Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

msar-riders - Re: [MSAR] communications harness

msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Mounted search and rescue

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Una Smith <una.smith@att.net>
  • To: Mounted search and rescue <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [MSAR] communications harness
  • Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2006 22:22:18 -0600

Una Smith wrote:
>>>May I suggest investing in some riding lessons to further improve your
>>>seat=3F>>

Sue Dolezal wrote:
>Una-
>
>Since you don't know me and I don't know you, this may not have come across
>as you intended...however, my response could be overly sensitive after being
>on the Black Crater fire for the last 4 days with very little sleep.

Sue, I did not intend to offend. Nor to insinuate you don't know
how to ride. You probably ride better than I do. I don't race
barrels or bend poles. If you are a USPA member you can look up
my polo handicap; I am a beginner, nothing to brag about there.

I hope you are feeling more yourself now.


>Larger busted women, when wearing a communication harness with radios WILL
>GET BOUNCE.

That is what I used to think, until a few women set me straight.
My problem was exactly yours: too much extra stuff going up and
down on my chest. But when I learned that my real problem was my
seat (however good it was then), I set out to fix it. I worked
at it whenever I rode, and I made notes. As I am sure you know,
it is good practice to keep a training log. SAR canine handlers
should keep one for each of their dogs; we MSAR folks should
keep one for each of our MSAR mounts; and all SAR folks probably
should keep one for themselves. The 50 hours I spent working on
my seat were not just lessons and drills: a lot was conditioning
(for polo and SAR), riding for fun, guiding trail rides, and even
some mounted SAR missions.

Polo involves a lot of cantering and galloping, so I already had
a good seat in those gaits. But my sitting trot was pretty bad.
It was a lot of hard work to fix, but worth it: the result is so
much more comfortable for me, and probably also for my horse.

This may be Too Much Information for some here, but I will share
this story anyway, to illustrate that I do understand the bounce
problem. After I learned how to stop bouncing, I rode sweep on a
20-mile leg of an endurance ride. Not only was I "larger busted"
then, being at the time a nursing mother, but while I rode I wore
(and used) a pair of Whisperwear breast pumps. They are shaped
like plump donuts, with batteries; you stuff them into the front
of your bra and hang a bag below to collect the milk. Even with
all that on board, I did not bounce.

Una Smith
New Mexico




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page