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Jan 14, 2024

The horse that pulled carriage at Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck wedding

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck got married down the coast on Hampton Island in

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck got married down the coast on Hampton Island in August. That's not a rumor. I heard it straight from the horse's mouth.

Well, I heard it from mouth of the horse's best friend. The friend is Peggi Noon. The horse is Forrest (yes, as in Forrest Gump).

I have long admired Peggi, the founder of Pegasus Riding Academy off Tennessee Avenue in East Savannah. Her life's passion is therapeutic horsemanship, and her horses work miracles with children and teens with physical, emotional, and mental disabilities.

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When the happy couple Jennifer and Ben tied the knot on the barrier island between Savannah and Sea Island, they needed a horse with just the right credentials to pull the wedding carriage. Forrest passed the background check. That's not a surprise since he is a retired police horse.

Peggi got him from the Savannah Police Department when he was 19-years-old. "He had survived two cancers, one on his eyelid and one inside his eye. When the Mounted Patrol thought that he was going to lose his eye, they donated him to Pegasus.

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"Fortunately he kept his eye, and he is 23 now. He has learned how to pull a carriage, and that's how he got his starring role in the Lopez-Affleck wedding."

Horses like him can live to be forty years old, but for Forrest there may be a problem. He has a new cancer - squamous cell carcinoma in his left jaw area.

Over the two weeks in September between an initial biopsy that revealed the cancer and a CT scan at the University of Georgia the affected area had doubled in size. The veterinary experts at UGA, Auburn and University of Florida all say that the disease is incurable.

Peggi says, "It is not expected to metastasize and spread throughout this body like in humans. But it will grow. It will spread to the bones, nerves, and blood vessels along that side of his face. It will affect his eye and mouth, probably leaving him blind in the left eye and unable to chew on his left side."

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For now he is being treated with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds which are mixed with his food every day. But Peggi is a believer, and she thinks that, if she gets the word out, someone may know of a cure.

I guess the heck that she is a believer. She is herself a three-time cancer survivor, so she knows miracles up close.

When I visited the other day, Peggi hugged him and brushed his top knot and rubbed the sleep from his eyes to get him pretty for some photos. He clomped his hooves to show his appreciation.

Peggi says that he loves to break out of the stables and roam the neighborhood streets. Being a hefty draft horse, he is able to handily push through the fencing and underbrush. The last time he got out, he got a police escort back. One of Peggi's volunteers heard over the police scanner the report of a big loose horse on Louisiana Avenue.

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She headed out to the location with his halter, but when she arrived, officers were already there. Peggi showed me a video of Forrest being led home, with one police car in front of him and two cars behind. "He seems to like the sound of his hooves on the pavement."

He got his name from his capture of a purse snatcher years ago in Forsyth Park. Three mounted police chased the criminal, but Forrest was in the hottest pursuit. Seeing him run, one officer shouted encouragement, "Run, Forrest, Run." And the name stuck.

Peggi has a soft heart. She introduced me also to her rescue dog Bob. "Bob stands for Big Old Baby because of how he cries when I leave him alone."

Peggi wants Forrest to run (and escape) for years to come, free of pain. If you know of any possible treatment for his squamous cell cancer, please let her know.

Ben Goggins is a contributing lifestyles columnist. He is a retired marine biologist and lives on Tybee Island. He can be reached at 912-547-3074 or [email protected]. See more columns by Ben at SavannahNow.com/lifestyle/.