Mounted search and rescue

[MSAR Maintainer <msar@ibiblio.org>]

[I added line ends and deleted unrelated quoted text.  --Una]

Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2004 11:39:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jim Green, muleequestrian at yahoo dot com

To Chris Pennington c/o Big Bear Sherrif's Posse, 
 
   I'll need a snail mail address to send you a copy of the MSAR 
proposal. This thing's about 25 pages long, and I have no way to 
scan it into a computer. ( I'm too cheap to buy one... rather 
buy horse gear instead ). Also check NASAR's website for a 
couple books by Kathy Roberts. She's an excellent reference to 
getting started/organizing an MSAR team. She gave our unit 
permission to use her material as a training guide, provided we 
don't profit from it. It took about a year to get our unit 
going, with the biggest obstacle being utilized by the Civil Air 
Patrol chain of command. 
   I had to put together a power point to present to the big 
wheels to get them to understand that with all their airplanes 
and fancy gadgets, they really did need us. Nobody wants to go 
out on a limb and try new stuff. The most important advice I can 
give to anybody wanting to start an MSAR team, is to work hard 
to weed out the " Cowboy " mentality in any of your potential 
members. I've had quite a few characters to contend with. Not 
wanting to wear the uniform, not go through proper training, 
etc. This will kill your project quickly if you can't present a 
professional, SAFETY minded appearance. 
   CAP is big on the safety issue, and I don't blame them. One 
hot-dogger on the MSAR team can sour the powers that be on the 
whole idea of MSAR. Think about it... an incident cdr. already 
has enough pressure on him/her to prosecute the mission. Add to 
this the fact you have 900 - 1200 lb animals running around in 
the field... it's sort of scary to the folks who know little 
about horses, other than the crap they see on TV. 
   Above all else - train, train, train!!! If you have something 
that spooks your animal, work it out of them. Anything you do to 
reduce the liability of fielding horses on a search is going to 
benefit you. Any one of us who puts an MSAR team in the field, 
offers something unique to the authorities... speed, extended 
range, and brute strength. OOOPS! I didn't mean to preach. Just 
adding some thoughts about stuff I had to put up with getting 
started.   ---  Jim