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Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Hay There: SJPD police horse Cal (with his partner, Ernie Brown) looks forward to being the center of attention at this Saturday's parade. Cal's favorite part of the parade is the limelight-and the coffee (he takes it black).
Pony Express
By Jessica Lyons
Glenites won't miss Cal at the Founders Day Parade. He'll be the one with his long, auburn hair pulled back into a braid, maybe sporting a rose or two--that is, if his partner, Ernie Brown, can get away with it.
"It's hard enough around here to get the guys to let me do the braid, let alone the rose," Brown says.
Cal just nods. He's secure enough with his image to wear flowers in his hair.
Cal's a five-year veteran with the San Jose Police Department's mounted unit. He's also a horse. He tells me that he and his rider, officer Ernie Brown, are looking forward to the parade. Brown elaborates.
"He says his favorite part is the crowds, the people looking at him--he enjoys the limelight."
The crowds like him, too. During his tenure as a police horse, Cal has walked in about 100 parades. Cal says he loves it when kids pet his neck and talk to him. He tells me that his favorite parade is downtown San Jose's annual Christmas in the Park. He's well-known as the reindeer horse, leading Santa through the throngs of San Joseans. Every November, Cal starts growing antlers in preparation. Already, on an early September morning, the nubs are beginning to poke through.
With Christmas in the Park, however, Santa tends to be the big kahuna, and that doesn't always sit well with Cal. He likes to be center stage.
Cal says he expects to be the main attraction at Founders Day. He's looking forward to the kind words and soft touches of passersby--that, and the coffee.
"He does want to stop off and get a cup of coffee," Brown confides. "He can park himself along the side of the street, sip his coffee and just be a normal horse."
Cal takes his coffee black, and he drinks it though a straw (it reminds him of hay).
"He gets real clumsy, and he has a hard time pouring sugar into the cup," Brown says. "That's one of the things he's planning on talking to the management about, making sugar more user-friendly for horses."
The half-and-half thermoses are next.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
