Police horses train for stints at Laughlin River Run
On Wednesday afternoon, officers gathered at a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police stable near Horseman’s Park and began shoeing their steeds, not with horseshoes, but with stabilizing booties.
The booties better help the horses walk on asphalt, provide traction across different surfaces, and protect their feet from nails, all scenarios they might encounter at the Laughlin River Run, a motorcycle rally they will attend this weekend.
But the officers were on site mostly to get the five horses acclimated to the sound of a motorcycle engine, a noise they would hear multiplied by nearly 70,000 at the bike event known as the largest gathering of its kind in the Western United States.
Sgt. Steve Armbruster said the mounted police have been going to the event since 2002, the year three men were killed after the biker gangs the Mongols and Hells Angels got into a fight inside a Laughlin Casino.
Since then, the event has been relatively peaceful, said Laura Meltzer, a public information officer for Metro.
An officer with Metro used his own motorcycle for the training, and Armbruster said he tinkered with the bike to make the engine sound louder than standard.
As he revved the engine, five horses with officers astride stood in the dusty lot. Aside from nervously kicking dust, the horses stayed still and appeared calm.
He drove his motorcycle around the horses, then drove up and down the line they made as they trotted in a circle around the compound.
Metro’s newest horse, Bandit, has been with the department for three months, said mounted police officer Maile Hanks.
“He did great,” she said. “I can’t expect anything better from him.”
Horses with no training react to motorcycles with fear, Hanks said. As predatory animals, she explained, they are constantly afraid of being attacked.
“If a normal horse saw a motorcycle come at him, he’d run away.” Hanks said that horses who work with Metro learn to freeze instead.
Armbruster said the police presence at the event is for safety, but also for community engagement.
“It attracts the public to come talk to the officers, and just bring a one-on-one encounter.”
Contact Brooke Wanser at bwanser@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Bwanser_LVRJ on Twitter.
