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We, Jim and Dian Cecil, founders and
owners of Police Mounts of Camelot, have established an operation
whereby horses are selected as weanlings, raised and trained
exclusively for police work. Our goal is to supply the best possible
horses to policing agencies across North America. While striving to
reach that goal, our main objective is to develop positive,
long-term relationships with those agencies.
A 1972 graduate of Auburn University’s School of Veterinary
Medicine, Jim provides critical veterinary supervision. He has
designed and implemented preventative health care, vaccination and
nutrition programs, with an ever-watchful eye for safety, parasite
and disease control.
Dian has an intense, life-long relationship with horses, horse
shows, training and breeding, along with a 25-year career in
professional dog obedience training. She is a Certified Mounted
Police Instructor.
The horses are all geldings, carefully screened draft crosses of
predominately Percheron dams and Thoroughbred or Quarter Horse
sires. Each foal is bred for temperament and size, creating a
uniquely tall, noble and sturdy warmblood, with good sense and lots
of presence.
Health care for the foals begins with vaccinations prior to purchase
and an aggressive internal parasite control program. Each horse is
permanently identified with an electronic chip.
Training is an on-going process. The foal begins training with a
natural horsemanship approach immediately upon arrival, learning to
quietly accept haltering and medicating even before being taught to
lead. His legs are handled and he is taught to stand for hoof
trimming. New stimuli are added day by day, right on to round pen
psychology, saddling, driving in long lines, obstacle and sensory
training and trailering. All of this occurs before he is ridden. The
horses are taught to respond to leg aids, with very little need for
rein pressure. Opening gates, ticketing a vehicle or moving a crowd
are all functions dependent on good leg yields. Before he goes into
a mounted unit, the budding police horse must prove himself quiet
and manageable.
Our horses are typically two to four years old when they are sold,
consequently, we ask that each horse be ridden by an experienced
handler and escorted by a quiet older horse until he is comfortable
in the new environment. Every horse seasons at a different rate, but
handled with care, they should be street-wise and trustworthy much
earlier than those purchased off the common market. The substantial
bone and large round feet of a draft horse, combined with youth and
early comprehensive health care management, should allow for these
horses to have eighteen to twenty years of valuable service on city
streets.
We look forward to sharing our horses with you.
Cordially,
Jim and Dian Cecil
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