Officer Clark

Arrival Date:  2009

Farewell Date:  July 3, 2025

 

Officer Clark faithfully served the San Diego Police Department for almost five years. He had been an exemplary officer, keeping visitors to our beloved Balboa Park safe. During this time, Clark had been a member of the San Diego Police Department’s Mounted Enforcement Unit.

Prior to that, Clark, a draft-Standardbred cross, was an Amish cart horse in Clark, Missouri.

At some point it is believed he sustained a neck injury. Now, that neck injury is causing this fourteen year old gelding a neurological problem called Wobbler Syndrome. Clark stumbles without warning. As sweet of a horse as Clark is, this condition makes Clark unsafe as a police horse and unsafe for placement in a home where he would be ridden. In the past, horses like Clark, who could not be sold as riding horses, were humanely euthanized. Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the San Diego Police Department, Clark found a forever home at Horses of Tir Na Nog.

While we were thrilled to welcome Clark to the ranch, we were unprepared for his larger-than-life personality.  This handsome, noble fellow was definitely one of the biggest goofballs.  He was always the alpha in his group of boys, but given the opportunity, he was happy to wear rabbit ears or to pose as a pumpkin or a Christmas tree.  Many of you knew him as a super hero during our “Horses and Their Heroes” events over the years.  Officer Clark was truly one of a kind.

 

Farewell Date:  July 3, 2025

 

On Thursday, July 3, 2025 our beloved Officer Clark, SDPD Retired, collapsed in his corral and passed away.

We had been treating Officer Clark for an infection for over a month with alarmingly high SAA and a recurrent low-grade fever.  SAA (Serum Amyloid A) is a blood test that detects inflammation.  During Officer Clark’s exams, we became aware that he had an irregular heart rhythm.  But we were unprepared for his passing.

In reaching out to Dr. Harlan, he offered the following thoughts, “Clark’s case is a challenging one.  I think the primary issue was his heart.  He consistently had a tachycardia (elevated heart rate) with an irregular arrhythmia (an abnormal heart rhythm with random changes in tempo).  He also was intermittently displaying other signs of heart failure; increased respiratory rate, crackles and pops in the lungs; distended jugular veins with jugular pulses, coughing. . . The heart issues were the primary cause of his death.  I believe that he was suffering from heart failure, this can result in many of the signs that we saw including the arrhythmia.  Unfortunately, there is nothing we could have done to fix this condition.”

We are so honored to have been caring from him for the last sixteen years.  He was thirty-one years old.

We know his faithful sidekick Beckett was waiting for hm at the Rainbow Bridge.  They have been apart for seven years, following Becket’s passing in 2018.  What a reunion that must have been between these two best buddies.  Of course, Clark’s passing leaves a hole in Pax’s life and a hole in all of our hearts!