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msar-riders - [MSAR] Beating the heat.... and Uniformly speaking...

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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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  • From: Karen Nesbitt <spanishequines@yahoo.com>
  • To: "Mounted search and rescue in Illinois USA." <msar-il@lists.ibiblio.org>, MSAR <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [MSAR] Beating the heat.... and Uniformly speaking...
  • Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:09:40 -0700 (PDT)

OK, well, while everyone was trying in getting "uniform", vested and in full gear...here's a great article on beating the heat and when the saddles and  blankets and clothes come off.
 
Its called "When the Rider is Hot, the Horse is hotter"  By The Horse.com
 
It will give you chills on a hot day! 
 
Dont know about you folks but when its a 104 in the shade...are vests really gonna be
mandatory? AND how  many times are we gonna unstrap that orange (?) a-hem,  helmet, or take off that felt or straw, or pith or  a-hem baseball cap to wipe the sweat from pouring in our eyes.....
 
Some of us might be wearing chaps on a hot day too...I prefer my chaps in suede...the dang raspberries in my territory will eat a pair of legs off summer or winter!
And I know my neighbors in Texas that well they can tell you about the brush and brambles they contend with and the need for a chaps and a wide brim.  Oddly, chaps keep
you cool.  (Well they do for mwe anyway...)  And they sure the heck are not synthetic nor
are they  orange!  There is a lot to be said about whats tried and true by the old cowboys... they wore what they wore for good reason.  None of this synthetic ~stuff~ either .. but thats another topic and well, no matter when or where you are mounted, you just never know what you might end up having to rescue.
 
We are all obviously gonna have some diffferences when it comes time for a search and the wearing of a uniform.
 
So, The Riers HOT...
 temperatures rising, are you ready for it?  You cant condition for it unless you ride in it.  Click here.
 
 
Oh yes and about them uniforms and vests...
.. Chicks Saddlery (mailorder)  offers a pre-printed

High Visibility Yellow Tabard

with the words "HORSE AND RIDER" pre-stamped on the back for about $10 before shipping great for pleasure and trail riding, BUT...If you wanted the letters MSAR on it, looks like a DIY.  But check it out....adding patch letters would be easy..
 
 
no pockets, nada, just a slip it over the head and a
 band to keep it on.  Lightweight.  Cheap...but not orange.
 
Has anyone found such in orange with reflectors elsewhere? Technically, they are not VESTS, again, they are called a tabard.  Or how about a pocketed vest.. in orange and that is not a tabard  but yet suitable.  We all can use extra pockets for little gear especially the cell phone and later in the fall heavier visibility gear.
 
While the yellow on the Chicks tabard is highly visible, orange for search visibility from the air would be more effective as yellow tends to drift into backgrounds and lose its illumination at a distance.
 
So, how about your sources as to where to go to get them?  Got Llink?
 
Chicks also carries the fleece saddle pads, however.. once again, for me white is being
 hard to come by.  What is with that?  And saddle pads any color, style you want.. they have a bunch of them.  I want plain simple synthetic hypoallergenic washable sanitary, bleachable white and Im still looking.  Maise is close, but not WHITE!  Still no source on the orange felt cover though..
 
Now, about this uniform thing... while I understand the whys and wherefores and all this for organizations and their professional individual legislations and affiliations etc....... obviously... most volunteers and backyarders will not have such.  I sit here wondering.. here I go, I travel numerous states... if I am capable of joining in a call.. who will turn away a volunteer who has no uniform?   If I stop and count the times we have helped someone and had to just spring into action, the last thing we are looking for is place to change into a uniform.  The least I can do is hopefully dial 911 and call for someone in one, but....wear one?  ... yeahgads! 
 
Reality check... Good neighbors in a community show up in what happens to be in the closet that morning or on their backs at the time.   We dont have that telephone booth we can hop into to change our clothes, but collectively we have the eyes, the ears and some of  the abilities to lend a hand.  About the only one thing expected is a current valid
 photo ID so those in the powers that be can take a look at you and a lot of times the community is already searching before an LE search relay station is set up and you get to volunteer at one.
 
Just saying.  ;)
 
   Stay safe everyone.  Emergencies and accidents and situations happen when you least expect it.
        Karen Nesbitt - VMSAR - Iroquois County - Illinois
http://stormyweather1.webs.com/ - STORMS is updated.. Now with Password protected Log-in..
911 - Hey SUPERMEN, our telephone booths are missing...be on the look out for.......
 

 

 
 

 
 
 



  • [MSAR] Beating the heat.... and Uniformly speaking..., Karen Nesbitt, 07/21/2010

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