Howard County Police Volunteer Mounted Patrol members Linda Reed on Susie, Kate Leary on Hobbs, Mike Gafney on Bug and Christie Davis on King Arthur

The Howard County Police Volunteer Mounted Patrol had 4 members compete at the recent North American Police Equestrian Council (NAPEC) Championship held at the grounds of the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair on October 12 to 15.

The team consisted of Christie Davis, Michael Gafney, Kate Colburn Leary and Linda Reed. Three other members of the Patrol attended to assist NAPEC with the smooth operation of the event. They were Brian Davis, Therese Rodrique and Barb Thelen.

The competition included over 65 horses in police equestrian units from the U.S. and Canada. Some of the teams included those from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Hamilton, Ontario and Toronto, Canada. U.S. teams were from the Wayne County Sherriff, New York, NY State Police, Maryland National Capital Park Police, U.S. Park Police, Baltimore City, Detroit, MI, South Carolina, Richmond, VA, and several others. Competition was divided between full time law enforcement officers and auxiliary police officers. Individual events included uniform inspection, novice and expert equitation and a single class for all horses to complete an obstacle course.

At the end of the event every member of the team had placed successfully in several events. Christie Davis placed 3rd in Auxiliary Expert Equitation, 7th in obstacles and 4th Combined Overall in the Auxiliary Expert division which used the scores from Expert Equitation and obstacle scores. Michael Gafney placed 1st in Novice Equitation, 4th in obstacles, 1st Combined Overall in Auxiliary Novice division and 7th in Western Equitation. Kate Colburn Leary won 10th in Expert Equitation, 9th in obstacles, 9th Combined Auxiliary Expert Division and 6th in Western Equitation. Linda Reed placed 8th in the Expert Equitation, 8th in obstacles and 7th in the Combined Overall Auxiliary Expert Division.