Mounted search and rescue

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

I have been on many night searches horse and mule-back since 1982.  Though
it is not favored, it had been necessary.  My biggest problem is keeping the
folks behind me from using the flashlights and blinding me.  I have
excellent night vision and agree that the glow type lights below the horses
chin is less light blinding and effective.  The horses generally have good
night vision, though, my old SAR and Mounted Patrol horse went blind and I
first noticed it on night searches when he ran into trees and tripped over
small rises in the ground.  Once on a night search in the Grouse Ridge area,
my horse stopped and would not continue.  I stepped off him to investigate
and fell in Island Lake (flashlight would have been good then).  While
packing on the Blue Lake Trail, I had a glow light on my lead horse and
nothing on the pack string and the third mule stepped off a cliff and drug
the whole pack string over causing one real wreck in the pitch black dark in
very steep country.  The glow sticks are needed on all of them as long as
they are low light and below the neck.
Philip Easley
Nevada County Sheriff's Department
SAR Coordinator
Search and Rescue Inc.....
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Una Smith" <una@lanl.gov>
To: "Mounted search and rescue" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 7:49 AM
Subject: Re: [MSAR] Night Searching


> Brenda Durham wrote:
> >We are selective on night searches.  We will only send the horse/riders
on
> >trails cleared for horses (don't want eyes poked out) although everyone
has
> >goggles to wear at night.
>
> You know, eye pokes are something I have never worried about.  I have
> spent many nights (and one complete solar eclipse) traveling on foot
> in the dark under dense rainforest canopy and clouds (so little or no
> sky light), and a few nights under starlight.  It may be necessary to
> go a little slower than in daylight, and for the one in front to use
> a light to check for above ground obstacles.  In a group, I find it
> very helpful to have one person toward the back of the group hold a
> steady light low down to illuminate the path ahead for everyone else.
> That way, most others in the group do not need to use their own lights
> except to search either side of the trail, and no one gets lights in
> their eyes.  This cuts down on the amount of nausea-producing swinging
> lights.  Training in light awareness is important, especially for
> those wearing helmet lamps, so they learn not to shine their light in
> everyone else's eyes and not to swing their light unnecessarily.  It
> takes practice, to learn to move your eyes more than your head and/or
> hand.
>
> I really wouldn't worry about eye pokes for horses.  Horses see well
> enough in the dark that as long as they are calm and moving no faster
> than a walk, they should have no problem avoiding hazards.  Of course,
> both horse and rider need to have normal night vision;  don't assume
> everyone does, though!
>
> Night searches on trails along cliffs sounds extremely dangerous but
> my (inadvertent) experience has been that it sounds far worse than it
> is.  But then, when working at night I assume that anywhere I cannot
> see the ground there *is* no ground.  I learned this lesson stepping
> off a curb on a city street.  The curb's shadow hid a narrow wash-out
> that was ~12 inches deep, and I stepped into it and fell, ripping the
> skin off one knee on the pavement at the lip of the wash-out.  I have
> some proud flesh to remind me of it.  Anyway, use this safe operating
> assumption and you will move safely in the dark across all manner of
> vertical hazards.
>
> One thing I agree on:  night searching in icy conditions is extremely
> dangerous.
>
> Una Smith
> Santa Fe County Sheriff's Posse, in New Mexico
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