RPRNY - yes, I have seen a charge, or at least a false start from mounted police and although horses are big critters, it ain't the horses you need to deal with - it is fairly easy to dismount a rider or falter his mount and anyone who thinks there might be trouble from mounted pd need only unwrap a short length of rope from around his middle or use a heavy leather strap, as in belt, to deal with it. A spooked mount makes it easy for the rider to be dismounted. One or two 'snaps' across the horse's butt from a leather strap/ belt will spook a mount - once the horse has reared up, the rider is off balance and a easy target. Once dismounted, the horse doesn't go too far. And, of course, if you are really worried about it then make up a bolo and you are good to go: 3 one half to one pound ball bearing and 3 four ft lengths of closeline if you want and then you have horsemeat on the ground - old native American trick ya know......
My late wife used to be part of a mounted search and rescue unit in the north country and grew up around horses. She knew that even the most well trained mount is near schitzy and easily distracted, which makes it very tough for the rider and crowds are not friendly for a horse to face.
You might be right about the albany cops not fearing a 5-10 or 12,000 person crowd, they have been arrogant and stupid before, it is nothing new and they probably would not have had a 2nd thought about it unless they made the mistake of trying to move it. I am sure that if they had started, they might have been able to go the full length of the park we were in but if they had turned to try it again they would have gone down, and gone down hard. There were lots more there than the media said and I have no doubt our numbers were closer to the 10,000 mark than the media would like to admit but do not doubt for a moment that if the cops had made the mistake it would have turned bloody for both sides. There were groups of dedicated men there who were ready to fight and a couple of mounted cops would not have swayed them at all.
I think the next rally will be even better and we need to bring along more than we brought before. This isn't gonna stop just because we had a successful rally, we need to do it again and again and again. And I'll chip in for the grassseed....