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msar-riders - [MSAR] Air Scenting horse / horse sense

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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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  • From: "Jorene Downs" <Jorene@CEOates.com>
  • To: <sanielski@earthlink.net>, "Mounted search and rescue" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Cc:
  • Subject: [MSAR] Air Scenting horse / horse sense
  • Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 22:18:53 -0800


----- Original Message ----- From: "susan anielski" <sanielski@earthlink.net>
Being new to SAR I'm trying to educate myself as well as "catch up" on the
gist of conversations. I must say however, that it's difficult for me to
comprehend that anyone knowing anything about scent and adding to that,
having a working/intimate relationship with animals wouldn't recognize the
scenting abilities that ALL animals have and more importantly use all of
the time. [...]

Welcome to SAR, Susan. And it appears you need some clarification. ;)

The horse is definitely communicating if we're paying attention, and as a prey animal they tend to be more active using their senses. Horsemen have known for many, many generations that the horse is capable of selective air scenting. I'm a Paint horse breeder and see selective scent demonstrated by every dam with her foal. Wise riders in pay attention to their mount. Wise mounted searchers have potential to make a find if they're paying attention to the horse.

The difference is that Terry is the first person who took that existing ability and trained it. Training makes it possible for the horse to air scent *on command*, focus on a specific scent, and alert the rider when that specific scent is located. The trained Air Scenting horse becomes a more significant resource, similar to a SAR Dog you can ride. A month ago I was in MN and watched 2 different horses *on command* perform the same function as SAR dogs trained for cadaver scent. ( www.airscentinghorse.com for more information.)

The horse's air scenting ability was always there. Now it is being trained for specific tasks. As I've mentioned before, I consider the air scent trained horse as next generation for MSAR.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jorene Downs
Tulare SAR - Hasty Team ICP Team
www.ceoates.com/sar
Tulare-Kings CERT
www.tk-cert.org




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