Greater Manchester Police welcome UK’s biggest police horse ‘super Trooper’ to the mounted unit

Greater Manchester Police have welcomed a huge new horse to its Tactical Mounted Unit (TMU), where officers have proudly named him Trooper.

The 10–year-old shire horse formerly went by the name of Joey, but due to tradition of naming all horses in the unit after characters and places from Charles Dickens’ novels, he has been renamed Trooper.

His arrival is a significant one for the TMU as Trooper is now the biggest horse GMP have ever had in the history of the force, police say.

‘Super’ Trooper measures in at 18.2 hands (from the ground to the top of the horse’s shoulders). Shire horses are known for being tall and also have great capacity for pulling weight.

Due to his size, the TMU had to make adjustments for Trooper, including his stable, horse box, bridle (headgear) and saddle being made bigger than the other horses.

Trooper has been with the TMU for almost six weeks, but this is only a fraction of the time required for Equine Trainers Alistair Hunstone and Kay Livesey to get him fully operational with GMP.

“It can take anywhere from six months to two years for a horse to become a fully operational police horse,” Alistair said.

During this process, Trooper will be trained at Hough End Police Station in the indoor arena and out on patrol. He will start off in quieter areas around Greater Manchester, before working his way up to busier ones.

“It’s a matter of now getting him out more on the roads, to football grounds, meeting crowds of people and assessing how he responds to us,” Alistair noted.

Officers say if people see Trooper patrolling in their area, they shouldn’t be put off by his size if they would like to come over to say ‘hello’. He’s been described as a ‘gentle giant’ and a horse who ‘adores attention from people’.

Once fully operational, Trooper will have several duties in the TMU, including high visibility patrols, assisting with managing public order, helping officers with intelligence gathering and taking part in community events such as school visits.

Due to his size, this should give his rider an advantage when working in crowded areas.

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