Greater Manchester Mounted Police – Impressive and Neccesary​

It’s one of the first things for me that springs to mind when I think of crowd control, Mounted Police.

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the GMP mounted unit located in South Manchester.

Here the stables house some of the finest police horses in the country. These beautiful animals go through the most rigorous stages of the selection process and training that you can imagine, and most of them just don’t cut the grade!

GMP mounted unit is there for crowd control primarily but also for ceremonial events too.

I was able to witness first hand some of the training that these incredibly large horses have to endure. They have to be able to fight their natural inner instincts to bolt.

Crowds that requiring gentle corralling into funnelled areas for example are assisted by the mounted unit that tower over the spectators at football matches. The horses turn to be at an angle as they slowly move sideways pushing the crowd in the direction required.

They have to withstand shouting, loud bangs, punches and flag waving to name but a handful of abuses.

The training ground, care and attention they receive is impressive and the museum room shows off their many achievements.

Thank goodness they exist as without them crowd control would descend into riots and uncontrollobale behaviour.