Mounted Police Today

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Pat Holscher
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Pat Holscher</i>
<br />http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/fotosrch/3/ ... POP02D.jpg

Isreali mounted policeman, April 10, 2005.



Pat
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http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/fotosrch/3/ ... JRL131.jpg

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/fotosrch/3/ ... JRL124.jpg

Pat
Pat Holscher
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Dave J.
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Do any of the board members here have experience in a police mounted unit. If so, I'd like to chat a bit. If you could PM me. Especially those of you on the East Coast.
Thanks!

(I've PM'ed you FtValleyPS):)
Pat Holscher
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Landsjunge
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Pat Holscher</i>
<br />http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/fotosrch/3/ ... KAI05D.jpg

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/fotosrch/3/ ... KAI04D.jpg

German mounted police at stadium opening.


Pat
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
I'm surprised that they are not wearing helmets and the bridles look like show bridles.

Jeff Kalman
Pat Holscher
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Landsjunge</i>
<br /><blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Pat Holscher</i>
<br />http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/fotosrch/3/ ... KAI05D.jpg

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/fotosrch/3/ ... KAI04D.jpg

German mounted police at stadium opening.


Pat
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
I'm surprised that they are not wearing helmets and the bridles look like show bridles.

Jeff Kalman

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Interesting point.

In the many photos I've seen of German mounted police, they nearly always have this appearance. That is, they are wearing green, and they are wearing the officers peak cap as depicted here. They have a very traditional German appearance, really.

Of some interest, the Chilean mounted police we've sometimes had photos up have a simliar appearance. I note that, as the Chilean armies dress uniform is very obviously of German origin. I wonder if the police uniform is not also. As George has pointed out, green is the color of "order" in this traditional scheme.

By way of a huge contrast, the recent photos of Israeli mounted policemen I've recently seem give them a nearly Medieval appearance. They're completely decked out, head to toe, in synthetic armor.

Pat
Jim Bewley Φ
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In the pictures Pat posted of the Chinese Policewoman, look at how high the pommel is. She is sitting all the way back, almost on top of the cantle. Looks like she could slip off without much effort. The saddle does not appear to be too far forward, but rather how it is made. I would like to hear Ron's comments about this?

As to the German officers I believe these guys get a high degree of training. One of their number is doing very well in high level dressage and I believe I read that it is on his service mount which he patrols on when not in competition. In fact he has his own line of spurs and other tack items on the market. I have worked with the Greman Police many times and what you see in these pictures is how they normally dress for almost every occassion. Even when walking around the airport with a machine gun straped to their chest there is none of this SWAT look that is popular over here.

Jim
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For the German officers, I think it also depend on what kind of task they are carrying out. In Italy you can see mounted police in normal dress when patroulling parks or city center like in Rome or Florence, even with sabre attached to the saddle, or, dressed in anti-riot suits when it comes to more "sensible" tasks.

Regards

Luigi
Pat Holscher
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Philip S
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Below are some pictures I took Friday evening of the Pennsylvania State Mounted Police unloading their horses for patrol during the annual State College, PA Festival of the Arts. This has become an annual event since a couple serious riots a few years ago:

Image

There were approximately 14 horses loaded in three trailers. The troopers patroled in pairs late into the morning.

Image

Image

Note the freeze brand on her horse’s neck indicating it probably was a mustang and also the heavy draft horse feet just behind him. The horses are all donated and are quite a mix of breeds. I was told previously that the very large draft horses are very useful for crowd control.

Image
Pat Holscher
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<blockquote id=''quote''><font size=''1'' face=''Verdana, Arial, Helvetica'' id=''quote''>quote:<hr height=''1'' noshade id=''quote''><i>Originally posted by Philip S</i>
<br />Below are some pictures I took Friday evening of the Pennsylvania State Mounted Police unloading their horses for patrol during the annual State College, PA Festival of the Arts. This has become an annual event since a couple serious riots a few years ago:

Image

There were approximately 14 horses loaded in three trailers. The troopers patroled in pairs late into the morning.

Image

Image

Note the freeze brand on her horse’s neck indicating it probably was a mustang and also the heavy draft horse feet just behind him. The horses are all donated and are quite a mix of breeds. I was told previously that the very large draft horses are very useful for crowd control.

Image
<hr height=''1'' noshade id=''quote''></blockquote id=''quote''></font id=''quote''>

The Horse-Mechanized rides again!

Pat
Philip S
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">The Horse-Mechanized rides again!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I thought the same thing. Maybe it was not such a foolish idea after all.
Pat Holscher
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Philip S</i>
<br /><blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">The Horse-Mechanized rides again!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I thought the same thing. Maybe it was not such a foolish idea after all.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

You know, I really don't think it was a bad idea at all.

In retrospect, I think perhaps the idea was just five or so years behind its time. Adequate trucks really didn't exist unit the mid to late 1930s, but the fact that adequate trucks came to be developed meant that armored technology was developing just as rapidly. Indeed, it was moving even more quickly. But in a brief period of time, it would have been vialbe. That brief period didn't last very long, however.

Still, in strange ways, the concepts that were present in some aspects of horse mech are used in other areas, although they likely have no, or little, direct connection. Here we see one. I've sometimes noted that big gatherings on big ranches sort of vaguely resemble the concept also, in that a group of 4x4 trucks with horse trailers will fan out in various parts of a range, offload horses and riders, who will go to work, to meet up with the truck and trailer elsewhere. And there the 4x4 truck is a connection, as there really weren't good useable 4x4s, for the most part, until WWII.

Anyway, there's interesting photos.

Pat
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Isreali mounted police at Gaza pull out.

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/fotosrch/3/ ... JRL180.jpg

The Isrealis seem to use a lot of mounted police.

Pat
Rich McKIe

This past weekend I attended a military funeral in Vancouver B.C.
The Police Mounted Squad was on parade, fielding 5 horsemen. The training and deportment of both the men and horses was very impressive in that the occasion required them to stand stock-still for long periods. What I found particularly interesting was that the four troopers were armed with lances, and the commander carried a sword.
Unfortunately I have no other details on the horses and tack etc, as I was on parade myself and not at liberty to examine them more closely.

Rich
Rich McKIe

Further to my above, here is a pic of two members of the Vancouver Police Mounted Squad on parade in the company of a mounted member of the RCMP.
The picture is linked from the VPD Mounted Squad unofficial web site.
Image
Jim Bewley Φ
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I was watching a training tape on mounted police duties when they showed something that I could not believe. The camera pans around a supermarket parking lot full of cars and then stops looking down the roadway between two lines of cars. All at once two mounted officers ride out from between two of the parked cars. They then backed up the footage and sure enough they were there all the time, but you just did not see them for some reason. The tape stated that this happens all the time. Large horses, standing in plain view and yet they go unnoticed.

Jim
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