Police Horses - why?

I saw horses used to great effect at a festival when someone got injured in the crowd, 3 mounted police formed a triangle around the girl so the crowd couldnt crush her until medics arrived.
 
Werewolf said:
Yup (although not so much the cracking skulls:p)

The Officer can basically concentrate on watching/following someone whilst the horse will generally avoid obstacles pretty much on it's own, or respond to the riders minimal controls/movements

The horses are also very very useful in environments where you go from normal road, to pedestrian areas, or even grass, as unlike pretty much any other form of transport in use, a horse can go up and down kerbs, runs well on everything from grass to pavement or road, and can fit into gaps where a car can't.

I see them regularly in Milton Keynes (they've got a real big beastie*), and the advantages are immediately apparent when you see them around the market, or answering a call (going up over the kerbs quickly to take the shortest route).


Re the horse dung, iirc no horse rider is legally required to clear it up these days, but it can be recommended.
Unlike the muck of dogs and cats it's generally fairly harmless and with little unpleasant odour, that and you're unlikely to accidentally step in it ;)


*I vaguely remember the lass riding it talking to a kid, and mentioning that it was the biggest in the Police service in the UK or something (I'm not short, but this beast was a good bit taller than me, I think the rider could probably comfortably see over transit vans and the like)..
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MK is one of the largest mounted divisions in the UK. They are very useful in the division as they are great for overviews of the car parks etc. I do find it amusing watching them go under the underpasses..DUCK! I like the biggest of the coloured geldings they have..those feet are like dinner plates! Always the tiniest Officer on board.

I've done some work with a couple of the riding instructors from the Met, interestingly a lot of female Officers who go into the mounted division are keen previous riders but a lot of guys are not and have never been on a horse before. Impressive stuff really. The training is also really interesting to hear about..its not actually a horse instinct to do some of the things they do but obedience, training and faith in their riders allows them to charge lines, barge and knock people over, go through smoke and fire etc.

We had an ex Police horse among the charity horses my father used to rehome when I was little (and David Cameron never turned up to ride it, what a pity). They get a bit of a second wind when they retire.
 
Guest2 said:
Horses are big, scare people and can go where cars can't

I say go back to how it was a few hundred years ago and train elephants up again. Three of them running down the street in full Armour would definitely make me move out the way!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_elephant
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Elephants during the London Riots, now that would have been entertaining! But you know if they did use them animal rights lot would have joined in!
 
simulatorman said:
They're good for crowd control and you don't need to deploy lots of foot plodders when you have them around. They get used at football games for crowd control outside grounds.
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Very effective, been on the receiving end of a few ton of horse back in the 80s and seen an away fan run down the main street with a copper sat on a horse holding this lad by the hair.. funny as anything id ever seen, just glad it wasn't me it looked painfull :)
 
Only the sma' folk run fi a simple herd of horse..

I've seen police horses shy or become wary of odd human behaviour, they have benefits but aren't wholy reliable in all situations. Their use is becoming less called for and possibly superceded it would seem, Lothian & Borders are scrapping their mounted police completely.
 
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