Spotted on the beat: Police’s first Appaloosa takes to the streets of London
An unusual trainee police horse has proved popular with staff and members of the public.
Indiana is believed to be Britain’s first Appaloosa police horse and has excelled in his training so far.
The 16.2hh gelding is based with the City of London Police at Bushy Park in Hampton.
“He is the first Appaloosa horse we’ve known,” City of London police stable manager Ella-Louise Mayhead told H&H.
“He becomes a great talking point because he’s covered in spots.”
The 11-year-old gelding was formerly a mother and daughter share and has taken to his new career with ease.
“He’s been an A-class student so far and has fast-tracked his training,” said Ms Mayhead. “It usually takes six months to a year to train the horses, but he’s only been with us for two and a half months and has already been into the city.
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“He was very good, although it was quite quiet as it was over Christmas. It’s a lot to take in with the really high buildings, reflections and escalators.”
Indiana’s training will continue and within two to five months he should be working his city beat.
“We build them up gradually,” added Ms Mayhead. “We will go into the city with them three weekends on the trot and then for a long weekend.
“He’s been the best horse we’ve trained for a few years.”
The police horses work for a week or two at a time before being turned out for a week.
Members of the public can follow the police horses in their work on Twitter using the handle @cityhorses. Each horse has its own hashtag and Indiana can be found by searching #CHindiana
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Rachael joined Horse & Hound in 2014, initially as a digital sub editor then became part of the news team as a writer in 2015. The philosophy graduate studied journalism at the Press Association before working as a local reporter at the Brentwood Gazette. Rachael is now a mum of two and still loves all things equestrian, including hacking, dressage and jumping with her cob Bert. Rachael left the H&H staff to go freelance in June 2019, but still contributes to our magazine and website, as well as our sister magazine Country Life, among others.