Matchday Horses by phil_howcroft

Matchday Horses

Two police horses and two police horse handlers (I think you call them handlers ......police dog handlers are handlers.........you could not call them jockeys)

Anyway these two mounted police ladies were at the Reebok Stadium, to enforce crowd safety today.

Millwall were the visitors and there was a large police presence both outside and inside the stadium.

There was an unsavoury incident when the Wanderers played Millwall away earlier in the season. Some Bolton Wanderers players were allegedly racially abused by Millwall fans.

So today's match had a bit of an 'unhealthy atmosphere / edge' to it .

The football wasn't much better either as the game ended Bolton Wanderers 1 Millwall 1

If you view large you can see all the police and horse paraphernalia, needed for modern mounted horse. I've always found high vis jackets hard to photograph because the reflected light from them messes up the exposure and light !

I asked the ladies if I could take this pic

The horsers look wonderful
Awesome shot
January 12th, 2013  
Bah Millwall........... What's that song Pompey sing to them... "Run away, run away, run away" or something like that :-)

January 12th, 2013  
Wonderful picture. I took your advice and examined it with the magnifier. I really enjoyed the detail of the horse stockings and shin guards. But how sad to think they need to be protected with face guards. My opinion of human nature keeps dropping.
January 13th, 2013  
Sue
Suites of amour ... wonderful shot!
January 13th, 2013  
This is fabulous Phil. There's so much detail...do you think you might call them riders?
January 13th, 2013  
Amazing shot Phil! A great capture. The horses are absolutely magnificent and I feel sorry for them having to be involved with possible violent situations.
January 13th, 2013  
Great shot... you resolved the problem of the high-vis material quite well.

There's so much to look at in this image; it's quite interesting. What really makes it though (for me), is the second officer, smiling with her head turned, whilst the first officer -and even the horses- are looking into the camera somewhat more "posed". I like how that breaks the feeling of "snapshot".
January 13th, 2013  
Great shot ... but not a job I'd relish (and that's just watching the football)!
January 13th, 2013  
Police jockey - I like the sound of that lol
January 13th, 2013  
Wow everybody's got amazing leg gear. I heard something on the radio about the horses being phased out. That would be sad.
January 13th, 2013  
@judithg thanks judith, that leg gear is pretty amazing. Notts Police recently 'rertired' all their police horses (budgets cutbacks)...to save £93K a year.........how sad !
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-18600324

January 13th, 2013  
@anron thanks anita :)
January 13th, 2013  
@caddick Mike the footie was pretty dire
January 13th, 2013  
@davidchrtrans thanks David...i asked the officers if I could take a picture ...... so I think that's where the smiles came from ...."why does a 50 something bloke want to take our picture...just smile at the sad man !!!!"...I was thanking the officers as I clicked, so perhaps that's why the horses are looking my way
January 13th, 2013  
@tishpics patricia, i didn't see any trouble pre match or during the match ......modern day policing means the football violence we saw in the 70's and 80's is all but gone
January 13th, 2013  
@swilde Sue, thanks, riders sounds about right,
January 13th, 2013  
@redpants thanks Sue :) ...they do look like suits of armour
January 13th, 2013  
@allie912 thanks allison, police horses are regular custodians of the law at football (soccer) matches......would you believe our county police force has just shit down the mounted force section
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-18600324
January 13th, 2013  
@andycoleborn "no one like 'em...but they don't care "
January 13th, 2013  
@kerristephens thank you kerri :)
January 13th, 2013  
@phil_howcroft I'm shocked at Notts getting rid of the mounted police. They were always such a pride.
January 13th, 2013  
What sleek and beautiful horses. Marvellous shot.
January 13th, 2013  
@phil_howcroft Got a great shot of the police horses though!
January 14th, 2013  
@anron anita it is indeed sad that we no longer have horses in Notts
January 14th, 2013  
@busylady thnx judith they are indeed beautiful
January 14th, 2013  
I'm with Sue. They're "riders". They look nice and happy!
January 14th, 2013  
Great shot Phil. I love the coppers face expressions, and the horses are so beautiful.
January 15th, 2013  
Gorgeous horses! They have on a lot of gear!
January 19th, 2013  
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