By Gary Campbell

We’re experimenting with a new daily photo posting. Each weekday morning, we’ll pick a recent image from the Torontoist Flickr Pool and feature it here on the site. It’s our way to give the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve!

We laughed and laughed at first sighting of Torontogal’s candid street image — our city’s finest checking parking tickets on horseback. It’s such an awesome capture. It contains all the elements of great candid street photography — a mix of the unexpected, the officer’s awkward pose, the resignation echoed in the horse’s pose (even a car that looks to have given up), and finally the background figures oblivious to the whole comic event.
EDIT: “Falling off would be a better shot” was the title that Torontogal gave her own photo. We’d argue that falling off wouldn’t have made a better shot — this image looks pretty good to us as is.
Of course, the image also raises the obvious question: Why do our police ride around on horses anyway? According to the Toronto Police Services Board, “Police horses are not merely ceremonial or decorative; they are a hard-working and vital part of the Service, critical in areas such as crowd control and missing persons searches.”
Apparently, they’re also good for parking enforcement in the badlands of Trinity Bellwoods.
Torontoist has touched on this issue before, and Spacing has offered up a convincing anti-horse argument. Sure, horses are cool and all, but why not bicycles, motorbikes, or Segways instead?
Thanks Torontogal for providing us such continuing amusement — and for provoking a short rant! On her Flickr site, there’s a should-not-be-missed collection of photos from an abandoned Buffalo orphanage. Outstanding work worth your attention.