mall broke ground on the $15 million high-tech stables complex and education center. Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post
Tedi, the horse, was upset. He was a 10-year veteran of the U.S. Park Police mounted unit. He had spent a decade of hot summer days on the Mall, cold winters on the streets, and time in the shabby stables off Independence Avenue.
In the next stall was Chief, a former hunt club horse, who had worked at a spa in Virginia, donated to the force by a local philanthropist a year or so ago.
So Wednesday morning, when officials came to announce that new stables were going to be built on the site, and the VIPs fawned over Chief, Tedi began kicking the wall of his stall.
He took a drink of water and dribbled it on the pavement. He craned his neck and eyed Chief. He made such a fuss that Officer Roy Williams Jr. had to move him a few stalls away. “He’s not happy,” Williams said.
But Tedi was alone in his agitation Wednesday, as government officials and executives of the Trust for the National Mall broke ground on the $15 million high-tech stables complex and education center.
A horse named Delilah, part of a U.S. Park Police mounted patrol unit, attends the ceremony where plans for new stables that eventually will give her betters living quarters were announced. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)
The project is designed to replace the current stables of wood and shingle, surrounded by a stockade fence, that have been an eyesore on the Mall since they were erected for the nation’s bicentennial 44 years ago.
“Why should [the horses] live in uncle puppy’s pig farm?” said Lt. Denise Maradiaga, a former commander of the park police mounted unit and longtime horse owner who lobbied for the new complex. They deserved better.
“This is one of the highlights of my career,” she said. I”ve been a horse person my entire life. I’ve got over 30 years in law enforcement. And to be able to bring those two things together, I’m just absolutely thrilled.”
“I know what the horses have to offer,” she added. “I think it’s going to be such a big draw. They are the most fantastic ambassadors . . . especially in a time when people don’t have so much love for the police.”
“I can’t think of another law enforcement vehicle that has the ability to touch people’s hearts,” she said.
The horses are all donated, officials said. They are then selected for their ability to deal with the public and trained to handle an array of situations, from routine patrol to demonstrations.
Height is a plus, Williams said. One horse present Wednesday was a magnificent gray/white mare named Delilah, who is about six-feet tall at the shoulders.
Despite the training, some horses retain minor phobias. Tedi, for example, is still uneasy around big trucks, Williams said.
The new facility will be built at the location of the existing stables, between the Korean War Memorial and the D.C. War Memorial on the south side of the Mall.
A rendering of the new U.S. Park Police Horse Stables and Education Center on the Mall. (U.S. Commission of Fine Arts)
The old stables will be torn down and replaced with a modern facility that will have areas for public interaction with the animals, a heated wash and equipment room, a medical paddock, and an office building for the officers.
It will also have public restrooms — always welcome on the Mall — and two public viewing paddocks.
New stables have been on the Park Service wish list for 10 years, officials said. But it was not until the project caught the eye of the Trust for the National Mall, the Mall’s nonprofit fundraising partner, that it took off.
“When I first joined the trust, which was eight years ago, the first week I was there I came over here and kind of let myself in,” Teresa Durkin, the Trust’s executive vice president, said Wednesday.
“Then I heard this voice, ‘Can I help you, ma’am?’ ” she said. She identified herself and took a look around. “We knew this was a project that needed to be done, and anyone who comes here knows immediately why.”
The facility has had problems with flies, wasps and rodents, Maradiaga said. A cylinder of flypaper covered with insects hung from an overhang. And bird droppings stained some of the rafters.
A red-and-white sign reading “Restricted Area Do Not Enter” was posted at the facility's entrance, where the VIPs gathered to celebrate.
Construction is expected to begin in the next few months, Durkin said, and the complex should be finished in a year. “If it’s going to be built by this time next year, it’s got to start right away.”
Philanthropist Sheila C. Johnson waves as she saw an acquaintance just before the start of the stable complex groundbreaking ceremony on the Mall. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)
Philanthropist Sheila C. Johnson, vice chair of the Trust’s board, chair of the campaign to fund the stables and Chief’s former owner, said the Trust has raised $13 million of $15 million the project needs.
“We still want to continue to raise the maintenance fund, so that we will never have to worry about maintenance issues,” she said.
“We’re still $2 million short,” she said. “The price tag keeps going up, because of covid [and] the costs have gone up. . . . I’m reaching out to people who want to continue to support us. . . . I don’t care how much they’re willing to give.”
When Johnson stepped to the podium to mark the groundbreaking, she said, “I’m a little emotional today. . . . This project is so close to my heart.”
She said she has long been close to the equestrian community, which has “been a positive force . . . in our family life.”
She thanked all those who had contributed, and predicted that the new complex would be “a game changer” on the Mall.
She also mentioned “my buddy, Chief.”
“If you had seen his face when I put him in the trailer” at her Salamander Resort in Middleburg, Va., to join the Park Police, she said.
“He was like, ‘Wait. I have been at a spa these last few years. I don’t understand where I’m going,’ ” she said.
“I said, ‘You know, you’ve got a higher calling.’ ”