lord nelson

Lord Nelson, a 42-year-old horse stabled at Gales Way Farm in Wrightstown, won an inaugural "Horse Personality of the Year Award." He was Rutgers University's police horse who carried the Scarlet Knight mascot at football games. (Courtesy of Equine Science Center)

WRIGHTSTOWN — For 22 years, Lord Nelson carried the Scarlet Knight mascot across Rutgers University's football field and helped officers perform their duties as the school's mounted patrol horse.

After the 42-year-old American Quarter horse retired in 2000, he took on a new role with the school's Equine Science Center in 2010, becoming the subject of an interactive youth component of the center's website.

"Even in his old age, his mind is as sharp as a tack. He does not miss a thing," said Karyn Malinowski, director of the Equine Science Center, which purchased Lord Nelson in 1978 to assist the university's Department of Public Safety.

The New Jersey Equine Advisory Board — a division of the state's Department of Agriculture — awarded Lord Nelson the first-ever "Horse Personality of the Year" award to honor the contribution he's made to education throughout his life, Malinowski said.

He is currently stabled at Gales Way Farm in Wrightstown.

"I have never seen such a smart, fearless horse with character," Malinowski said. "I think they gave this award because Lord Nelson is so special and so amazing that they wanted to recognize him in this late stage of his life."

The center created a blog, written in Lord Nelson's first-person point of view, as an online class to share information about the horse industry, with topics such as nutrition, physiology and the environment, she said.

"We use a day in the life of Lord Nelson and something that he does to look at the science behind it and write about it," Malinowski said. "And he tests you all the time, even in his old age."

Nicole Mulvaney may be reached at nmulvaney@njtimes.com. Follow her on Twitter @NicoleMulvaney. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.