What this Chesapeake horseman can teach you - Virginia Horse ...

Fall 2009
5 ON THE COVER
Mounted police oFFicer
Chesapeake resident patrols Virginia Beach
Amy Bailey at a special function at the mounted police facility.
By Andy Taylor
Waves crashing onto the shore, gulls squawking
overhead, the occasional shrill from a lifeguard’s whistle
and horses clop, clop, clopping.
Aah, the summer sounds of the beach.
Horses clopping? That’s right, Amy Bailey aboard
Nightwatch, and other mounted police officers, patrol the
Virginia Beach oceanfront and resort area on a nightly basis.
Bailey is a master police officer with the Virginia Beach
Police Department and one of 14 officers and 16 horses in
the mounted patrol unit.
Her horse, Nightwatch, is a dark-bay Thoroughbred
gelding, standing 16 hands high. He was on the show
jumping circuit before he was given to the police
department. All of the horses in the mounted patrol are
donated, Bailey said.
Nightwatch and Bailey work the 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. shift
during the summer months. Bailey said their mission is to
provide a visible presence and to look for trouble before
it happens.
Bailey said officers on horseback are in a better position
to see problems brewing because they sit high above the
crowd. This gives them an edge that officers on foot or in
patrol cars don’t have, she said.
Photo courtesy of Linda House/Foxwoodphotography.com
“On horseback you are able to see stuff start to develop
before it happens,” she said. “I can see a group of people
starting to make trouble from a block or two away.
Sometimes it’s gang activity and sometimes it’s jerks, call
it what you will.”
A lot of what the mounted police squad does is crowd
control but the evenings are often consumed with arresting
people for being drunk in public, fighting, disturbing the
peace and traffic enforcement, she said.
Best part of the job: Riding my horse anywhere I want.
Worst part of the job: Having to deal with arrogant,
rude people.
It’s a delicate balance when patrolling by horseback,
Bailey said.
“You can’t become a spectacle.” By that she means you
can’t go trotting up to every situation you see because
when the horses speed up it gets people’s attention and
draws a crowd.
Bailey finds 16-year-old Nightwatch perfectly suited to
the beat he works.
“Put him in the median and he’s just as chilled as he can
be,” Bailey said. “Put him on a trail ride and everything
spooks him, any little noise like a branch snapping.
“Maybe that says something about the rider,” jokes
Bailey, who never rode before joining the mounted patrol
unit in 1997. She stayed in the unit for five years but
decided she needed to get more experience in other areas
of policing.
So she tried other police jobs in the department.
But she found she missed working with the horses and
after three years she returned to mounted patrol.
There is a strenuous selection process to get into the
mounted unit, Bailey said. A selection board determines if
an officer is a good candidate. There is an agility test for
officers and months of horseback training, she said.
Bailey said that on average she’s in the saddle four or
five hours a night, but there are times when it’s as many
as 10 hours.
Bailey said that the officers check their horses each day
to make sure the animal looks good and doesn’t have any
obvious injuries. Officers also do basic maintenance such
as cleaning stalls. And the unit also has a full-time groom
for the horses.
An animal lover, Bailey has three dogs and numerous
fish but has never owned a horse even though she grew
up on a farm.
“We had cows, no horses,” Bailey said. “Horses were
for rich people.”
▪The Post welcomes feedback and story ideas. To contact us, e-mail Joan
Hughes at jchruby@msn.com or call (804) 512-4373.
more on amy baIley
born: 1965, Lynchburg.
residence: Chesapeake.
Family: Boyfriend, David.
Pets: Bulldogs Norton and Buster and deaf
pit-bull mix from the local shelter, Dixon; lots of
tropical fish.
occupation: Mounted police officer.
Hobbies: Kayaking, gardening, cooking, auctions.
Horse highlight: Participating in the inaugural
parade for President George W. Bush, 2001, and
assisting in security detail for Queen Elizabeth in
Williamsburg, 2007.
Philosophy on life: Life is always better with a
dog by your side.
best horse advice ever received: Ask nice the first
time . . .
www.horsenation.us