Horse Guard Fate Lingers In Jeopardy

By Kendra Bobowick

The Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard is still in jeopardy from proposed state budget cuts as the state grapples with its deficit.

A release from Governor M. Jodi Rell’s office Monday explained: “Governor Rell is committed to eliminating the projected budget deficit. The governor vetoed two deficit bills recently passed by the General Assembly because she felt that they did not adequately reduce the deficit. In doing so, funding for the two governor’s horse and foot guards was kept intact.

“Governor Rell has stated that the General Assembly should identitfy which company they seek to eliminate if they intend to do so in the future. Unfortunately, due to the troubling fiscal situation that the State of Connecticut is in and the possibility that it could worsen, we can not offer an assurance that funding for any group will not be cut.”

Newtown is home to one of two horse guard units in Connecticut. The First Company Governor’s Horse Guard is based in Avon.

Although Gov Rell recently vetoed a package that pinpointed the state’s horse and foot guards as areas to reduce spending as Connecticut faces a massive budget deficit, the statement Monday is not as optimistic as the assurances State Representative DebraLee Hovey had heard from Gov Rell last week.

Days after the governor’s veto Ms Hovey had said, “The governor has assured me that the horse guard has nothing to worry about,” conveying a conversation she had with Gov Rell.

Second Company Major Gordon Johnson has not learned of any changes since the governor’s veto. “It’s been quiet, very quiet.” He will not know if legislation again jeopardizes the horse guard until a new bill, if any, comes out, he said. Wishing to preserve his unit, he said, “I really feel we’re a worthwhile asset.”

Part-time caretaker Jennifer Mazzara walked the hardened fields Tuesday and greeted each horse by name. Admitting that initially the paddock appeared to be simply a lot of dark horses, she can now tell them apart at a glance. “They all look different to me,” she said, laughing as one mustang tossed his hay. Through the fields and down a slope toward a split-rail fence stood several horses all with their backs to the wind, tails flowing beneath their bellies in a gust.

Large moist eyes blinked as Ms Mazzara reached to stroke one horse’s nose and rest her head against the flat slope between his eyes. The day was less than 20 degrees and partly cloudy, but the horses’ thickened winter coats gave them a bushy appearance. Inside the stables was a picture of the 24 horses now on the property. Tape marks on the wall and areas of blank space revealed the spots where as many as nine other horses’ pictures had been.

Previous funding cuts had already thinned the herd.