SOUTHLAND'S MOUNTED OFFICERS GET COACHING FROM ROYAL MASTER.

Byline: Erin Gebroe Daily News Staff Writer

The horses don't mind the mud, but that thunderous helicopter descending into the ring is enough to spook even the bravest Arabian.

It is only morning, though. Riders hope that, by the end of the day, the horses will see the helicopter as just another bird.

The drill Monday was one of the last in a four-day training program designed to refine the riding skills of law enforcement officials who patrol on horseback. The training at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Castaic equestrian center covered techniques for general patrol, crowd control and search-rescue work.

``We want a very confident horse and rider,'' said Sgt. Bill Thompson, who heads the Sheriff Department's Special Enforcement Bureau. ``You want to know ahead of time, going into a situation, exactly what is going to happen in that situation.''

Mounted officers can ride into areas where offenders, eluding patrol cars, suppose officers will not come to enforce drug laws. Last year, they patrolled the park at Val Verde, Thompson said.

In Santa Clarita, reserve officers on horseback patrol the shopping center parking lots during the holidays and help control crowds at special events, such as golf tournaments.

Brian Culp, a retired sergeant and riding master in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, flew in from Ottawa to conduct the training.

Riders from the Inyo and Orange County sheriff's departments and the Riverside and Moreno Valley police departments, as well as from Los Angeles County agencies, were coached on correct positioning and subtle movements officers can use to control their horses.

The riders also learned how to help their horses stay calm despite noise and movement from helicopters, sirens and flares.

Patti Jameson, a custody officer at Pitchess Detention Center who also volunteers for the sheriff's mounted detail, said she learned how to control her horse, a Welsh cob, more subtly.

For example, instead of expecting the horse to approach a frightening situation head-on, she may direct the horse forward, but at a ``shoulder-out'' angle.

``You can approach something pretty scary if you don't ask the horse to go at it straight on,'' Jameson said.

The shoulder-out approach movement also seems less threatening to people who might be frightened by a big horse coming straight at them, she said.

The 21 riders found group training especially helpful in conditioning their horses to frightening noises.

A horse's ``natural instinct is to run from things it's unsure about, so what we have to do is expose it to certain things,'' Thompson said.

Riders led their horses out of the ring, and a helicopter made a noisy, windy landing at one end. The riders returned on their horses as a group.

Because horses are naturally herd animals, the best way to introduce them to something new is in a group, Culp said.

``If they're with their buddy who's not afraid, you get them through it, and you get them used to it,'' he said.

Eventually, he said, the horse can stay calm individually in the noise.

After sitting in the ring with its engine running for several minutes, the helicopter rose. And the horses were one step closer to seeing that machine as a bird.

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color in SAC Edition only) Mounted officers keep their horses in a comforting herd while the animals get used to flares in a training session at Castaic.

(2-3--Color in SAC Edition only) A helicopter may seem like a mighty scary critter to horses being trained, left, for mounted law-enforcement work. At right, Brian Culp, a retired sergeant in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, coaches.

(4--Color--Ran in SAC Edition only) Deputies restrain horses' desire to run from a huge `critter' hovering over them.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News