Police Horses At Work in NYC
May 7, 2008
A few weeks ago, I chaperoned a high school trip to New York City where I actually got to see some mounted police at work in Times Square.
Mounted police horses have always intrigued me because they are so completely bomb proof and have a very different job compared to other horses. And I always wondered what exactly they did, since I’d only really ever seen them just standing there on the side of the road.
On our first night in NYC, we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe and then walked five blocks to the theater where we saw Hairspray. During that walk, I saw the three horses pictured above. At first they were just standing there all relaxed. Cabs, bikes, and people where whizzing by, lights were flashing all around, horns were honking, people were yelling, and the horses were half asleep. (If my horse got dropped in the middle of Times Square, she’d go into shock from sensory overload and probably drop dead of a heart attack. But these three didn’t pay the least bit of attention.)
As I was craning my neck to stare at the horses, wondering what on earth they did besides stand there, I got to see them in action. In the distance, the whine of an ambulance sounded and a blur of flashing lights came into view. And the three police casually walked into the middle of the road, fanning across and blocking traffic. They left one lane open for the moving traffic, and effectively cleared the center lane for the oncoming ambulance. As the ambulance approached, they separated and let it pass, and then merged again to keep traffic at an ample distance from the emergency vehicle.
They walked calmly to the next intersection where they congregated on the corner. And one of the horses started blowing and spooking at a generator running nearby. He went sideways and popped up a little in his front end, catching his rider with too long reins and relaxing in the saddle. She caught them up and got him under control, but I kinda thought it served her right for assuming that her horse was half asleep in the middle of Times Square. I was glad to see the mounted police horses were still horses … paying attention to their surroundings and aware of things that would scare any other normal horse.
Then, after all the excitement of walking one block down the road in the middle of Broadway Avenue, the three horses went back to sleep in their new curb-side location.
I saw this group of mounted police the next day outside an upscale hotel … taking a mid-afternoon nap while his rider talked on her cell phone. It sure is a rough life, standing around all day.
Posted in Horsin' Around
May 7th, 2008 at 11:36 am
hahaha…I am glad you had fun in my neck of the woods. I have been known to go into the city a time or two (or a few hundred either way) and I have seen the mounted police really at work. They are GREAT for pushing crowds along when people stop to rubber neck at a fight and the cops need break up. They are also amazing crowd control because they can block people off and theses horses can get to places that cars and even foot patrol cannot. The most amazing thing I have even seen a mounted cop do was years ago set up a block after a car had hit a padestrian and the car tired to flee. The mounted police were far away but were able to see over the tops of people to see the hit and run happen and then blocked off the car. It was cool but I don’t know how safe I would have felt trotting my horse towrds an oncoming car but these guys didn’t hesitate.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:52 am
On the bit - thanks for adding all those great examples! It makes sense that mounted policeman are good for all of those things now that I think about it. I bet most people are a little reluctant to walk into a horse blocking their path. I’m with you though, I would have a hard time putting my horse in the path of an oncoming car. *shudder*
May 7th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
So you got to see our mounted police. They are great for crowd control you should see them at work on New Year’s Eve in Times Square. It’s amazing how fast people will move out of the way of a horse’s chest plowing through a crowd. They are also used for crowd control at the baseball stadiums. I find these horses amazing.