For city horses, a question of track or shield

This summer has been busy for Bailey, a 9-year-old police horse. Last month, he and his fellow equines from Boston Police Department's Mounted Unit provided security during the Democratic National Convention, towering over protesters near the FleetCenter and assisting officers on patrol throughout the city.

Clever Brick, a 7-year-old racehorse, has also been hard at work, making rounds on the Suffolk Downs track in Eastie.

Racehorses and police horses may not seem to have a lot in common, but some former runners have found retirement jobs in police units across New England.

"Historically, [police departments] would take donations, and the biggest places they would get them is from the racetrack," said Bailey's rider, Sergeant George Survillo, the commander and trainer of one of the nation's oldest mounted units. The unit's last thoroughbred, the breed that dominates horse racing and makes up a small percentage in police units, left about two years ago. "Generally speaking, racehorses do not make good police horses," he said, citing the racehorse's small size and inexperience in dealing with adverse situations.

However, Ellen O'Brien, president of CANTER NE, an organization that places racehorses in second careers, said such horses are comfortable with large crowds and noisy sounds from equipment such as forklifts -- situations police horses regularly handle.

Clever Brick's trainer, Luis Arzola, of New Hampshire, has had one of the horses he's worked with, Ernie the King, join the State Police Tactical Operation's Mounted Unit.

Another former Suffolk Downs racer, Courtly Candor, now has a job at the New Haven Police Department.

Still, cases like these are uncommon in the horse world, where most retirees go on to compete in other events such as jumping or trail riding, said Dr. Carl Kirker-Head, a horse enthusiast who is a Tufts University professor in equine medicine and a large-animal surgeon. Racehorses' "delicate" stature often puts them at a disadvantage for police work, which usually requires heavier horses with bigger hooves, he said. But the few that do make it into the ranks are trained like any other police draft horse, a breed taller and heavier than purebreds.

Survillo introduces his unit's police horses slowly to various sounds and visuals during training, so that eventually a fire truck could blare by without startling the horse, he said. "We're asking them to step toward noise, and smoke," said the commander, who has worked with horses for about 10 years. "Their natural instinct is to turn and run. Racehorses have never been exposed to do that. If you spook [untrained racehorses], or scare them, they're going to show you how fast they can run."

Police horses also have to deal with the public, whether for crowd control or for interactions with children and adults. In crowd control, the horses are used as tools of intimidation and help officers spot trouble from 10 feet above the ground. When a police horse stands somewhere in the city, a positive image is usually conveyed to passersby, Survillo said. The unit's draft police horses, which usually weigh between 1,600 and 1,800 pounds, work an eight-hour shift and often stroll through Newbury Street, Boston Common, and Downtown Crossing.

Still, the jobs of a police horse and a racehorse are "equally demanding in different ways," Kirker-Head said.

"The demands of the racehorse are very short-lived but highly intense work activity," he said. "By comparison, the police horse has much more sustained but moderate demands placed on him. And that, too, can be very telling with time."

Work for Clever Brick, a dark bay thoroughbred with bluish-brown eyes, starts at 5:30 a.m., six days a week. Races are every day except Fridays and Sundays. "We have like no life," said trainer Arzola, who recently received a bruise on his knee after being kicked by one of the 18 horses he trains. "It's a fun sport, but it's a lot of work." When Clever Brick or his buddies don't race, they train. Almost daily, Clever Brick runs between one and two miles in the mornings, and gets groomed, fed, and taken care of by Arzola's wife, Lorita Lindemann, a veterinarian.

But for either horse racing or police work, the horses need some brainpower. "Intelligence helps pick the truly outstanding horse from the regular run-of-the-mill," Kirker-Head said.

Racehorses and police horses do bond differently with their riders, according to Kirker-Head. "In general, the relationship between the police horse and its rider is closer. Love is what he's riding out every day on the beat," said Kirker-Head, who owns seven horses. Jockeys ride several different mounts, he said, and rarely spend enough time with any one horse "to develop that bond."

Regardless, a horse is still, well, a horse. It costs to feed, house, and maintain them. Arzola says it costs between $950 and $1,150 per month to train a racehorse. Boston's mounted unit's head storekeeper, John Brennan, says upkeep for each of the police horses cost between about $333 to $400 per month.

No matter what jobs they have to tackle, these creatures' roles stand out in American history. The draft horse had been a workhorse since the 1800s, and the racehorse has provided entertainment since the first organized thoroughbred race in 1745.

"We should," said Kirker-Head, "appreciate both activities for what they are."

M. Robyn Jones can be reached at mjones@globe.com.