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msar-riders - RE: [MSAR] Alert and Air Scent training

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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "colleen combes" <ccombes@pacbell.net>
  • To: "'Mounted search and rescue'" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: RE: [MSAR] Alert and Air Scent training
  • Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 16:27:49 -0700

Hey thanks Terry… good explanation. I hope your seminars are going well.  Colleen

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of wwfarm
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 5:43 PM
To: Mounted search and rescue
Subject: Re: [MSAR] Alert and Air Scent training

 

This post pertains to the further discussion on a horses "drive" while air scent searching.

 

The amount of a drive that a horse has varies with the individual horse.  Many factors come in to play when trying determine which horses have the most "drive".  Some influential factors include training, breeding and even the environment in which they are kept. ( These factors and others  were discussed in previous post) The same is true with dogs, some just do not have the desire to search.

Even in the quarter horse breed some horses I have tried have very little "drive" to find the missing subject but others like some cow bred quarter horses show a lot of drive. I mean when they catch the scent drift they pull at the reins and would rather run than walk in order to find the victim. (I have seen horses go through flooded streams that were three or four feet deep and ten feet  wide on their own while following a scent drift.)                                                                                                                                                                                      It is similar to rope horses that I have trained, inorder to save on the cattle I train them to first chase and rate a ATV. Some just don't ever build the desire, than you have the others that when the ATV takes off you better have a deep seat because they are after it and I mean right now! So in this case the horse has the desire or "drive" to chase something moving. In cow horses they call this desire "cow " but really it is just gaming desire because a good cow horse will just as easily work a flag as a real cow.   This gaming desire shows up in many different breeds of horses.  If the horse has  a strong gaming desire he can develop a strong "drive or hunt desire".

In a previous post in was mentioned that training is a factor in how the horse goes after a victim, I agree this a major factor.  One away to increase your horses "drive or hunt" desire is to keep your training secessions short and quit training before the horse tires of the game. When you keep the training game interesting and  the horse is sure that it is ok that he can act independently of the rider he will build his "drive" or "hunt" desire.

 

TERRY .

 




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