- hoffywhf
SWAT Team
The morning started off in a very typical fashion this morning. I did the barn chores and fed the first couple of pastures and it was just a typical morning on the retirement farm. As I was walking through one of the pastures to continue feeding breakfast I noticed the horses in the field and the other fields I could see were on high alert. Like seriously high alert. I saw a lot of horses standing like statues with heads raised, ears pricked, and tails flagged. Then they would prance around for a minute before striking the pose again.
Henry strikes the pose I kept seeing as I walked through one of the pastures
Not an everyday site to see this parked in your driveway
Just as I noticed the squad car and the van then I saw a bunch of guys in full SWAT gear coming out of the house. I returned my cell phone to my pocket as I knew what was going on at that point. The SWAT team was practicing hostage rescue, high risk entrances, and all of the other dangerous and scary things that SWAT teams do. My dad founded and chairs a law enforcement non-profit foundation to support the local law enforcement agencies and a couple of times a year the SWAT team practices out at the farm. Jason and I have even been “hostages” and been rescued. In past practices our barn has been stormed by team members, the entire farm has been staked out, and the old house is used as well. They can storm around in the old house and not have to worry about breaking things, getting anything dirty, etc.
Trust me, even when they are just practicing you truly understand that you don’t want to mess with these guys! The horses seemed to pick up on that and were riveted by the sounds and the occasional sites of the team in their gear. The horses certainly never find me that interesting – I hardly warrant a casual lift of the head.
Bush staring at the house wondering why there are so many people in there yelling. He wasn’t brave enough to actually go over there and found out what was going on!
This was why it took forever for everyone to eat! Tony was doing the statue thing in this picture and not even chewing.
I’m sure the horses feel safer knowing they are “in” with the local law enforcement. Instead of going to horse shows or hitting the trails we entertain the horses with things like SWAT team practices. Instead of taking them to the action we bring the action to them. Just another day on the retirement farm!
Buffy was one of the horses most fascinated by the action. I don’t think she ever stopped watching.
