Mounted search and rescue

["Terry Nowacki" <wwfarm@wiktel.com>]

Certifying K9 Air Scenting Test

Day search - 40 to 60 acres - one subject in 1 1/2 hours

Night Search - 80 acres, one subject in three hours.

 Advanced day search -140 TO 160 acres locate two moving subjects in Five hours

 

 Above are three test used by NASAR for the field part for certifying SAR air scenting dogs .  I have run test for the above certifications standards using a regular riding horse, NOT using a air scent  horse. If you have a experienced MSAR searcher with average riding abilities in most cases in areas that are rideable, you could easily  pass at least two of the three above test using a standard grid search using only one mounted searcher. 

If you had a trained air scenting horse in many cases the odds would be in your favor that you could pass all three tests and more than likely in a shorter amount of time than allowed for the K9s.

 

 Now how can MSAR start to earn the same respect and sucess as K9 SAR  has ?  To start with MSAR should for sure change some of  their training methods and maybe even change their traditional types of certification standards.

 

 Don't forget if you spent as much time training your horse as the K9 SAR  does training their dogs MSAR would be as good if not better.

 

For more information on scheduling training clinics which range from general horsemanship to specialized MSAR training you can contact me through my web site which is;

http://airscentinghorse.com/clinics.htm

References are available.

 

TER 

Training Officer

Marshall County Mounted Sheriffs Posse ( 80 plus membership SAR Team )