The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) horses come from different animal husbandry farms and sometimes from individuals. They must have specific qualities and characteristics.

Behavioural description

• Calm temperament and cool head
• Friendly animal that likes to be handled
• Tolerance for noise and music

Physical description

• Canadian breed
• Preferably a gelding
• Coat preferably dark bay or black
• Minimum of 4 years old (most of the cavalry horses are between 5 and 10)
• Minimum height of 15 hands 3*
• Good conformation
• Good physical condition, to be able to travel on different types of terrain (mountain, paved road, gravel, concrete) and deal with difficult conditions (cold, ice, snow)

* A hand is a common unit of measurement for measuring the size of a horse (from the ground to the withers). One hand equals four inches, so a horse that is “15 hands 3” is 15 times 4 inches plus 3 inches, or 63 inches tall (1.6 m).

Black Jack cools off by lying down in the sand

Alternate information

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