Save the Mounted Patrol

Nine horses in Portland may be out of a job. The Portland Police Bureau is looking at $3 million dollars in budget cuts and the Mounted Patrol is on the chopping block. The unit costs a mere $570,000 a year. Not bad in the realm of public safety.

They are responsible for crowd control, public relations, and downtown patrols. They average about 150 arrests a month and they have a huge presence at downtown protests. In Portland, you know we have lots of those! The Mounted Patrol is solely responsible for moving crowds in these big events. It is pretty amazing to watch. The horses even wear face masks so they are not subject to the pepper spray.

I know they do a lot of dressage training and recently had Ken Mcnabb in for some instruction. They really are a great group of people and I think it would be a huge loss to the city of Portland to have their unit dissolved.

The Friends of the Mounted Patrol has a Facebook page...if you would like to join and support them.

Trainer's Challenge

The Trainer's Challenge is something we have all come to enjoy at most expos. If you haven't seen one, the premise is simple. Selected trainers take unbroke horses and see what they can produce after 3 days of training. The challenge usually has a judging criteria, 10% horse, 60% trainer's ability to train the horse, and 30% the trainer's ability to translate to the public. The three contestants at The Mane Event this year were, Ken McNabb of RFD fame, Martin Black out of Idaho, and Bruce Logan out of Texas.

They all did a good job, but one really, really impressed me, Bruce Logan. This cowboy was so soft and he took everything the horse offered, allowing it to figure out how to do things correctly. It was amazing to watch and so different from the other two. It is no wonder; he trained under Ronnie Willis. For Bruce, the horse was checked in the whole time and there was language developing between the two. As the horse worked around the arena, you could see his confidence building and he was willing to let Bruce guild him over obstacles. That horse was becoming "solid." What a great foundation for that horse to start with. Way to go Bruce...I like what you are doing for the horse world!

Ken did a good job, but he seemed more concerned about the clock and talking to the judges...it almost seemed like he was bored with the whole thing. I know he does good work and I appreciate that he plugs People Helping Horses, but it just didn't seem like his heart was in it.

Martin Black, was the one I liked the least and yes, he won. He seemed like a decent guy, his methods just aren't in line with the way I like to see people work with horses. I know these guys have three days to get the horses as far as they can, and it is a competition. Everything they did was impressive, but just because a horse does something, doesn't mean it was done right. Martin's horse whinnied the whole time, raced around the arena, sweated out, and it seemed that he had a death grip on the reins. The horse did everything he wanted, but it felt forced. He was a bit more of a showman and won over the crowd.

At this point in my life, I just prefer watching the building of a relationship between horse and human over force and acceptance. I was bummed the judges didn't see what I saw, but the crowd was happy. They got their hero, but it made me sad to see yet another equine competition won by quantity not quality. I hope you all read up on Bruce..he really impressed me. Bruce Logan has a new fan and I wish him much success in the future. Go check out his website and learn more about him.