The officers of the Mounted Unit - Dallas Police Force and CA Trojan, a "Nap" kid donated to the unit in 2004.

SC Ivan Dennis, Trojan, Tracy & SC Mark Tarver.

These officers first inspected Trojan for donation

Ivan was "Naps" body guard where he made

his appearances at the State Fair.

Dallas Mounted Police Unit at Caruth Ranch
November 13, 2006

Written by Joanna Friebele, Arabian Horse Today
Photos by Sue Wooldridge McCandless

It was a beautiful crisp November morning and the barns at the Caruth Ranch were bustling with anticipation and an air of expectancy.   Tracy Caruth, the quintessential hostess, had all preparations in hand and plans were all expedited for the event and it wasn’t long before trucks and a trailer rolled into the driveway and officers in long shining black boots and jodhpurs exited their vehicles and converged on the stallion barn. The officers were members of the Special Operations Unit, Mounted Division of the Dallas Police Force.   They could have been an intimidating group of law enforcement, but today they were excited to be a part of the ceremony and were all smiles.

Sergeant Michael Hunter and Senior Corporal Russell Brookshire unloaded their trailer and a young Napitov gelding squarely backed out into the driveway. This youngster was just three years old and had to be almost 17 hands, if not more, his name is CA Trojan. He had been a gift to the mounted department in August of 2004. Chief Kunkle accepted his donation in person at the ceremony to celebrate the bequest of a substantial amount of funding to the department by the Caruth Foundation, the ceremony was held at the Mable Peters Caruth building in Dallas, which is home of the Community Foundation.  

Trojan was the result of breeding one of Tracy’s Belgian mares to Napitov to produce a wonderfully substantial horse capable of being extremely athletic. He also has an imposing impression, which will be extremely helpful in the service of the police department.  

As the ties between the Caruth family and the Dallas Police force run deeper and Tracy’s passion to help the department have grown has she becomes more familiar with the officers and their work, the donations of geldings to the mounted division further the connections. In November when the opportunity to donate another gelding presented itself Tracy decided to have a ceremony to honor the department and the men and women behind it, who work there and sacrifice their lives daily in the service of the city and its residents.  

Sergeant Michael Hunter and Senior Corporal Russell Brookshire with Time Traveller and Tracy Caruth

CA Trojan, Tracy and Retired SC Tom Hall

Time Traveler, nicknamed “Travis”, owned and donated by Dr. Brad and Karen Root of New Mexico, is another Nap kid. He was trained under the capable hands of Vicki Bowman and has a show record which includes two regional Top Five’s, and several champions and reserves.   He competed in two disciplines hunter pleasure and western and now he will undergo rigorous training for the mounted unit.

The unit is stationed at Fair Park in Dallas and consists of two squads, for a total of seventeen riders. At this time Senior Corporal Russell Brookshire is their main trainer. Retired trainer, Senior Corporal Tom Hall will be undertaking the training for Trojan this year and he is looking forward to working with the “big guy” who is the baby of the group! Many of the horses at the unit have had illustrious careers, from dressage champions to retired thoroughbreds, but many of the horses are beginning to age, so new horses are brought in to team with the older more experienced mounts. Senior Corporal Lucy Barnett rides one of the oldest, Amigo, a Quarter Horse, he is 30 this year, and he is being retired. As long as the horses are happy in their job and sound the department will continue to use them, even at an older age. Lucy is one of two women in the squad and she says she loves working this unit and can’t think of working in any other department. She hopes to be with the mounted division until she retires.

Nap enjoys strutting his stuff at liberty.

Tracy's dad and uncle enjoy the party and meeting new friends.

The mounted unit had been non-operational since around 1910 and was revived in 1982 by Senior Corporal Ivan Dennis. Now it consists of two units for a total of fifteen officers and two sergeants.   The unit comes under the Special Operations Unit, which includes the Bomb Squad and Canine Unit. Chief Tom Lawrence is the commander of the Special Operations Unit and it was particularly nice to have him visit for the donation ceremony. Lieutenant Craig Miller is Commander of the Special Services Unit and was also in attendance. Sergeant Michael Hunter heads up the Mounted division and was on hand for all questions about the unit.

The horses are extremely well cared for and all are geldings to avoid any hormonal issues. They are dispatched each day to different locations and experience many different situations from crowd control at the State Fair, to parades and football games.   They also get duty at the shopping malls, and everywhere they go the horses act as a public relations tool for the police force.   People love to come up and talk to the officers on horseback and pet the horses, but they can also be intimating when they are working crowd control and breaking up an angry mob. Senior Corporal Luis Villarreal told me that it was quite intimidating to their “perps” to be handcuffed to the saddle of a horse, they usually didn’t give any trouble after that!

The officers were entertained with a barn tour and introductions to all of the “Nap Kids” and then it was time for bar-b-que. The main isle of the barn had been turned into a long dining room with red colored table clothes and floors swept clean enough to eat off.   The delicious meal was followed by cake in honor of Tracy’s birthday several days before.

Good food and good friends!

Then “Nap” was presented to the group at liberty in the arena and the master himself was certainly feeling energetic that day. He circled the officers and gave them a wonderful show.   Then several siblings along with brother “Travis” were brought into the arena and photographed together, the youngest Its Show Time TWC “Tommy” wasn’t too sure about all the close attention but he stood in line long enough to get a photograph, then he buried his head in Tracy’s arms and tried to hide.

After the festivities, it was time to load up and take the two geldings back to Dallas. That evening there would be two “Nap” kids in the employment of the Dallas Police Force, and in time they would be on the streets making the town a safer place, and acting as ambassadors for the force and our breed.

Tracy enjoys her surprise birthday cake!

SC Mark Ward, Marieta "Mo" Oglesby of Defenbaugh Associates,

and Lt. Anthony Williams of the DPD Helicopter Division

Tracy shows Sergeant Hunter and SC Russell Brookshire the new sign she had made in their honor. It welcomes the unit to the Ranch.

Tracy with "Travis" & his siblings - RtoL
No Time To Nap - "Hughy",  Time Traveller - "Travis", CA Time Machine - "Timmy", It's Show Time - "Tommy"

Trojan loads right up to go home.

"Travis" Heading to his New Home