In the early 1990s, the clip-clop of horse hooves on asphalt could be heard in East Lansing almost every weekend during the fall.
Deputies with the Ingham County Mounted Police Division patrolled the streets, clearing out giant house parties and escorting the occasional student home.
But in 2001, budget cuts and a calmer city meant fewer horses in East Lansing. Today, the county's 16 doe-eyed horses and their riders save their appearances for home football games and other potentially rowdy times.
"A 1,500-pound horse coming at a crowd is a lot more effective than a row of people," said Sgt. Danielle Patrick, volunteer services coordinator for the Ingham County Sheriff's Department.
The county's mounted police division remains a thriving part of the sheriff's department, officials said. The volunteer force raises $24,000 for local grants each year, and participates in missing person searches and crowd control. They also serve an image function, trotting in parades and festivals.
The county sheriff first deputized citizens as a team called "The Posse" in 1953.
"They wanted a patrol that would cost zero to the county," said Tom Monkowski, a Mason resident who rides for the division with his two horses, Bailey and Scout.
Volunteer riders supply their own horses and care, which cost around $4,500 per horse, per year.
The group formally became the Mounted Division in the early 1980s, around the time the now 66-year-old Monkowski joined.
East Lansing was a lot rowdier then, and members of the division sold their services to the city's police department in 1992, Monkowski said.
The group patrolled with 10 or more horses on weekends, when assaults were rampant and house parties could reach about 600 people, he said.
"There were a lot of fights downtown, and a lot more problems in general," East Lansing police Capt. Juli Liebler said. "Everything was bigger."
Monkowski said he remembered a time when he walked two horses into a jammed backyard party.
"You just spin them in a circle and kids start diving over the fences, anything they can to get out of the way," he said. "And of course the police are on the other side of the fence, ready to arrest them."
No one was ever hurt, because the riders moved the well-trained animals slowly to break up the parties, Monkowski said.
The horses and riders go through more than 16 weeks of training to prepare for the job. They must handle loud noise, bright lights and the occasional drunken reveler stopping to pat its nose.
Until two years ago, MSU had its own mounted patrol, which cost nothing to the department.
MSU police Sgt. Maureen Kennedy trained with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and said she can see an entire parking area from the vantage point on her horse, instead of spending hours patrolling campus in a car.
Being on horseback meant the officers could weave through crowded streets and have a stronger presence, she said.
The horses were replaced with a fleet of motorcycles which require less time for rider training and upkeep, she said.
"It's a similar-type unit with opportunities for a lot of officers," said Kennedy, who still represents the department in horse show riding.
East Lansing scaled back on its use of the county's mounted division in 2001 after budget cuts, but Liebler said by then, the problems were largely fixed.
"We've got what we need," she said.
