Five horses that once trotted under the logo of the Worcester Police Department were donated to four different police departments following a decision by the police chief to retire the Mounted Unit.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst Police Department now has two of the horses and the Providence Police Department and the Columbus, Ohio, Police Department each have one, according to Worcester police spokesperson Joseph M. Cersosimo. A fifth horse was retired.

Major, 17, and Cash, 12, were added to the Mounted Unit at UMass Amherst PD, and Picasso, 16, was recruited by the Providence PD.

A horse named Justice traveled halfway across the country to reach Columbus, Ohio.

Buster, 14, the fifth former hooved assistant of Worcester officers, was retired and is set to live the rest of his days with the department’s horse trainer.

The Mounted Unit was disassembled late last year after a decision by Interim Police Chief Paul B. Saucier, who estimated the move would save the department about $160,000 that will go toward training.

The hooved five were most recently kept at stalls at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction West Boylston.

The Mounted Unit dates to 2017, when it was formed with seven Worcester mounted officers who graduated from a state police training program. Prior to then, the city had not had a mounted police unit since the 1940s.

Over the years, the mounted unit has served as a goodwill ambassador at community events, while adding visibility for police patrols and assisting in crowd control during large events.

In summer 2023, the hooved patrol was present at the National Night Out event at Fuller Family Park and the year before residents perhaps got a glimpse of the horses at the Back to School Bash at Institute Park. Most recently, the Mounted Unit paid a visit to Lincoln Street School students.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Horses from disbanded Worcester PD Mount Unit hoof it to new homes