Police horses for the chop.

One unexpected upside of the ConDem's cuts is the possibility that several police force's may have to lose their mounted branch. 

Good. I can see no possible use of police horses in a modern urban context other than to intimidate people. 

From experiences at Wapping and Trafalgar Square, I can personally confirm that the experience of facing a full-tilt charge of police horses is terrifying. It's meant to be so -   not just to disperse a crowd but also to intimidate it from forming in the first place.

And  the threat is not just psychological - mounted police officers are equipped with those extra long batons precisely so that they can reach down and  do some actual damage as well.

At sports events and big concerts,  the horses may get petted by kids and other animal lovers, but their very presence for me  is still a veiled threat  - and one that brings back echoes over the centuries of  the Peterloo massacre.