Sgt. Jon Levi and partner, Checker Cash, were trusted brothers for 16 years they worked together daily for the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office.

Cash, also known as "CC," and Levi rode on Bourbon Street together in training and in a Tennessee Titans' Super Bowl parade. They separated about 500 people when a fight broke out during a Riverdale-Oakland High School football game.

They survived being trapped in a ravine, found several missing people and saved a suicidal man. They deterred crime while patrolling shopping areas during Christmas. They did demonstrations at community events.

A sad expression crossed Levi's face when reflecting on his who died Nov. 23.

CC, 21, was a Tennessee Walking horse that failed in the show ring but exceled by becoming the first horse certified as a police officer in the Sheriff's Mounted Patrol Unit Levi formed about 20 years ago. CC retired and spent the last years of his life cared for by Levi, his wife, Kristi and daughters, Karalynne and Madison.

"He was more than a service animal," Levi said of CC. "He was family. I trusted him so much in any situation."

Levi and CC bonded when he saved the horse that injured his leg on a fence. After surgery, Levi slept in the barn with him two days during recovery.

"From that moment on, it was just something between me and him," Levi said. "He would do anything I asked him to do."

Levi saved CC's life when the horse slipped and toppled into a ravine July 23, 2005 at Barfield-Crescent Park after finding a lost family.

"He was upside down atop me and just wide enough for his body to go through, except his hips," Levi said, explaining he broke CC's fall.

A team of emergency responders spent hours freeing the horse, who suffered a small scrape while Levi got stitches in his arm.

Levi explained one horse equals 11 officers on foot when controlling a crowd. During the Riverdale-Oakland football game fight, Levi and partner School Resource Officer Kerry Nelson riding Rebel pushed people away so the officers on the ground could control the crowd.

The sergeant retired CC to prevent him from being lame and arthritic.

"He was put on this earth to be a police horse," Levi said. "He taught me far more than I ever taught him. That's why I'll miss being able to talk to him."