California Highway Patrol Officer Jeff Lane first wound up on horseback when his young son wanted to take riding lessons. “I was so scared, I took a gun,” he recalls. But Lane’s mind quickly changed, and “I actually left flying helicopters to ride horses,” he says.
California Highway Patrol Officer Kari Dillon was a bill collector before making a career change and becoming a police officer Before she joined the CHP, she had no idea riding horses was even an option. She’s been riding for about about a year and a half now and is currently the only female in the CHP’s Mounted Unit.
“We’re just as effective as an officer in a car, and a mounted officer is as effective as 10 foot-patrol officers,” she says.
“What separates us from an officer in a car or on a bike is that we can move crowds,” says Dillon. In fact, four to six draft horses can clear hundreds of people off the Capitol lawns in mere minutes.
Draft horses are preferred by the California Highway Patrol because they “are better for crowd control and standing long hours,” says California Highway Patrol Officer Jeff Lane.
Additionally, compared to quarter horses, draft horses are much calmer and better able to adapt to chaotic environments such as parades or riots, where balloons, loud noises and projectiles are commonplace.
Horses are expensive to care for, so their price combined with a lack of knowledge on the part of police departments means more and more mounted units are being shuttered. Sacramento has one of the few mounted CHP units left in the state.
“There is really a lack of understanding as to what these horses are capable of,” says California Highway Patrol Officer Jeff Lane.
The CHP Mounted Unit has six horses, four permanent officers and four alternate officers who assist with events and training days.The Patrol owns the animals, most of which were purchased on Craigslist, and they are available for adoption when they retire.
Photos: Ken James Captions: Christine Calvin
A Different Sort of Ride Along
Sacramento is one the few cities with a cavalry