Deployment and command structure
Mounted Police — Authorised Professional Practice
Summary
This section provides guidance on the readiness for deployment, operations, and risk management for mounted police. Officers must ensure horses are fit for duty and manage their welfare during and after events. Mounted officers support tactical operations and are deployed for public order public safety (POPS) events, including demonstrations and large gatherings, while also engaging with the community to foster public trust. Risk management is crucial; it is the responsibility of each unit to conduct risk assessments according to the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Key principles
- 1Horses must be fit for duty and receive adequate rest during deployments.
- 2Mounted officers support tactical operations and public order events.
- 3Community engagement is enhanced through the presence of mounted assets.
- 4Risk assessments must comply with health and safety legislation.
Full guidance
This page is from APP, the official source of professional practice for policing.
Mounted police have statutory and common law powers and duties in relation to public order public safety (POPS), which must be exercised in accordance with the **European Convention on Human Rights under the Human Rights Act 1998** . Police powers and duties in relation to the policing of protests include those set out in:
Mounted officers should follow the guidance on **police use of force** in the POPS APP, in line with the mounted branch **tactical options**(opens an external website in the same tab) on Knowledge Hub (you will need to sign in).
Officers must ensure that a horse is fit for duty prior to deployment. A horse may be ridden for anywhere from four to eight hours on average during any given event. There should be periods of rest within any operational deployment that requires a mounted asset to ensure that horses’ welfare needs are met. Daily tasking patrols can range from two to four hours depending on the physical needs of the horse, current training of the horse and other commitments, as per individual force arrangements.
Horse welfare needs must be managed post-event to ensure that maximum rest periods available are maintained.
Mounted officers will regularly be deployed to support tactical operations. They are also deployed to **POPS events** , including:
demonstrations * large-scale sporting events * music events and concerts * other events that involve mass gatherings of people
In addition to these POPS deployments, mounted assets are regularly used in a community engagement capacity. There is some evidence that their use for community engagement may have a positive effect on public engagement, trust and confidence. This is described in RAND Europe’s report, **Making and breaking barriers**(opens an external website in the same tab) .
All mounted units should manage risk as an individual unit. Chief constables and commissioners must ensure that all risk assessments are conducted in compliance with the **Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974**(opens an external website in the same tab) . Where practicable, chief constables and commissioners must also ensure the health, safety and welfare of employees at work under section 2 of this act.
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Read the full APP guidanceSource: College of Policing — Authorised Professional Practice · Crown copyright, licensed under Open Government Licence v3.0. Summary fetched 2026-06-27.