Thousands of people from Newtown, the surrounding area, and beyond have seen the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard (2GHG) troopers and horses at parades, educational outreach programs, community events, and more.

However, recently proposed legislation would privatize the Governor’s Horse Guard if passed, giving the 2GHG until June 30 to prepare for defunding by the Connecticut Military Department.

The proposed House Bill 6440, An Act Concerning the Organized Militia and The Governor’s Guards, would enable the Governor’s Guards — two Horse Guard units and two Foot Guard units — to transition from organized militia to a private military force.

While the bill would let the groups carry on their historical traditions, privatization would essentially spell the end of the 2GHG, according to retired Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Johnson.

“To privatize us would not give us enough funding by doing fundraisers in order to survive here to pay for everything,” Johnson said. “That’s the bottom line.”

The 2GHG is an all-volunteer, organized state militia unit headquartered in Newtown. The group was chartered in 1808, with its original mission being to protect and escort the Governor. The group has continued to serve the state ever since, with their main duties today being ceremonial in nature.

Johnson said that the state reached a compromise with the 2GHG, as well as the militia in general, around 15 years ago. Funding issues at the time led then Governor Dannel Malloy to consider cutting funding for the Horse Guard, according to 2GHG Corporal Melanie Bonjour.

Johnson then came up with a way to leverage state costs by creating a leasing arrangement, where one end of the 2GHG’s barn is leased to a private enterprise. The funding from the lease goes towards supporting the group’s 11 horses.

“So this way, we’re not taking money from the taxpayers to feed, vet, farrier, or supply hay for our horses,” Johnson explained.

Another aspect Bonjour said the group has to leverage costs for is specialty care services for the horses. Qualified personnel will provide resources such as chiropractic care, proper nutrition guidelines, medication oversight, and more.

The 2GHG is also supported by the separate nonprofit organization Friends of the 2GHG that sponsors events to raise funds for the group. Bonjour, who is the chairperson of the Friends of the 2GHG, said the group holds a wide variety of events every year to bring people together and support the community.

From compost drives and trail rides to the annual Fall Festival that has cavalry displays and interactive child and family activities, Bonjour said that these are small fundraising efforts to further offset costs and provide specialty care for the horses.

Johnson said that the 2GHG does not make enough money from these fundraising events to exclusively pay for everything. Privatization means that the unit would have to offset all of the costs of supporting the property, Bonjour said, including building maintenance, insurance, and more.

Since the 2GHG is entirely composed of volunteers, many of whom Bonjour said have full-time jobs, this would make it difficult for them to pivot into more fundraising efforts. She said that these volunteers are incredibly dedicated; they participate in weekly drills, are at headquarters on weekends, and participate in public and private community events.

Bonjour said that the 2GHG consists of no more than 40 people, and that many members are retired.

“It’s a volunteer group, and to raise the amount of funds that would be necessary to keep this property … Fundraising is time consuming. We don’t have any full-time, permanent employees that could do that,” Bonjour explained.

Pushing For Options

Johnson and Bonjour, along with many other 2GHG members, went up to Hartford on Thursday, January 30 to testify before the legislature’s Veterans Committee. They were also joined by State Representatives Mitch Bolinsky (R-106) and Martin Foncello (R-107), along with State Senator Tony Hwang (R-28), in opposing HB-6440.

This comes after a long stretch of what Johnson and Bolinsky have said are ongoing communication issues between the Military Department and the militias. Johnson said that the draft of the raised HB-6440 originally came out in September. However, when the final raised bill came out in December, he said that its contents were changed to include the privatization initiatives.

By late December and early January, they were left to respond to a sudden potential privatization that would happen in just half a year.

“It’s just not enough time,” Johnson said. “If we don’t have a conversation, we can’t come up with a compromise that’s going to sustain us.”

These same sentiments are echoed by Bolinsky, who also said that he was unaware of the proposed bill privatizing the Horse Guard until late December. Bolinsky said he believes what’s presented as privatization is nothing more than the Military Department wanting what they report as being $1 million — their militia budget line — into their $6 million budget.

He added that he’s been doing a lot of personal questioning about where the “million dollar budget shuffle” will come from because as far as he can tell, “the total expense of running the militia units appears in the 2025 budget to have been about $526,000.”

