The Chesterfield County program is offered in the spring, summer and fall. Participants attend one session per week for six weeks. Volunteers perform a variety of duties, including supplying the horses, helping riders on and off horses, and walking beside the horses while the riders ride. The Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph reported in its November 19 edition that members of the United States Air Force Academy security staff are urging the creation of a mounted patrol. Horses can get to places on the 19,000 acre academy that patrol vehicles cannot reach.
Mounted patrols are effective in crowd control, such as football games and presidential visits.
And, an officer on horseback is more approachable than one in a patrol car, which brings the security force into closer contact with citizens. Horse patrols have been established at Howard Air Force Base in Panama and on Vandeberg Air Force Base in California. Both are successful. If the Air Force Academy approves the program, members of the unit would be responsible for caring for the horses and cleaning the stables. They also would spend time training the horses on obstacles courses, subjecting them to noises and sights why might encounter while on patrol.