Thanks to: Day by Day News Article: By DEIRDRE CARMODY AND LAURIE JOHNSTON
Published: December 17, 1982 (Holy Cross Pictures: Fr. Tomas Del Valle)
City's Gift Horse
A horse named Rapp, the 76th gift horse received by the Police Department Mounted Unit, was formally blessed yesterday, along with the Christmas creche on West 42d Street outside Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church.
The 8-year-old chestnut quarter-horse from Long Island was bought with $2,000 the church raised for the Police Foundation's horse donation program, begun in 1976.
The Mounted Unit has 92 horses citywide, 21 of them stabled on 42d near 11th Avenue, two blocks from Holy Cross. Rapp is named for the church pastor, the Rev. Robert Rappleyea.
The horse attended the ceremony with a sidekick, 42d Street, donated by the 42d Street Development Association, which helped place the stable near the Times Square area. When Father Rappleyea blessed the animals with his incense-filled censer, both horses shied wildly but then settled down.
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