Sen Const Brett Hockey with new horse on the block Dexter.
Camera IconSen Const Brett Hockey with new horse on the block Dexter. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Brave for 13 years

Lauren Pilat, Eastern ReporterEastern Reporter

With 13 years of service, Braveheart’s final posting was leading the Anzac Day parade along St Georges Terrace in front of thousands, with officer-in-charge Glen Potter riding him.

Sen Sgt Potter said he had worked with Braveheart for seven years and established a good relationship with him like he would with any other partner.

‘He’s a lovely horse and we will miss him very much,’ Sen Sgt Potter said.

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‘He has an excellent temperament, but I can tell he has come to the point where he’ll be better off grazing.

‘He’s getting older now and you can see the same things like stiffness happening to him as they do in people.’

Standing at 17.3m tall and weighing 800kg, Braveheart served in operation policing posts around the state from the Kimberley to Northbridge.

‘He’s seen it all,’ Snr Sgt Potter said.

‘He has done everything from protests to searches in the bush and been involved in large- scale public disorder incidents.

‘He has seen the best and worst in people. But he took it all in his stride.’

Sen Sgt Potter said that after serving for more than a decade, Braveheart’s new home would be in Dunsborough.

‘Two former mounted officers have a property there so he will go there and graze away; he will love it,’ he said.

Braveheart passed the batton to three-year-old Dexter, the youngest horse in the section.