Mounted search and rescue

["philip easley" <easleyranch@foothill.net>]

I have still not caught up on all my e-mail and again am real late on talking about the snow.  In our county, there are deep snow drifts in the mountains in the spring and bare patches of mountains.  Snow cats and snow mobiles cannot always cross all of the country that has to be covered.  The horses can cross the snow drifts and the rocky country as well.

Philip Easley

Nevada County Sheriff's Department SAR Inc.

----- Original Message -----

From: Pennington-Boggio's

To: Mounted search and rescue

Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 11:08 PM

Subject: Re: [MSAR] Rough riding in snow

Good info Susan. I have some questions for you. (from one snow country to another) Do you ride in this deep snow for fun or for searches? If for searches why? We just were called out today on a search in the snow and took bigger horsepower- snowmobiles and snowcats. I'm curious as to why you would be deployed. I am sure there are some reasons that don't fit my area and therefore aren't ones I would think of! <G> Always willing to learn!

Our team rides in snow up above the horses' bellies with no problem.  The harder or crustier snow poses more problems than soft, powdery
 snow because it is harder for the horse to break a trail.  We tend to change lead horses a lot in harder conditions so each horse may have
 a break.  Ice is the most difficult for a horse to navigate but barium on the bottoms of the shoes helps with the traction.  If you can keep
 your horse barefoot, that is always the best bet.

I'm not sure if Una is online this week or not. She is at a conference nearby. We rode together on Sunday. It was fun but short. A storm front was moving in and it was cold and drizzly. Not great pleasure riding weather. But we made the best of it and showed her some of our mountains and views! Anyone else ever out this way be sure to stop and say howdy! <G>

Chris Pennington
Big Bear Lake, CA

---

_______________________________________________
MSAR-riders mailing list
MSAR-riders@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/msar-riders