Saturday, March 24, 2012

Giddy-Up, Officer

MARCHPHOTOADAY

I've joined the Marchphotoaday Challenge along with Mama Tink and some other bloggers. Basically, every participant posts a picture of a specific subject for each day of the month.

Today's subject is "an animal":

This animal is actually an Ocean City Maryland Police Officer.
Just as police dogs are considered officers, so are the equine members.

Horses are generally used for patrol in highly congested pedestrian areas. On a hot summer evening, there may well be ten or fifteen thousand folks (or more) strolling the 3 1/2 miles of boardwalk in this tiny but busy resort town. The horses generally stroll along with them, the human officer aboard is able to oversee activity from his high perch in the saddle and, when necessary, can thread his way quickly through the crowd. They've even been known to step down onto the beach and trot the distance when in a great hurry.

If one goes to the inlet end (Southern tip) of this boardwalk, you can look across the channel and often see the wild ponies on Assateage Island. Wonder if those little ponies look across and hope to become a Police Officer in the "big city" one day!

**I'm proud to say my niece is a member of the Mounted Unit of the Baltimore City Police Department. She is not a patrol officer but is responsible for the daily health and welfare of the four-footed officers in her unit.


Here's the list if you'd like to play along with the March Photo Challenge, too.

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