Mounted patrol offers services during hectic shopping season

One of the most effective ways to find your car in the midst of a jammed parking lot is to flag down the nearest person on horseback.
That new luxury is becoming more and more common in Hernando County during the holidays.
The Civilian Mounted Patrol was seen regularly during the bulk of the Christmas shopping season, helping people locate their cars in a crowded, 250,000-square-foot parking lot.
Roughly 15 volunteers assisted Sgt. Donna Black and Sgt. Kathleen Reid, of the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.
"We've been doing it for about five years and the civilian mounted unit has now done it for the past four years," Black said. "We always have great success with it."
Black said one of the advantages to riding on horseback is seeing the entire parking area. Sometimes shoppers forget exactly where they park. Flagging down someone 10 feet high makes locating their cars easier.
"We encounter a lot of people who have fond memories of they way it was up north," Black said. "They are familiar with the mounted patrol in New York."
The sight of law enforcement and volunteers sitting tall and upright on the back of a horse also goes a long way to deter crime, she said.
The Civilian Mounted Patrol surveyed the most crowded parking lots Dec. 10-21, focusing much of their attention on Nature Coast Commons, one of the newest and largest retail centers in Hernando County.
On Monday, it patrolled the Wal-Mart located at the corner of U.S. 19 and Spring Hill Drive and across the remaining store fronts running south along the corridor - from JCPenney to Best Buy.
The 15 riders supplied their own horses, trailers, food and equipment, Black said.
"It's a service we offer to the community," she said.
Oftentimes, those CMP volunteers were there to offer enjoyment to children and adults who like horses.
Frequently people walked up to the horses to pet them.
In one instance, someone wandered over to one of the horses and had a photo taken with it. That person was taking part in a scavenger hunt and coincidentally, needed a horse photo en route to completing all of the tasks, Black said.
"We had a lot of people thanking us for being there," she said. "The community spirit is quite overwhelming for us."