In Hampton, a little town on the New Hampshire seacoast that has a long, deep sandy beach, police have a patrol mounted on Tennessee Walking horses. They are extremely effective in crowd control and for catching wrong-doers on the sands. Faster and quieter than dune buggies ! Nothing seems to calm down miscreants faster than feeling a bump on the shoulder and turning around to see a *big horse and his rider smiling at you! (TW's have such nice faces they do seem to smile.)TWs have a nice calm temperament too, and children and youngsters love to pat and stroke them which is good public relations for the HPD!
The man who started the Mounted Patrol is named Dennis Pellitier, a police officer at the time, he is now retired and has enough acres to offer a good retirement to horses also retired from the Patrol. He chose Tennessee Walkers, he said, because they are the easiest horses to ride for men not "born to the saddle" and because of the horses' great personality and temperament.
