LISA DESJARDINS: For more than two decades, Mark Kirwan served as a police officer in Washington DC, but a few years ago feeling lost amid COVID and after the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

He made an unusual choice moving from fighting crime to rescuing horses with a mix of purpose and poetry.

He told us his story.

MARK KIRWAN, Former Washington D.C. Police: I should gather up all the lost souls that wonder desert all the ones that are alone.

All the ones that are broken.

All the ones that never really fitted in I shall gather them all up and together we shall find our home.

So we've already fed our barn horses.

We start feeding them around 5:36 o'clock in the morning.

I'm Mark Kirwan.

I'm from a very small town and County Tipperary called Ross Gray.

And I came to the States, initially in the early 90s, to work on a horse farm here in Virginia, ended up getting involved in law enforcement and working in law enforcement for 21 years, but I was keeping my foot in the door with horses and the equine business.

Chloe is getting upset, hasn't had his feed yet.

Three years ago, I bought this magical little place in Culpeper County, and as you say, in the foothills of the Shenandoah, it's beautiful.

It's a little slice of heaven.

And you know, I filled it with rescues that I've rescued over the last three years.

Aiden was electrocuted.

But when he wouldn't pull the equipment, what they used to do is they would tie dye and a wire from a car battery into his mouth, and they would shock them.

So they damaged all his nervous system.

We also have donkeys, alpacas.

It's a menagerie of animals here on the farm.

And then, you know, there's great solace here.

It's beautiful, it's peaceful, it's quiet.

And it allows the animals to enjoy their last years of life after losing trust in humans who have neglected them and mystery to them for so many years.

It was 9/11 triggered sort of the law enforcement thing after being here in the States and witnessing such a catastrophic event.

So I decided to joined up the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC.

January 6 was instrumental in me deciding that I was going to leave the police department.

You know, when a group of extremists raid and attack the head of democracy, the building that represents the United States and what it was built on.

It's a very sad day.

And it has certainly had just a huge effect on everyone who wore a uniform and everyone who was who was there that day.

COVID is the reason why I bought this farm.

I had a restaurant in Washington, DC, had a restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, just a few miles across the bridge.

And I really thought I was going to lose everything.

It was this tsunami of illness that hit the world that shocked us.

Head wasn't in the right place.

And I thought, well, what can I do and luckily, my dad's a great sounding board for me back in Ireland.

So I called him up and he just said, go back to what you're used to what you love, go back to horses, go back to farm.

And the chestnut there is Quinn.

And he was beaten severely, and they damaged his eye.

So he's actually almost blind in his left eye.

So unfortunately, that affects him with coming up on him.

And you have to make sure you're on his right side.

So that he can see and he's comfortable with you because otherwise he gets a bit nervous.

Most of the animals I've rescued specifically the draft horses come from the Kilpin and Pennsylvania.

So what we do as rescue people is we will go and we will outbid the meat buyers.

So they have a set amount they'll pay for a horse going on body weight, and then we'll just go above it and then bring that horse back on a trailer.

Every week then they get a special treat, they get each one gets a bottle of Guinness in their mash.

And that's sort of an Irish trait because Guinness is known to give horses a great call to great sheen under (inaudible) helps with hoof growth.

It's like a Friday treat for the animals.

They love it, you know, so it's really good.

And I enjoy battle myself as well.

It's just me and my girlfriend Abby.

We bandage, we soak the hooves, we do everything.

And, you know, it's like I said, it's tough.

It's hard work.

It's seven days a week.

365 but we love it.

And a lot of people say it's great what you're doing you're rescuing these animals, but they actually rescued me from a career in law enforcement to COVID not knowing where it was gone.

These animals, brought it all home to me and grounded me and seen the condition they're in now knowing that they don't ever have to pull a plow again that they don't have to be beaten.

No one leaves here when they come here.

That's it.

We don't sell them in my rehome them.

It's important for them to know that when they're in the green pastures here, the next pasture they're going into his God's pastures.

To walk out into the field the horses have rescues or animals that all they do is just rest their head and your shoulder and give you great joy and it's fantastic, it's lovely and it makes it makes getting up in the morning better, and it makes any negativity that comes into your life.

It's like voiding it and making things positive again.