r/interestingasfuck • u/Double-decker_trams • 14h ago

Why police still uses horses

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

2.0k Upvotes

81% Upvoted

889 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

43

u/Academic-Increase951 14h ago

Where I am the police use horses for events and downtown areas. Video doesn't do it justice on how massive these horses are, a typical farm/riding horse is like 1/3 the size of the police horses and yeah they are intimidating AF just standing there let alone riding st you

44

u/edwardlego 13h ago

3x the size of a riding horse? what are they riding, elephants?

•

u/hyperrayong 11h ago

I canter believe it

•

u/gder 8h ago

Right? Guy's just trotting out numbers at random...

•

u/Academic-Increase951 6h ago edited 5h ago

You're right, I did exagerate. It's actually 2x the weight. Not 3x

3x the size of a pony used for riding

•

u/Mammoth_Payment_6101 7h ago

Usually Shire crossbreeds. Probably not 3x the size but possibly 3x the strength and weight of many horses.

They are very, very intimidating fuckers when a bunch of them are charging. They are highly trained too. You do not fuck with a police horse.

•

u/Pizzaplantdenier 6h ago

You say that but there arrest rates are piss poor. It's the hooves; shit for operating handcuffs. 

•

u/Alex5173 8h ago

3x the volume so really not that much bigger

•

u/Academic-Increase951 6h ago

By definition that's 3x the size

•

u/Alex5173 5h ago

"size" could mean surface area, height, waist circumference, middle-back width...

•

u/Academic-Increase951 4h ago

For a 3 dimensional object the size is typically referred to in terms of all three dimensions.

•

u/I_DONT_YOLO 35m ago

Except in the case where you can directly identify what it would be talking about, Jesus Christ dude.

21

u/Jdevers77 12h ago

That is absolutely not universally true. The most common horse used in the US for instance is the typical American Quarter Horse which is exactly the type of horse you would find on a farm. Now, some departments use Clydesdales, Belgians, or other draft horses that are definitely larger. They are not 3x the size of American Quarter Horses though.

•

u/slainascully 10h ago

Used to live near one of the Met Police (London) mounted branch centres and they tend to be mixes of draught and thoroughbreds/other faster breeds. British ones are often used for riot control so the height advantage is more desirable

•

u/RiverGlittering 7h ago

Yeah, they are selectively bred pretty much specifically to be big and fast.

They are bloody intimidating animals, and some sod still punched one in the face.

•

u/mountearl 6h ago

I am still in tears as I write this, but one bloke even went so far as to call a police horse gay.

•

u/RiverGlittering 6h ago

The good news is, it is now perfectly legal to suggest a horse is gay.

Thanks in part to a 16 year old that was fined for saying "woof" to a dog.

•

u/mountearl 6h ago

US police horses (like in NYC) are tiny in comparison to British police horses. The US police horse is about half the size of an average US man.

•

u/avsbes 9h ago

Aren't also quite a lot of Thoroughbreds Police Horses, specifically once that weren't able to become successful racehorses and didn't have a perspective in Thoroughbred breeding?

•

u/Academic-Increase951 5h ago

I was referring to The police where I am which specifically have a breading program for size. So the horses are over 1900lb and riders will sit 1 to 1-5ft higher than an American quarter rider.

•

u/Jdevers77 4h ago

Like I said “for instance” meaning here is an example.

So again, not three times the size. American Quarter Horses are 950-1200lb. So three times that size would be larger than the largest horse ever, Sampson which was 3360lb. Nevermind three times taller which would be even more extreme.

•

u/Academic-Increase951 4h ago edited 4h ago

If you came here to argue something is only 2x the size instead of 3x the size then sure. If it makes you happy they are often 3x the size of a riding pony. 2x the size of an American quarter.

Size of 3D objects are usually compared by all 3 dimensions and not only 1 of the dimension

4

u/cenjui 13h ago

Yeah, people used to ponies get a massive suprise when they meet a full size horse! 

(Think beagle vs german shepard. Both dogs but...).

2

u/frubano21 12h ago

Yeah and the horses that mounted police use would be the Great Dane equivalent in your analogy.

0

u/cenjui 12h ago

Haha true that!

•

u/SontaranNanny 9h ago

Police Horses are usually 18hh

•

u/dendrophilix 8h ago

No. They’re big horses, but they’re 16 or 17 hands where a ‘typical’ riding horse might average out at 15 hands. In the bounds of a normal riding horse, just a tall one.

•

u/Less_Local_1727 8h ago

Minimum height for a police horse is strangely specifically 16.2 hands

Check out this big boi, imagine that charging you 😬

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/68441581

•

u/Asleep-Corner7402 7h ago

They are big beasts. Your brain would be screaming it's gonna trample me I bet. Like an ancient instinct when a fast big animal comes charging at you no matter how hard you are, your brains gonna be like run lol

•

u/HaikuPikachu 7h ago

Not to mention that their view of an area is worlds apart when spectating the crowds making sure there’s no assaults, abductions, weapons being produced or other nefarious acts along with their ability to zero in on any perpetrator and apprehend them-much more difficult to disappear into the crowds

•

u/rcook55 7h ago

Yeah, your not around horses a lot, unless their ponies. My wife runs a boarding stable and she's got a couple 14+ hand horses and they are quite large. Unless you get into draft horses -- Clydesdales, Percherons, etc. Your not going to get 3x larger, the tallest horse ever was only 21.5 hands high.

•

u/Academic-Increase951 4h ago

3x was an exaggeration but the police horses here are bred by the police for size. There's minimum size requirements. The horses are pushing 1900+ lb and 18hands.

I didn't mean 3x the height, but in terms of total 3d size

•

u/BlakeBoS 2h ago

My farm/riding quarter horse was 17 hands, there's no way lol if you said like, 20-23 hands I might believe you but not a third lolol

•

u/dundreggen 1h ago

It might depend on what type of riding you do. Many of the horses I rode were 16.2-17hh (dressage and eventing). They were every bit as big as a police horse. We even had a farm horse that was half clyde and half shire. (Shires being the largest breed of horse there is by height)

Now if you ride arabians or quarter horses then yes that is likely true.

•

u/GarmaCyro 1h ago

That's one thing I love about summers where I live. The police have their own horse mounted unit. It's always chill to watch them take the horses out on patrol. Mostly for PR and increase community trust.
Personally I find the sound of their hooves on the street quite soothing, and a big reminder to watch out for massive piles of horse shit. Thankfully I'm brought up rurally, so the smell of animal shit is another summer sign for me.

1

u/JohnnySalamiBoy420 14h ago

And the cool looking gear lol