Dover’s police horses may seem like a quaint touch, and they do curry the fondness of school kids, many of whom can name them on sight. (A local tradition even before the children’s museum moved to town.) But don’t scoff at the equines’ effectiveness until you’ve seen them stop a car that’s just run a red light or leap out to keep another car from hitting a pedestrian. No cruiser could have done either action in those cramped downtown conditions.
And that’s before we consider their usefulness in crowd control, their flexibility on trails or in city parks, or their unmistakable presence and authority. On top of it all, a mounted officer looks on from a height over both traffic and people and sees much the other patrolmen would simply miss.
Maybe it’s just another dimension of the cavalry to the rescue.
Jnana's Red Barn 