The background
CEO Frank Keller said the company has a total of 50 horses available to serve areas in The Woodlands. The patrol service began serving The Woodlands when the Pavilion had only been open for about a year, and Keller said he remembers the first concert the mounted patrol appeared at was Van Halen.
Originally, the service patrolled as far north as Hwy. 242 in The Woodlands. The current area of service includes Hughes Landing and Market Street, as well as areas extending to the Woodlands Parkway to the south.
Keller said the idea for the company came to him when he was studying ranch management in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and he decided to change to studying criminal justice and police administration.
"I had a little horse-drawn wagon business ... and started a mounted patrol there," he said. After spending some time in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, he moved his business to the Houston area and worked with malls such as Deerbrook Mall in Humble.
Keller said the fact that the patrols are mounted gives advantages in sight and mobility.
"Their height and visibility was purposeful," he said. "We want them to be seen but also to see. You're 12 feet up in the air ... they can get through traffic, parked cars. ... We want the public to feel safe without feeling intimidated."
What's next
The company's Conroe offices sustained damage in Hurricane Beryl that is currently being repaired, Keller said in an Aug. 30 phone interview. In addition to The Woodlands and the Pavilion, it contracts with the Westwood Magnolia Parkway Improvement District.
"We were hired for and continue to do security and law enforcement," Keller said. "They are first responders. ... We pride ourselves, even when our office was destroyed in [Hurricane Beryl], we brought mobile RVs down so we could function in The Woodlands."
According to the business website, it has also provided mounted patrols at music festivals such as Coachella and Stagecoach.
- 14016 Bert Brown Road, Conroe
- www.mountedpatrol.com
