June 2021 Issue

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EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN June 2021 Page 23 East Coast Equestrian P.O. Box 8412, Lancaster, PA 17604-8412 (717) 509-9800 E-mail: PAEquest@aol.com www.eastcoastequestrian.net Published by Pennsylvania Equestrian, LLC Stephanie Shertzer Lawson, Editor and Publisher Contributors Marcella Peyre-Ferry, Suzy Lucine, Suzanne Bush, Amy Worden, Lois Szymanski, Sylvia Sidesaddle Advertising Manager Debbie Reid Advertising Sales Manager Phyllis Hurdleston Published 11 times a year. Submissions of articles, events and photos are welcome and should be received by the 10th of the month preceding publication. Please call (717) 509-9800 for advertising rates or visit www.pennsylvaniaequestrian.com. We cannot accept copyrighted photos without permission from owner. You must have permission before reprinting anything from East Coast Equestrian. For permission please call (717) 509-9800 or email steph@eastcoastequestrian.net Farm Show Complex Plans to Reopen Terry Helder, founder and chairman of East Coast Ranch Riding Association, and chair- man of the Ranch Horse Show at Keystone International Livestock Expo (KILE), is optimistic and looking forward to a success- ful show season. “I’ve been on several conference calls,” he says. There were members from the All American Dairy Show Committee, people from KILE and people from the Department of Agriculture. “They assured us they’re going to work with us. There will be agricultural shows in the fall,” he says. “I think peo- ple are just ready to put last year behind us and go forward.” He says that the Ranch Horse Show in 2019—pre-pandemic— was the biggest they ever had for the association. Earlier this season the group hosted a Ranch Show in Stevens, PA. “We had 331 entries,” he says. “It was a really good way to start off the year.” “We are working to sched- ule shows as space becomes available and capacity allows,” Powers says. As the pandemic restrictions are lifted, the road back to normal is getting a lot smoother. Shirk is on board the opti- mism train, too. “We don’t have a back-up plan. We don’t want to think about that now,” she says. “We’re pretty positive and confident things will turn out.” Last year was especially chaotic and difficult. “We knew we had to have a plan b, c, d, e and so on.” This year, the prevailing attitude is optimism. “We’re all at the point we want to get back to some kind of normalcy. Moving for- ward and staying positive is how we will make that happen.” (Continued from page 18) By Amy Worden Just under a year ago, the Baltimore Police Mounted Unit was on the verge of being put out to pasture, its budget axed by the City Council during a contentious debate over the future of police funding. But reports of the demise of the oldest continuously operating mounted police unit in the coun- try were premature. Today, after a reprieve from the former Baltimore mayor, the 133-year-old unit’s horses are living large, occupying a spank- ing new, state-of-the art stable alongside the B&O Railroad’s historic right-of-way. It features huge, open stalls, wide aisle- ways, a heated washroom and construction designed for optimal ventilation, along with a fire suppression system. There are offices and a community room with kitchen facility, designed for use as educational space. The $3.5 million, private- ly-funded First Mile Stable was the brainchild of the B&O Railroad Museum which owns the property adjacent to the “first mile” of American railroad built in 1830. The museum’s executive director, Kris Hoellen, said it was a natural fit given the historic connection between horses and railroads, dubbed “Iron Horses” in the early 19th century as the Former Baltimore Mayor Rescues 133 Year Old Mounted Patrol new mode of transportation of the era. The new stable is a far cry from the old auto dealership under the busy Jones Falls Expressway that housed the unit until last October. The horse stalls had no windows and the “exercise” area was a postage-stamp-sized bare lot. On a sunny morning last month, two of the unit’s three draft horses, Bo and Jack, were grazing in paddocks fashioned inside the concrete remains of an old railroad repair