Rutgers' Lord Nelson, Only Horse Flagged In NCAA Game, Dies At 42
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) — The only horse ever to be penalized in a college football game has died.
Lord Nelson was euthanized on Sunday when he couldn't get up after falling on the ground, said Karyn Malinowski, director of the Rutgers Equine Science Center.
He was 42, or the human equivalent of 126 years.
One of Lord Nelson's duties during his 37-year Rutgers career was carrying the school's Scarlet Knight mascot during football games. It was against Army in 1994 that Lord Nelson was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct when he broke free and raced down the sideline at Giants Stadium.
"He got on the field when he wasn't supposed to, and so it was an extra man on field, unsportsmanlike conduct, personal foul," Malinowski said.
Lord Nelson was one the first horses to comprise the university police department's mounted patrol unit when he was purchased in 1978. He served for ten years before becoming part of a student-run patrol unit for 20 years.
He retired as equine professor emeritus in 2000 to teach children about horses.
"He definitely loved people," Malinowski said.
Lord Nelson won the New Jersey Equine Advisory Board's inaugural "Horse Personality of the Year Award" in 2015.
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