Abby and Phil at Work
Phil reports, "Abby started working the streets with me when she was 3 years. I had another Mustang, Modoc, who had to be sent up (twisted gut) and I couldn't find a replacement. My wife and I had started training Abby and although smaller than Modoc, had all of the qualities I was looking for to work the streets. I had been told by many trainers that Modoc would never work the streets when we were first forming our mounted unit on the Bishop P.D. He proved them wrong. Ever since Modoc, and now our great Abby, we are sold on the Mustang program. We now have 4 mustangs that we have broke and trained and I wouldn't give up a one."
In May, during Bishop's annual Mule Days celebration, Abby assisted as she has several times in the past in apprehending a shoplifter from the venders at the fairgrounds. The shoplifter tried to get away through the parking lot. Abby side passed and pinned him against a pickup truck while Phil applied the "matching bracelets."
Abby attended Mounted Police Horse School and instructors school with Phil. This past July, Abby and Phil competed in the first annual Mounted Police Horse Trail Trials competition sponsored by the California Mounted Officers Assoc. Out of 35 mounts and riders, Abby and Phil placed 9th overall. Phil says: "Not too bad for an ol' rotten desert horse!"
Phil's son Phillip rides Abby when Phil's not working her on patrol. She was 1996 Jr. National Champ. at the WHB show in Reno. She loves to run and do barrels and pole bending. She has a lot of cow horse in her. Phillip has used her for steer dobbing and Abby stayed right on the steer's flank the whole time!
You see I ride a Mustang, and you stop and ask me why,
And as I begin to answer, my eyes well up with pride.
You see I've looked at other horses, with so called blood lines breeding
and such,
But compared to my partner Abby, they sure don't amount to much.
She's a bit of Americana, folks see it at just one look,
It's somethin' that you feel inside, you won't find it in any book.
"How long'd it take to break her," they ask, "looks like you've had good
luck,"
"I didn't break her," I reply, "she accepted me, without one single buck."
No, she doesn't like everything that I have to make her do,
But she gets in and does the job, just because I ask her to.
I think God must'av loved the Mustangs, for he made them powerful and wild
you see,
They remind me of where I am today, here, in the land of the free.
They're a part of us, where we've been, the heritage of our great Nation,
It's a blessing for me to caretake one of God's finest creations.
So when you think of wild horses, don't you go think of them as food that
some dogs eat,
Think of Abby the Police Horse, my partner workin' the streets.
At the end of our day when we've run out our course,
The Good Book says the Almighty will return on what else but, a horse.
So listen when our maker returns, he may speak with a bit of a western
twang,
'Cause the beautiful horse he come in on, was once a Wild Mustang.
Phil West
(More photos and details to come!)