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msar-riders - Re: [MSAR] Horsemanship and such / Mounted SAR to include ATV?

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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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  • From: "irvin lichtenstein" <ilichten1@verizon.net>
  • To: "Mounted search and rescue" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [MSAR] Horsemanship and such / Mounted SAR to include ATV?
  • Date: Mon, 05 Sep 2005 20:18:22 -0400


The accident investigator was an NPS parkmedic, not me. When he says the
jogger was at fault I believe him. We often have idiots running down the
trail waving t-shirts, yelling and screaming, and hitting horses as well as
pushing at riders or trying to blindside the horse. In many cases the rider
is standing at the side of the trail to avoid conflict. We have even seen
cases where one jogger passing another pushes the other jogger off into
other trail users. Road rage on the grass. In Valley Forge it is so bad
that the paved paths are divided into people side and bike side by a yellow
line with the horses alongside on the grass. In the state parks horses and
people get the dirt exclusively and the bikes get asphalt, and no motorized
uses at all.

You cannot desensitize a mount to being hit, or bitten by a dog, or having
his rider grabbed so as to pull from the saddle. These are assaults and
require evasion and active defense. The horsemanship aspect is not avoiding
some idiot striking out at you, it is recovering afterward. I have tried
being nice in the past but the vet bills are too high. You come after my
mount, he gets to defend himself. Liability insurance is cheaper. On the
other hand his size is so intimidating that few would attack and the last
dog that tried was never seen again.

Irv Lichtenstein


-----Original Message-----
From: msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Jorene Downs
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 6:12 PM
To: Mounted search and rescue
Subject: [MSAR] Horsemanship and such / Mounted SAR to include ATV?




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