Mardi Gras Mounted Patrol

Horses Mardi Gras Mobile's Mounted Patrol has been so successul law enforcement from around the State and the Country now come here to be trained. It turns out we have the perfect training ground...Mardi Gras.

by Jere Hough

Published: Thu, January 17, 2008 - 12:16 pm CST Last Updated: Tue, January 29, 2008 - 6:34 pm CST

A Mardi Gras parade...and a rowdy group throws beads and moon pies directly at the horses of the Mounted Patrol. Someone even has smoke bombs! What next? Well, next is when the trainers evaluate the horses and riders. Did everyone stay in control? Sergeant Eddie Carr, who's in charge of the Patrol, says, "A horse's first instinct is to turn and run from something, if it scares them. Well, here they can't do that. And the officer has to be the one to stop them from doing that. They have to work as a team."
Horses are big, powerful animals weighing a half a ton or more. You don't want them to get spooked in a crowd of parade-watching families.
Officers and their horses are "nuisance trained" at the school and then tested during the actual parades. Participants come from as far away as Minneapolis and Boston.
They learn that for some situations, a mounted patrol is perfect. Sergeant Carr explains, " Where a crowd has to be moved, you've got no better tool than for a horse and rider to step in there. If you have five or six horses walking toward a crowd, that crows will back up."

WKRG.com » News Stream » Countyroad5

Video
Photo

Embed:

WKRG.com Related

» 2009 Mardi Gras Parade Schedule

Discuss this in the forum

Email to a Friend

Printer Friendly

Download Video

lawyers kid Says:

Thu, Jan 17, 2008 at 2:50 pm

The Mounted Patrol do a wonderful job every year at the various events needed. Sure the patrol officers are allowed breaks, but what about the horses. Why does the city who relies on the horses at downtown events not have a proper spot where the horses can rest away from the crowds or at least get a drop of water. As noted in the article they are very large and get thirsty. A large fat person who walks around as much as the horses do would get water, so why not the horses. A few years ago the city spent money to restore a watering fountain in Bienville Square that used to be used for horses. Why can they not use it.