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msar-riders - Re: [MSAR] Feeding Horses on a Mission

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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "IRVIN LICHTENSTEIN" <ilichten1@verizon.net>
  • To: "'Mounted search and rescue'" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [MSAR] Feeding Horses on a Mission
  • Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:52:44 -0500

Depending on how rugged your mount is whether you want to risk a diet change.  I pack a 5 gallon bucket with feed from the barn hopper while the water tank(s) is filling.

My Percheron will eat almost anything without a problem but to avoid problems (he is 21 +) I bring a bale of hay and his customary feed and water along.  Water is usually the most picky for some reason.  There are 3 15 Gallon plastic water drums in the trailer and they get filled with well water from his usual source.  There is only one area that requires seed free around here and they want you take your manure with you too.  Almost all the square bale hay and all the round bales are local.  The problems with invasives are over a century old in SE PA.

 

He has been high lined, rope corralled, in other people’s corrals and electric fences.  For emergencies (we also so LART and disaster relocation) I keep a 12VDC charger and a roll of conductive string in the truck so I can electrify whatever we end up using in the field, such as construction fence.  Blackie is the lead gelding in his paddock and at 17-2 and 1700 pounds I rarely put him in with a stranger for just one night.  We do work at night, without lights.

 

As to fouling a trail, the trackers complain the most about trampling, as they should.  The tracking dogs should not have a problem picking out a subject’s scent.

Pure air scent dogs are not recommended around here because we often are working public spaces that cannot be closed (and the rest of us want the public to be spotters/attractors).  The dog must be able to discriminate between scents to be useful in an area that sees thousands of visitors per day.

 

Irv Lichtenstein

SE PA SAR




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