Funny Cide-10 friends, $75,000 and a dream...

Hank · Jun 7, 2003

New York City Mounted Police


Like most endeavors, mounted police have competitions to see who's the best. When my wife used to be horse-mounted, I attended a couple of these, and it is amusing the skill tests they dream up to test the officer-and-horse teams' readiness for all types of situations.

The one that sticks in my mind the most was a shelf, about withers-high, that had 6 basketballs on it, each topped with a sort of KKK pointed hat. In front of the shelf a few feet were three of those big floor fans (on pedestals), which were running on high, with streamers blowing out towards the competitors. The task was to coax your horse into and between these fans and knock the hats and balls off the shelf with your nightstick. It was a timed event, and as you horse folks might imagine, coaxing some horses into that situation would take a bit of time. Alice always called things like that (the fans with streamers) "universal horse killers" /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Hank · Jun 7, 2003

Now wouldn't it be neat to watch a mounted officer do crowd control on a cutting horse 

It would, indeed! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif My wife's department has moved in the other direction, however. Moving away from primarily TB's and some QH's, they are now using draft horses and draft crosses. Control the crowd with bulk, rather than finesse /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Bird · Jun 7, 2003

Hank, several years ago I was in New Orleans for a Northwestern University Traffic Institute alumni re-training seminar; an event usually attended by the entire family. The police patrolled Bourbon Street at night on horses that were rubber shod. You'd never hear them coming behind you until the horse stuck his head over your shoulder. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif One night there was a purse snatching right in front of our hotel; two thieves working together. The husband of the victim, a Georgia State Police officer, grabbed one of the thieves, and a New Orleans mounted officer was there almost instantly after the second one, but the thief had a pocket knife (presumably to cut the strap on purses) and he stabbed the horse in the belly before running down an alley. Lots of excitement there for a little while. They brought a horse trailer, pulled by a squad car Code 3, to get the horse, but I never found out how serious the wound was, or whether they ever caught the second thief.

JohnMiller3 · Jun 7, 2003

… Control the crowd with bulk, rather than finesse…

Hi Hank,

It’s absolutely amazing what ONE officer on ONE draft horse can control… the size and presence of that horse, the officer sitting high in the air up with God… /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

What a tremendous psychological effect that combination has on people…! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Hank · Jun 7, 2003

It’s absolutely amazing what ONE officer on ONE draft horse can control 

Hey John,

I still recall, with fondness and pain, leading my wife's Belgian into the stall one day. His rib cage, and my rib cage, simply did not fit into the stall's door at the same time. You can guess which rib cage had to yield /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

I would not, as a "crowd person" wish to "interact" with any draft horse.

JohnMiller3 · Jun 7, 2003

Re: Funny Cide-Belmont Stakes-20min. Showtime!

20 more exciting minutes till showtime with Funny Cide... /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Hank · Jun 7, 2003

he stabbed the horse in the belly before running down an alley 

Bird, I hate this!, as I know you do. Many states are now implementing laws that make attacks on the animal the same as on the officer. Kill a police horse, or K-9, and you have, in effect, killed a police officer.

I agree 1000% These animals (dogs and horses) are laying their lives on the line the same as your everyday police officer. In most cases, the animal is less able to defend itself than the officer.

Bird · Jun 7, 2003

Re: Funny Cide-Belmont Stakes-20min. Showtime!

But still no Triple Crown winnner. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

JohnMiller3 · Jun 7, 2003

Re: Funny Cide-No Triple Crown Winner...

Hi Bird,

Now, there's a perfect example of why I never bet on anything... but a sure thing... (Myself!) /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

JohnMiller3 · Jun 7, 2003

Re: Funny Cide-No Triple Crown Winner...

“Funny Cide's improbable run at the Triple Crown ended in the mud Saturday at the Belmont Stakes, splashed aside by a rival who wasn't about to let a gelded nobody become part of racing royalty.

Empire Maker caught Funny Cide on the far turn and beat him soundly, a defeat that left racing still longing for its first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. That stretch is now the longest in history…”

Empire Maker Beats Funny Cide at Belmont