More BIG waste of taxpayers dollars. Money that could go to health care. probably the only police force in the world in show biz.

For me the musical ride is a tangible symbol of the patriotic pride I feel in my country.

"More BIG waste of taxpayers dollars."

#1-Think before you comment!!
#2-The officers volunteer their time to do this.
#3-The host community or host pays for them to come to the venue.
#4-The musical ride in the fort was sponsored by the community arts council which does receive govt grants however the revenue this brings to a community like fort st james offsets "taxpayer dollars" and gets re invested back into the community.

The Musical Ride is a posting, not volunteer work.

It is a full time job, you are responsible for the maintenance of your kit (all the fancy stuff) as well as the care and upkeep of your horse, including grooming.

The officers do not volunteer their time. They are full RCMP officers who spend 3 yrs. off their job, at full pay, to ride horses and put on a show. Most of them have never been on a horse before, and spend the first year learning how to ride.

After their 3 yr. stint, they go back to regular police work.

For a quarter the price of a regular police officer, they could hire horse-people, put them in red serge, and let the police officers do what they're supposed to be trained and paid to do -- police work.

there's something else to this - I watched the show in Fort St. James.

Before and after the event those officers were available for anyone to go up and talk to them. For the youth and children, being able to interact with a police officer, and having the horse there as something to talk about, to break the ice so to speak - just might help later in life. It has given them a positive imagine and memory of the RCMP, which for a number of reasons is sadly missing in our society today.

Several announcements were made during the show about which community groups and sponsors had helped to cover the costs to bring the musical ride to Fort St. James, and which community groups were going to benefit financially from having them there.

As well as the musical ride, the PG K9 team did a demo - that was equally impressive.

Musical ride in Ft. St. James but not in PG??

Are these horses exotics, per chance?

The commentary mentioned that they try to bring the ride to smaller communities as well as the bigger centres.
The community has to request that they come, it took Fort St. James two tries. It was held at the Fair grounds, so lots of stables on hand for the horses.

I don't know what breed of horses they are, but the RCMP have a stable, I think in Ontario. They raise their own horses. Every year there is a contest where school children can name 6 foals.

The ride in FSJ tied in nicely with the Cottonwood Music Festival being held along the shores of Stuart Lake.