On Jan. 2, 2017, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office Mounted Enforcement Unit will appear in the 128th annual Rose Parade in Pasadena. Leading the charge is the unit manager Lt. Erik Raney, who submitted the application to saddle up and ride in the parade.
The unit is composed of 13 riders, including Sheriff Bill Brown, and a team of around 10 horses. Being a part of the mounted unit is a collateral duty, Raney said, which is essentially extra duty. His primary job is managing the Sheriff’s Office aviation unit in Santa Ynez.
Riding a horse may seem like a leisurely activity, but it’s actually a physically demanding one. Riding in the Rose Parade is a two-hour long endeavor for the deputies, who are wearing full-dress uniforms while on horseback under the Southern California sun.
In Raney’s 21 years as a deputy—and four years with the mounted unit—it’s one of the most challenging jobs he’s ever had.
“As mounted law enforcement, it’s a huge obligation and undertaking because it takes a lot to take care of horses,” Raney said.
The horses are housed in stables at the Santa Ynez Valley Equestrian Center. The Sheriff’s Office pays for some services like veterinarian checks and shoeing fees, but the members with their own horses must pay for other essentials, like horse feed.
Once each month, the unit trains at the center. Training is highly specialized and the team trains in four primary areas: equitation (the skill of riding a horse), desensitizing the horse to loud sounds or sudden movements, crowd control and drilling, and endurance—which includes a ride down to the river and back.
According to Raney, one of the most important aspects of training is simply spending time with the horse.
“It’s about putting time in the saddle,” Raney said.
The training preps them for parade events and deployments, of which they do between 10 and 20 each year. One notable deployment was patrolling for the Donald Trump rally in Anaheim last May. At least 16 people were arrested that day, although Raney calls it a mostly peaceful gathering.
Raney will also take the unit on backcountry rides through the unincorporated areas of the county and sometimes in Los Padres Forest. The unit was once a part of the Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team, but was removed as the team became more technologically advanced.
In addition to the Rose Parade, the mounted unit appears in other functions, such as in the Santa Barbara Old Spanish Days Fiesta Parade and as good will ambassadors at the Elks Rodeo.
“To be a mounted law enforcement officer is twice the commitment than a regular officer because you have to be a good cop and a good equestrian,” Raney said.
This article appears in Nov 10-17, 2016.
