In 1986, the San Jose Mounted Unit put criteria together to work from when choosing possible candidates for a Mounted Unit horse.

Approximately five areas were looked at to ensure that the Mounted Unit horses exhibited clarity, quality, and conformity. These areas included the breed (usually an American Quarter Horse is chosen for its quiet pleasant disposition), gender, which must be a gelding (a male horse); the height, a minimum of 15.2 hands; color, which is considered important in that the horses should be close in color, being chestnut or sorrel. As with the officers who wear uniforms, it was equally important that the horses looked alike for the sake of uniformity and consistency. Since the Mounted Unit plays a key role in crowd control, it was and still is important that the horses do not look different so that they are not singled out in a group.

Lastly, the training of the horse had to be decided. All horses can walk, trot, canter, learn to back, side pass, stop, remain still while mounting and dismounting, but they must also be exposed to anything that a police officer will see during the course of their duties. The horses must be able to endure traffic, construction sites, loud music, night time patrol, firecrackers, smoke, fires, parades, marching bands, helicopters, sirens, fire trucks, large crowds, any unexpected situation that a police officer may become involved in. In addition, the horse, like the officer must be an "Ambassador of Goodwill,", and leave a positive impact for the citizens it serves and not only a representative of the San Jose Police Department in general, but of the Mounted Unit in particular.

During the evolution of the San Jose Police Mounted Unit, training for horses changed along with the selection of horses suitable for police work. Not all of the horses were purchased by the Mounted Unit, some were donated by citizens of our community. The Unit recognized that other breeds of horses can also be adapted to police work if they have the mind and personality to conform to the training standards of the Unit. For example, several breeds arewithin the unit; Thoroughbreds, Warm bloods, Tennessee Walkers, Standardbreds, Percherons, Suffox Punch, Morgans. The only breed not to be considered by the Unit was the Arabian. However, the other standards set forth remained in effect with regards to color, height, and gender of the horse.