LIVONIA, Mich. (WXYZ) — After 17 years of dedicated service to Wayne County, sheriff's office horse Hogan is hanging up his badge and bridle for a well-deserved retirement.
Hogan has worked alongside Sgt. Lacey Polderdyke of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office Parks Division and Mounted Unit since 2022, forming an unbreakable bond that has made his retirement decision particularly difficult.
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"If you love something, let it go — and I love him so much and so he will be, it'll be really good for him," Polderdyke said.
The decision to retire Hogan wasn't easy for Polderdyke, who has been with the sheriff's department since 2008. She joined the mounted unit when Sheriff Raphael Washington approached her about the specialized role.
"I said well, I don't know anything about horses, so probably motor. And he said you can even do mounted. So that's why he's the sheriff — he knows best," Polderdyke said.
Washington emphasized the importance of mounted units in community safety and engagement.
"We use our horses for crowd control, we use our horses for festivals, we use our horses for just to work in the parks here that we have to patrol. So it's very important for us," Washington said.
While Polderdyke's first year with the mounted unit was stressful, she developed an unexpected bond with her four-legged partner.
“I was terrified for the first year every time I was on him until he and I really started bonding, and then I could feel every little twitch and every electromagnetic charge,” Polderdyke said.
A retirement fit for royalty
Hogan will spend his golden years at McIntosh Ranch, a hobby farm owned by Julie McIntosh. She knew she had to make space for Hogan before Polderdyke even asked.
"Hogan is Ace's best buddy. They need to be together. I've got the room. I've got the love," McIntosh said.
Ace, Hogan's longtime companion who spent 17 years with him, retired in February at age 28. Now the two horses will be reunited in retirement.
"He will not be even mildly inconvenienced. I don't have a chiropractor or a masseuse, but they get chiropractic, massage. They wander around my 7 acres eating grass," McIntosh said.
McIntosh is committed to giving Hogan the retirement he deserves after years of public service.
"He worked really, really hard for Wayne County for a long time, and now it's time for him to relax and just let me work for him," McIntosh said.
For Polderdyke, this new chapter is bittersweet, but she knows Hogan has earned his peaceful retirement.
"Hogan's the heart horse, so anybody who knows about horses knows you usually only have one heart horse," Polderdyke said.
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