Empty saddles: the RCMP's recruitment crisis is threatening the celebrated Musical Ride

It's an image as Canadian as anything on a coin — Mounties in their red serge dress uniforms, putting their horses through the complex paces of the renowned Musical Ride.

But after more than a century of entertaining summer crowds from coast to coast, the RCMP's iconic Musical Ride is in trouble, plagued by low morale and staffing woes that threaten the program's future, according to an internal audit conducted by the RCMP.

"The limited availability of new riders is a significant threat to its sustainability," says the audit report, recently posted online. A copy of the audit was first released through an access to information request to independent journalist Dean Beeby.

"The mental and physical well-being of Musical Ride members has suffered in recent years and is contributing to low morale," the report says. "Evidence suggests this is a pervasive issue which requires attention from management."

The Musical Ride traces back to the RCMP's beginnings as the North-West Mounted Police in the 1870s.

According to the RCMP's official online history, some of the very first Mounties would break up the monotony of riding drills by competing among themselves and performing tricks on horseback.

Those impromptu performances were later repeated for crowds and, over time, evolved into the modern day Musical Ride. The RCMP's Musical Ride unit travels around the country and abroad to perform calvary drills set to music.

"It is seen as an iconic image of Canada and is the RCMP's largest public relations vehicle," says the audit report. "The Musical Ride is inherently positive, when often the RCMP is reflected in a negative light."

But the RCMP says the staffing shortages undermining its frontline policing services have spread to the Musical Ride.

The audit report — which was conducted late last year but only posted online last week — says that hard-pressed RCMP division heads aren't releasing interested officers from their policing duties to do a stint on the Musical Ride.

Without a steady and consistent supply of riders, the Mounties already assigned to the ride unit can't rotate out to their next postings.

Supt. Kevin Fahey, the officer in charge of the Musical Ride and heritage branch, said the audit results are troubling but not surprising.

"To know 'my replacements aren't coming,' it's very unsettling. And it could be a major cause of stress, a lot of hardship on families as well," he said.

"People were ready to move on."