The playground at Red Hawk Ridge Elementary school is normally a place where children gather for a round of four square, game of basketball or even to hop around the hopscotch board. 

But on Thursday, the play area transformed into a place of learning and engagement as the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office enlisted their Mounted Patrol Unit, so three groups of first-graders could read the new book “The Happy Police Horse” to several of the unit’s steeds and deputies. 

The book was written and illustrated by two ACSO deputies and is intended to not only educate children about cross walks, stop and speed limit signs, but also to encourage them to read.

Here’s three students reading to the #ACSO horse mount unit. pic.twitter.com/i6Ukij2UcS

— David Mullen (@mullen_david) May 6, 2021

“It’s really about getting (the children) familiarized with some of our laws, but there’s also an educational side to the book,” said Deputy Matteo Montoya-Collis, who also illustrated the book. “We want them to learn how to read and we want them to have a good time reading our book, so they can remember having a positive interaction with law enforcement.”

The idea of hosting a “reading to horse” program began last year after the sheriff’s office reimplemented the mounted unit for the first time in over 30 years. 

Typically, the unit is seen most often during parades or assisting in directing traffic around the county, but it also plays a vital role in certain operations such as missing people cases, said Montoya-Collis.

However, after the agency finalized the “reading to horse” program, the next step was finding the right book. But that book didn’t exist yet.

“We had to figure out what book the kids would read to the horse, so I said ‘Let’s write a book,’ said Lt. Rich Anselmi. 

People within the department grew a liking to the idea of writing a book and instantly got to work with Anselmi as the writer and Montoya-Collis as the illustrator.

At the beginning of the process, the duo committed to writing a book that was educational and broke down traditional racial and law enforcement stereotypes. After months of brainstorming, writing and drawing, the final product was ready for print.

So as the first-graders flowed out of the Cherry Creek School District elementary school in groups of around 20, sounds of joy, happiness and excitement could be heard from a mile away.

School staff directed each student to their designated area where they would meet a deputy, a mounted unit volunteer and either Benelli, Lovebug, or two other horses to read too.

The groups would either read in sync or take turns reading to the horses, deputies and teachers and share the story of Anslmi’s trusty steed Benelli.

At the end of each session, each student received a book to take home. 

“Everyone just had a lot of fun today,” said Lt. Rich Anselmi “Hopefully the message about breaking down stereotypes and barriers will come back to them every time they see the book and leaves a positive impact on them.”