Bolinsky said he only learned of that number on Tuesday, February 11 by asking the Office of Fiscal Analysis in a budget meeting.

“The Military Department hasn’t provided that; they provided $1 million even,” Bolinsky said.

Of that $526,000, Bolinsky said that Newtown is probably somewhere within the $116,000 to $200,000 range because, operationally, the Horse Guard contributes to the ongoing daily operation of maintaining the health and well-being of the horses.

There is some disagreement, he said, as to what he believes are the numbers being presented to the governor’s office that have ended up in a budget proposal and what is actually going to be the budgetary impact.

“I would hate to lose something so important and have them realize in savings what looks to be about half of what they’re promising,” Bolinsky said.

He continued by saying that he ultimately wants a “reconciliation of the books,” but that the Military Department has had a complete lack of transparency. While Bolinsky said that he’s been asking for the financials on the unit for two months, he still hadn’t gotten it as of Wednesday, February 12.

At the Veteran Committee’s January 30 meeting, Bolinsky personally requested that they defer action on HB-6440, and consider HB-5797 – An Act Concerning Funding for the Governor’s Horse Guards, with a request that they revisit the issue in the 2026 legislative session.

He said that this would instead afford them a “respectful timeline with which to develop plans and processes necessary to privatize, invite proposals, or be adopted as a state and community asset by another state agency as a historical or therapeutic treasure.”

“We basically were left with about five months to figure out what we’re gonna do with something that, by its nature, is not a business,” Bolinsky said.

Johnson said he told the committee members that they are not here to take away resources from the Military Department.

“They are our National Guard; they come first. That’s why I made the leasing agreement compromise 15 years ago,” Johnson explained.

However, now that the compromise will privatize the militias, Johnson said that the new compromise “just won’t work for us.”

Johnson added, “We want to be an asset to the state of Connecticut and the citizens, not a liability.”

“A Living History”

While the 2GHG has served the state throughout its 200 year history, that service continues into the modern day. 2GHG troopers and horses make frequent appearances in parades across Newtown, Danbury, Stamford, The Big E, veteran’s parades, and more.

However, Johnson and Bonjour said that the group pursues many more endeavors beyond that, including public education service events, supporting local scouting troops, holding community events and more.

The goal, they said, is to bring the community together and enrich the lives of as many people as they can.

They hosted a Jingle Bell Ride and Food Drive back in 2021 and 2022, where community members were encouraged to dress in festive attire and watch 2GHG and Newtown Bridle Lands Association members ride from the Horse Guard headquarters to Fairfield Hills Campus.

The drive served as a fundraiser for nonperishable food donations for FAITH Food Pantry and cash donations for Friends of Newtown Seniors Chore Services, which provides safety repairs to homes of qualified local senior citizens.

2GHG units have traveled to Camp Harkness, providing demonstrations and horse rides for handicapped adults and children. The group has also attended the For the Love of Horses event hosted by the Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary, which celebrated Newtown’s equestrian history and encouraged people to meet the horses and learn proper equine care.

The 2GHG even made a historical trip to France to honor 2GHG troopers who fought and were killed in action in World War 1, laying wreaths on Connecticut soldiers’ graves.

The group’s service, Johnson said, is continuous and not just limited to history.

“We do a lot of stuff every year, and we keep expanding on it,” Johnson said.

To that end, Bolinsky suggested to members of the Veterans Committee that the 2GHG could benefit from some association with the state’s Tourism Department rather than the Military Department. While Bolinsky said he discussed this with the Governor’s office, at this point in time, the only active conversation is “cutting them out of the budget.”

If the unit were to theoretically dissolve, Bolinsky said that it’s not as though another group like it could pop up overnight. If the group can’t sustain itself being a privatized entity, Bolinsky said it’d be a “death knell” for the 2GHG.

Bolinsky said that he wants local residents and those from the surrounding community to understand that it’s a pretty serious time for the Horse Guard. He added that they appreciate the support of people that submit testimony for our hearings or that reach out to the Veterans and Military Affairs Committee and to the Governor’s office with pleas to save the Horse Guard.

“Because once it’s gone, it’s gone,” Bolinsky said.

For more information about the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard, visit portal.ct.gov/mil/organization/governors-guards/2ghg/2ghg-home-page or their Facebook page, The Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.