Story and Photography by Ritchie Rozzelle

Would-be pickpockets and purse-snatchers beware. There is a cop out on the beat. He’s 16 hands from his withers to his hooves. He’s got big ol’ teeth. And best of all, he’s cool under heat. The horses of the New York City Police Department’s Mounted Unit are some of the Big Apple’s most effective and well-loved crime fi ghters. It’s often said that the city’s “ten-foot cops” are more effective than ten offi cers on the corner. Their 1,000-pound presence is enough to prevent crime from blocks away, making them the most positive of infl uences on the community. But they couldn’t even make their rounds without the help of Southern States.

Right now, at NYPD’s Mounted Troop B Headquarters, New York’s finest are hard at work brushing their partners’ coats and picking out their hooves. In fact, these officers came to work an hour or two before their shift, just to make sure their partners look presentable. That’s because their partners, the horses of this vital police unit, are among the city’s most valuable ambassadors.

Of course Lady Liberty still stands proud in the Hudson River, outside Troop B’s big bay windows. But in comparison to that 150-foot metal lady, the police horses patrolling New York’s Times Square, Central Park, Coney Island, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens are just as visible and infinitely more pettable. These horses make daily rounds, like a cop on the beat, only they serve as both street cop, tourist attraction and squad car. They are more affordable than any police cruiser and much more attractive.

The utility of well-trained horses has lent them to policing practically since the invention of laws. It’s a natural. In the U.S., horses have been a mainstay of urban police forces for over a century. In fact, New York’s Mounted Unit, established in 1871, is the oldest of its kind in North America. (The much-famed Mounties of Canada got their start two years later, in 1873.) Originally, mounted cops policed the thoroughfares for out of control horsemanship and horseplay. But beyond the days of coach and buggy, the horse’s ability to make a man taller, faster and more agile than your average mob of angry citizens keeps them valuable to the force.

“These horses are tools that the city has for crowd control, public relations, and crime deterrence,” says Detective Richard DePamphilis of Troop B. “The city did a study in an area that was notorious for purse-snatchings and petty crime. They put a mounted officer in place and it immediately ended street crime for ten blocks in either direction. They give us a kind of omnipresence. When you ride up and down the street on a horse, everybody knows you’re there. You can see everybody, and they can see you.”

For bad guys, this spells trouble. Whether they’re in a mob spilling out of a Rangers game or on a busy corner casing a mugging victim, the sight of a “ten-foot cop” will stop them in their tracks. “People respect the horse,” says DePamphilis. “They know that the horse has its own mind – and ultimately they don’t want to get stepped on.” You might wonder how the largest Mounted Unit in the United States finds so many competent horses. “We just leave the door open and they come walking in off the street,” joked one young officer manning the front desk. “It followed me home, I swear to God.” All kidding aside, the mounts that become New York City police horses have a high bar to clear. A horse’s intelligence and instinct for self preservation makes them naturally flee from danger. The NYPD looks for only those special horses with the obedience to stay calm in the face of any situation.

According to DePamphilis, this isn’t easy. “We used to take donations, but our horses are held to such strict standards, that trying them all out caused more problems than it solved. We’re looking mostly for Warmblood/Draft crosses. They tend to be large and not very flighty. Most of our donations were thoroughbreds—beautiful horses, but too high-strung for police work. So, now we purchase our horses from three different vendors who specialize in breeding police horses with quiet minds.”

Once the force has its curious and courageous horse, the animal is vetted out to see if it can cut it. “We don’t force a horse to work the street.” DePamphilis points out. “First we just habituate it to the sights and sounds it will find there. We introduce them to things that might trigger their flight response. A horse either has a mind for that, or it doesn’t, and if it reacts too violently, we can tell quickly that it’s not cut out for this.”

New horses are put through tests to simulate street situations. Officers guide them over unstable surfaces to approximate a wreckage scene. They’re ridden through groups of men waving plastic bags to test them in a mob atmosphere. Air horns are blasted behind them to accustom them to sirens. The training lasts for six months, with the majority of horses ending up back at the dealers. But even after graduating, the training never really stops. In fact they have to train for about two years before they are ready for the streets, and it’s 3 or 4 years until a horse is considered seasoned. Sound rough? Well, if you’re interested in a prized position as a Mounted Unit Cop, you have a long row to hoe also. First off, you must be a model cop from day one. Wise guys and slackers need not apply. After putting in years doing grunt work on the force, you can apply for the unit. Every year 300 applicants compete for just 20 spots. Officers need to ace interviews, tests and physicals to be considered. Lastly, an officer should have a fundamental fondness for horses.

“I love horses,” says DePamphilis. “Everybody here does. It’s something of a prerequisite. You’re here five days a week, riding seven hours a day. Your horse is your partner and your best friend.” After all that, the best of the best complete a 12-week course at the police department’s Remount School of Horsemanship in the Bronx. Once both the cop and the horse are well trained and comfortable working together in the streets, they are paired up. This is a partnership that will last the length of the horse’s 10-or-so year career, until it retires to a farm in upstate New York, never to work a day again. Sometimes officers get so attached to their mounts that when they retire they make regular trips upstate to visit. Horses and officers share that strong bond that can only come from working together daily.

“It’s an officer’s responsibility to care for their horse,” DePamphilis makes sure to mention. “And as far as a horse having a job and a good existence, this is a great place for a horse to be.” Troop B’s horses are well groomed and well fed. Special borium shoes protect their feet from the unforgiving streets and they get regular field trips out to pasture lands for a romp. They shine and seem at peace. These horses are comfortable despite the fact that they are stabled in the heart of one of the world’s busiest cities. And they should be — everybody loves them.

“These horses are in Times Square every day. They lead every parade. It’s almost like a public relations tool for the city. They’ve been called ambassadors to New York,” Richard DePamphilis points out. In a real way, the city couldn’t ask for better representatives. On daily patrols down Broadway and Seventh Avenue the horses are constantly photographed. Every child wants to pet them. Single ladies tend to get a little flirty with both the horses and their riders in uniform. Apples are quickly bought from street vendors and offered as rewards for a hard day’s work. When NYPD’s finest ten-foot cop comes down the way, things seem simple and quaint — the heart of New York beats safely.

Southern States equine nutrition and health representative, Malinda Ferko, supplies the entirety of New York City’s Mounted Unit with Southern States Horse Feed. She loves checking up on the horses at headquarters, and occasionally lends them advice on what color blue they should pick for their uniforms. Southern States is proud to feed these fearless crime fighters.