The Birmingham Police Department this week retired its storied Mounted Unit.

A ceremony was held on Monday in which the department said goodbye to the retiring unit’s mounted patrol horses: Blue Boy, Doc and Gumby.

A social media post by Birmingham PD advised the move was made due to “budgetary restraints.”

The unit, founded in the mid-1970s, was part of the Tactical Operations Precinct and performed regular patrols as well as crowd control and public relations assignments. This included representing the department in the respective inaugural parades for Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

The three horses have reportedly “been retired from police service and have all been rehomed into loving families.”

You can read more about the unit here and view pictures of the unit over time here.

Thank you Officers M. Cooley, J. Binion, W. Grayson, and K. Karmondi for serving in the BPD Mounted Unit.
The mounted patrol horses have been retired from police service and have all been rehomed into loving families.

— Bhampolice (@BhamPolice) October 26, 2020

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn