Mounted police are an interesting sight anywhere.

In this age of Hummers, BMW and Mercedes Benz cars, the sight of a policeman atop a big horse makes for a nice picture.

Horses, once ubiquitous in New York (according to a recent issue of the New Yorker there were 120,000 horses in 1908) are a rarity these days except on Central Park South, where tourists can take short rides in carriages. 

In the above photo, we see a New York City policeman riding down 8th Avenue in Mid-Town Manhattan on a Saturday morning.