? ?
>> Say hello to Luna.
She's getting a pedicure before
she pounds the pavement as a
member of the Madison Police
Mounted Patrol.
Officer Ken Mulry does the
trimming.
>> So we choose to go barefoot.
We looked at the overall
long-term health of the horse.
>> Ken is a natural hoof care
practitioner, horseman, and
veteran police officer.
And the care he gives his four
footed partners is only a small
part of the special working
relationship between human and
animal essential to the unit.
>> It's a balance of trust
and respect.
The horse needs to be able to
trust that we wouldn't hurt
them, that we wouldn't bring
them into a situation where
they're going to get hurt.
But they also have to respect
the job we need to do as well.
So it's kind of a balance.
It's like raising kids.
You want them to trust ya,
but you also need them to
respect ya.
You can be their friend,
but you're also their leader
as well.
>> Column of fours, go!
>> The Mounted Patrol is made up
of four officers and
five horses.
They train together at a horse
farm south of Madison.
>> In a normal world,
a prey animal such as a horse,
their response is
fight or flight.
And typically it's going to
be flight.
>> The training carefully
acclimates the horses to working
conditions they'll encounter.
Today is one of first times
new horse, Torres, will be
around road flares used at
traffic accidents.
>> We want Mr. T, here, Torres,
to have a little bit more
confident attitude coming
through here.
>> To get from the farm to the
Madison streets, the horses are
loaded into a special trailer at
the start of every
Mounted Patrol shift.
? ?
>> He's soft.
>> It's a big horse.
>> Often they appear at
scheduled "community corrals"
around town and show up at
events like neighborhood
picnics, even in the rain.
It's good public relations for
a force that emphasizes
community-policing.
>> Ohhhh.
[laughter]
>> In one day on horseback
you make more citizen contacts
than you do in a month in
a squad car.
>> The saying of "Nobody wants
to pet my police car"
is very true.
[horse whinnies]
And I think Torres here agrees.
People don't even realize
I'm a police officer
because they're so fixated
in wanting to say hello
to such a beautiful animal.
>> But there's a more serious
side as well.
>> Hi.
Do you know why I stopped you?
>> That's why training includes
traffic stops and practice
arrests.
? ?
Madison's State Street can be
an exuberant place.
[crowd yelling]
Sometimes too much,
when the bars close and
patrons spill out on the street.
? ?
>> There's always a select few
that, you know, are either
inexperienced drinkers,
or they just become angrier
when they drink.
>> Officers Mulry and McLaughlin
are all business on this patrol.
>> Don't get too close to
the back.
>> Dude, I want to ride
the horse.
>> Before long they're
riding off to break up a fight.
>> Before I could call 911,
y'all jumped in.
>> Gotcha, okay.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you, yup.
>> We got there, we could see
people swinging on each other,
arms flailing, people
tumbling around.
>> And then he was trying to
pick a fight with him.
>> Moments like these,
where there's always potential
for some danger,
are where the training
and special bond pays off.
>> When it really gets bad
out on the street,
it's that relationship
that you have with your horse
that gets you through
those situations.
>> The bond is evident
when Ken remembers former
team member, Jack.
He was a natural-born leader.
>> He went into the crowd and
everyone else funneled in behind
him, because we had somebody
that was willing to go first.
>> And the respect
seems to be mutual,
as seen when the team's
largest member, Bubba,
paid a visit to a fellow
officer, Sergeant Karen Krahn,
when she lay ailing in hospice.
>> We decided to bring the
horses in and say 'hi.'
The horses could definitely
sense the energy in the room.
He was very quiet.
It was a pretty special moment,
just the presence of
an enormous life.
>> Life goes on for the
Mounted Patrol, even after the
loss of friends like
Sergeant Krahn, and beloved
team members like Jack.
For Ken Mulry, joining the unit
has meant prolonging
his professional life
with the force.
>> After years on the job,
you can become hardened.
By joining the Mounted Unit,
I was able to prolong my career.
Having the horse and that,
gave me another reason
to keep doing it.