shop, once used as a grim set in the hit HBO crime drama series “The Wire.” The third horse, Slurpee (named by donor 7-Eleven stores), was luxuriating in his 16 x 16-foot stall. The unit, which once handled crowd control among other duties, has been repurposed by the Bal- timore Police Department solely for community relations activities under the Department of Recre- ation and Parks. The four officers and a sergeant are assigned to the police department’s Community and Youth Division. Some Baltimore racial justice activists, who want the police bud- get reduced in the wake of a string of deaths of people of color at the hands of police officers across the country, feel the unit’s $500,000 an- nual line item could be better spent on education and social services. “What’s the benefit?” asked Jane Henderson, executive director of Communities United, which focuses on racial and so- cial justice issues. “I would rather see a narrowing of police roles to emergency responder with a gun, not simply social services under police purview.” But community leaders in the impoverished southwest neigh- borhood of Mount Clare where the stable is located, say the bene- fits of the mounted unit are clear to residents who have viewed police as a threatening presence. “The horses are welcoming,” said Kintira Barbour, president of the Mount Clare Community Council. “They bring a sense of joy.” Already, the equine and human officers are engaged in community activities, greeting train car loads of visitors each day who take a short ride on the historic rail line from the museum to the stable for tours. Hoellen, who bubbles with excitement about the possibilities of improving both police-commu- nity relations and the neighbor- hood, said she views the stable project as the museum’s moment to step up as a “responsible an- chor” in the Mount Clare area. “Children want to know what horses eat, how big are they,” she said, describing how small inter- actions can make a difference. “It may be their very first conversa- tion with a police officer.” She sees the story-telling, singing and dancing sessions held now for toddlers growing into programming for older students in animal husbandry, equine studies and law enforce- ment. Hoellen said museum educators are working with the Maryland Horse Council to develop a curriculum to serve the some 70,000 children who visit the museum each year. Hoellen also hopes the equine program will inspire young people to become involved with horses through free city riding programs, like City Ranch, which brings horses to young people in their communities. Hoellen said the stable is looking for a donated riding lawn mower and horse tack. Monetary donations are being accepted to assist with acquiring addition- al horses and with helping to finance the stable. In addition, naming opportunities are avail- able for the stalls and the stable itself. Contact khoellen@borail. org. Calendar of Events (Continued from page 17) 24-27 NJQHYA-AQHA Breed Show. Gloucester County Dream Park, Logan Twp., NJ. Dreamparknj.com 25 Frederick Area Dressage Show. Wyndham Oaks, Boyds, MD. Frederickdressage.org 26 Unrecognized Starter Horse Trials. Fair Hill Natural Resources Area, Elkton, MD. Fairhillinternational.org 26 Paper Chase/Trail Chal- lenge. Bucks County Horse Park, Revere, PA. (610) 847-8597 or buckscountyhorsepark.org 26 Open Team Penning. Wyoming County Fair Grounds, Meshoppen, PA. ksgra.org 26 Silver Moon Show Series. Cedar Valley Stables, Re- inholds, PA. atsshowseries.com 27 ‘B’ Hunter Jumper Show I. Princeton Show Jump- ing, Skillman, NJ. (908) 327- 3388 or princetonshowjumping. com 27 Hunter Jumper Show. Delaware Valley Horsemens Association, Sergeantsville, NJ. Dvhahorseshows.org 27 Hunter/Jumper, English, Western Show. Suffolk Stables, Shamong, NJ. (609) 346-7093 or suffolkstables.com 27 Jumper Show. Cedar Valley Stables, Reinholds, PA. (717) 823-8937 or silvermoon showseries.com 29 Cross Country Schooling Night. Fair Hill Natural Resources Area, Elkton, MD. Elkcreekcde.org 29 The Ridge “C” Rated Show. The Ridge at Riverview, Asbury, NJ. (908) 236-9864 or ridgeshowjumping.com 30 Wednesday Night School- ing Show. Twin Brooks Horse Show Grounds, Harrisburg, PA. (717) 580-4457 or cgk10@yahoo.com