Above: Training obstacles are positioned around the stables to accustom horses to many different experiences and objects. Right: The saddles, with safety stirrups attached, are specifically designed for comfort of the horses and to assist the police officers in their varied roles. Above: Horses are kept as naturally as possible at the Mayland stables with the walk-in-walk-out stables only used for those horses on duty. Note the fly veil...this is one cool dude hoss. Left: Senior Sergeant Glen Potter discusses the gear that a mounted officer wears and carries. The officers are now able to elect to wear moleskins or jodhpurs as their uniform. Right: Training young horses for every eventuality they can experience on the street includes accustoming the horses to flying objects and having bottles thrown either at them or around them. When on crowd control duty the horses wear protective gear, as do the officers. Right: The horses have large paddocks at Maylands and on weekends all those not on duty go to the turnout property in the Swan Valley horses, although this is always changing with injuries, illness or horses retiring. Senior Sergeant Glen Potter commented that they are looking Australia wide for the right type and temperament in horses and aims to build the numbers to a team of 30 horses with 25 operational at any given time. Consideration had been given in the past to moving the facility from this idyllic location to a more rural area, however revelations on land restrictions for the Mayland base now mean that the facility should be able to be maintained as a base for many years to come. For more information go to www.police.wa.gov.au Right: Memorial plaque for Richard Kemp, a well know mounted officer who died on duty and (below) the memorial for police horses that died while on duty. Left: All stables need a stable cat but this one seems to prefer to guard the tea room.