Back in the 70s, no major demonstration was complete without rumours that some bright spark was armed with lion dung from London Zoo ready to throw in the path of police horses, and send them into a panic. Now, says the Police Federation, the government might achieve what the protesters could not: the departure of the mounted police from our streets.
It is 250 years since the Mounted Branch first saddled up in London to take on the plague of highwaymen and cattle rustlers. They have since become a feature at everything from demos to trooping the colour. Currently, there are 120 horses and 140 trained officers in London alone, and a third of the 51 forces in England and Wales have mounted sections, although their riders no longer carry the once traditional sword and pistol.
The horses receive special training so they remain unfazed by chanting crowds and flying missiles. But they are expensive, hence the claims by the Federation that they could well be the first victims of cuts in the police service. One force, North Wales, has already scrapped its mounted branch, and another three, Merseyside, Essex and Lancashire, are apparently considering cuts.
Whatever happens, the fame of one of their number will live on: Billy, a white police horse, helped to clear the pitch at the first Wembley cup final in 1923 after a vast crowd invaded and the game has been known ever since as the White Horse Final. When Billy died in 1930, one of his hooves, polished and mounted, was presented to his rider, PC George Scorey.
