Horse Guard Members Hope To Participate In Parade

By Kendra Bobowick

“I think we’re going to be in the parade,” said resident Gordon Johnson, also the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard commandant. Following a months-long official and grass-roots struggle to spare the horse guard from budget cuts and only days away from the annual Labor Day Parade in which the horse guard traditionally participates, State Representative Chris Lyddy had received word that the facility will not be closed.

Regarding parade participation, Mr Johnson said, “We have no official word but, we’re here and still at the parade.” Just ten horses remain at the facility — roughly half of what the stables at Fairfield Hills previously housed.

Weathering The Storm

Neither natural disaster nor budget constraints have stopped the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard from extending helping hands in town recently.

During a night of heavy rain that fell Saturday, August 27, hours before Hurricane Irene struck on Saturday night Sunday, horse guard volunteers assisted with an emergency shelter set up at Newtown High School.

“That was a long night for a lot of people,” said Mr Johnson. According to horse guard supporter Ken Fay, members volunteered their services in an unofficial capacity as they did not receive official orders from the State Military Department. Among those helping hands at the high school Saturday night and into Sunday morning were Cynthia Giancaspro, Mr Johnson, Sarah Milas, and Jodi Fay.

Aside from becoming involved in community assistance Saturday, the horse guard facility at Fairfield Hills also served as emergency shelter for 18 additional animals other than the horse guard’s ten horses. The state Department of Agriculture temporarily relocated horses, a pregnant mare, two goats, and two mini horses from elsewhere in the state to weather the weekend storm. Animals arrived Friday, August 26, and remained until Tuesday, August 30, Mr Johnson said. “They were relocated from areas where structures weren’t sound,” he said.

Background

Speaking magic words via a hastily typed e-mail on August 19, Rep Lyddy said he learned that the state did not plan to close the facility down.

“I am happy to announce that in a call with the Speaker of the House’s office late today, the Governor’s Chief of Staff, Tim Bannon, stated they do not plan to move forward with the Military Department’s proposal to close the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard in Newtown.”

The news came after a flurry of activity, including a last-ditch effort to generate calls and e-mails of support to the governor from his Newtown constituents and other fans of the centuries-old military unit ahead of a previously set deadline of Monday, August 22 — at which time the local unit was to have completed its merger with the First Company Horse Guard with a relocation to its facility in Avon.