STANDARDBREDS AT WORK

San Jose, California, has three and one half working Standardbreds. Matimba (Matt) and Nico are on the near side in the parade picture above, and Big Al is pictured to the left.

SJMU's "Barn Mom", Maggie Kelly, says, "Matimba is a real character. He loves music and he keeps the beat with his head and front hoofs. Crowds gather around to watch the dancing horse. The faster the beat the more he moves."

Big Al is 1/2 Standardbred, 1/2 Quarter Horse.

Dondi West on Matimba (Santa), Ernie Brown on Cal (Reindeer)	Matimba is 2nd from right	Matt with Officer Cortney

Fresno, California Police Department has 6 Standardbreds working with their Mounted Unit. Hopefully, they will be part of this page soon, with pictures and stories.

The Palm Springs Police Department has one Standardbred. Says Marc Melanson, "We have one Standardbred named "Falstaff" on our unit. He is about 14 and was a donation from a local attorney. He is a gelding, a dark bay, and stands about 16 hands."

The Vancouver, BC Police Department has two Standardbreds working with their Mounted Unit. We'll work on getting more of their pictures here. The Mounted Unit offers trading cards with pictures and information of their teams. You can order them on their site. Pictures of BuddyII and Sabre, their Standardbreds, are part of our Picture Gallery.

Monterey County has one Standardbred working with their Search and Rescue. Owner, Jim Huggins, says, "I have a 16 year old gelding Standardbred we have had for 7 years. He was originally purchased to be a mountain trail horse. He has transitioned from pleasure trail horse, to my daughter's pole and barrel event horse for high school rodeo, in addition to being used by my wife as her mount in the MSU. All at the same time. If he is an example of the norm for a Standardbred disposition, he has been a "wonder horse!" He has done everything we have asked of him with his whole heart and without any bad behavior. He is sweet, gentle, sure footed and not stupid. If anyone were looking for an all around horse in conjunction with a MSU organization, I would recommend a Standardbred for the job."

Ed Cahill, former Mounted Unit cop from Boston PD known as "Hosskop", sent along these pictures of his working partner, Pal.

Captain Grant Solomon told us, "My personal Mounted Standardbred horse is Charlie. I picked him up at a local 'buggy-horse' sale 6 1/2 years ago from an Amish person.

"Foaled in May of '92 in Nova Scotia, he 'trotted' the circuit for a little over 3 years. According to his papers, he won only a few races and showed in a couple others. I tell people that he apparently ate more than he won, therefore I got to own him!!

"In my 41 years of doing volunteer Mounted Sheriff Department work, (including riots, crowd control, patrols, etc.) I've ridden thoroughbreds, quarters, walkers, paints, morgans, you name it!

"Charlie has traits that he shares with none of the above. He's jet black, stands a wink over 16 and is willing to do anything I ask. In fact, he's the ONLY horse I've owned/ridden that has, to date, NEVER refused to do what I ask! We've had some "are you sure?" situations, but he ALWAYS accepts what we have to do with minimal reassurance from me. (my troops occasionally accuse me of being slightly sadistic in my expectations...!)

I took him to a training / competition session in New Orleans last year, and out of the 83 horses that were registered, mostly working, street mounted horses, we finished third in the obstacle course. He was tough......I was proud."

Hopefully we'll get some pictures and a website from the Captain.

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