Document Request: 1988 Article in Sun Sentinel
Document Description: Article about Ian Risbridger in Fort Lauderdale, teaching how to handle police horses
Transcription URL: https://risbridger.surnametree.com/library/vdocs/D_421#421
Document Transcription:Article in the Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper, 26/08/1988
PATROLLING PRECISION FORMER MEMBER OF HER MAJESTY'S MOUNTED PATROL RIDES HERD IN FORT LAUDERDALE.
RENEE KRAUSE, Staff Writer, SUN-SENTINEL
FORT LAUDERDALE -- Ian Risbridger stands in the middle of the corral, a cigarette dangling from his left hand, barking instructions at the mounted police officers circling him.
"Watch the horses' length!" "Move up!" "That's better. And walk. Walk them. Don't let them go to sleep."
The five officers in the Fort Lauderdale Mounted Patrol circle Risbridger once more. He stares at each rider. He yells instructions to those not riding properly.
And barks again. "Canter!" Then a minute later, "Post to the trot!"
It's non-stop exercise for the officers when Risbridger is around. The man who served in Her Majesty's Mounted Patrol in London for four years has been volunteering his expertise to the Fort Lauderdale patrol for almost four years.
"I get more fun out of it than they do because I love yelling at people," Risbridger says jokingly.
Actually, Risbridger says he loves working with the people and the horses. He can't help it.
In 1948, he said, he was the champion junior jumper in England. Then he worked as a mounted patrol officer in London. And after moving to Broward County 15 years ago, he owned a 40-horse stable in Pompano Beach.
Now, at 56, he owns a Rolls Royce repair shop, but only one horse. He gets to work with many, however, when he volunteers his time at least once a week to train the Fort Lauderdale officers.
Sometimes, as was the case about 2 1/2 years ago when almost an entire new group of officers entered the unit, Risbridger works with the officers on Saturdays, too.
He takes little credit for the group's accomplishments. "I'm only as good at those people make me. I can yell and scream, but I'm only as good as their dedication allows me to be."
Mary Lou Hall has been with the mounted patrol for two years. "He's been coming once a week and more on his own time for the love of horses and concern for the community," she said. "He's like our drill sergeant."
Last Wednesday, the police department gave Risbridger a plaque to thank him for his service. Instead of practice, the group and Chief Joe Gerwens took Risbridger out to dinner.
When Risbridger is not yelling orders, he is putting the group through exercises meant to establish trust between the horses and the officers.
The officers play catch with large orange balls while on horseback. And sometimes they play hockey, using broomsticks. "All of sudden," Risbridger says of the games, "they're not falling off the horses when they make sharp turns."
On Wednesday, Risbridger watched as the officers took the horses through an obstacle course of bales of hay, lengths of metal pipes, wooden boards and tires. The course is supposed to recreate the challenges the horses face when working the streets of Fort Lauderdale.
Then Risbridger sent Hall, who was injured a month ago during a game on horseback, into a police car. He ordered the officers to ride their horses around the car, inches away from the vehicle, and motioned to Hall to turn on the siren.
The horses, Risbridger explained, need to learn to remain calm around the commonplace sounds in police work. The next one is gunfire. Not only do the horses need to get used to the blast, but the officers need practice jumping off the horse and using it as a shield should their lives be in danger, Risbridger said.
"I'd rather a horse get killed than an officer," he said.
As the officers rode around the obstacle course again, Risbridger wound up his instructions with a warning: "When I fire the gun, the last person off the horse rides without a saddle for the rest of the day."
Risbridger fired a blank and Sgt. Joe Ryan was the last one off his horse, Harry. Ryan was not penalized, however. Risbridger said he was in a good mood.
"I love it," Risbridger says of his work with the officers and the horses. "It's just a feeling you have and you can't explain it."
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