Mounted search and rescue

["Jorene Downs" <Jorene@CEOates.com>]

continued ...

Personal recommendations for MSAR include
- Have an expectation for training in the field in more challenging 
environments, not just the easy areas.
- If your local team has extra mounts suitable for saddling and transporting 
others, this opens up a lot of versatility, including ...
- If the extra saddle horses are available, provide a Horse 101: The 
Educated Passenger class to the ground pounders so they are more comfortable
around the livestock and have potential to be transported by MSAR.
- Strongly recommend MSAR and non-Mounted learning Mounted Evacuation 
assessment and techniques.
- Identify ways Mounted can successfully mix with and supplement 
non-Mounted.
- Encourage riders to cross-train in other disciplines to - at minimum - be 
useful assisting other specialties. (Example, topside for technical rescue.)
- MSAR teams have potential to add a specialty and respond as Mounted 
Medical, etc.
- Encourage an MSAR Support person (or more) at the ICP / Staging Area. That 
creates opportunity for some valuable management options. (Example: Support 
is a driver to provide horse trailer shuttle service to drop off and pick up 
an MSAR team so you're not limited to missions riding from camp or parking a 
rig and needing to return to it.) If this person is also qualified as a 
Liaison, you can also pick that person's brain regarding capabilities and
limitations of the local MSAR team.
- Mounted has the potential to ride, drag and pull. Explore those options 
related to search, and to rescue.
- MSAR is a viable resource in disasters, so some WMD / hazard awareness 
training is strongly recommended for safety. (And apparently there will be a 
required course for all disaster responders.) With the convergence of SAR 
and disaster response already happening, SAR / MSAR should be including at 
least basic disaster training. More disaster-related training just makes 
MSAR more versatile. For example, riders can get CERT training.

That's the short list. Some of my personal suggestions regarding MSAR are 
available in published articles. If anyone is interested, I'm also willing
to share more thoughts for those of you who haven't attended my course on 
Effective Use of Mounted in SAR and Disasters. ;)

For those of you who aren't already aware, I'm involved in a lot of aspects 
of both SAR and disaster. But my primary area of expertise is regarding
Mounted SAR. 45+ years around the horses, a daughter who competed all-around 
for many years under a world class trainer so I learned a lot about horse 
shows and more about horse versatility, Paint horse breeder www.ceoates.com 
, Backcountry Horsemen, ex-cop, SAR Hasty Team management, CERT / Citizen 
Corps management and incident IC/Ops related to volunteers in 2 counties, 
etc.  I saw a need and combined all that experience to identify options for 
Mounted SAR that usually aren't on the radar for either management level or 
the MSAR teams for SAR and/or disaster response. The end result is the class 
I teach at SAR conferences and make available to counties/organizations to 
bring me in to put on a workshop.

NASAR asked me to start up a Task Force regarding Mounted SAR, and the team 
keeps electing me as Chair. I'm also the point of contact for the NASAR 
Mounted SAR section indicated on the NASAR website. The Task Force has been 
great to work with. Very knowledgeable, and very dedicated. (Some of the 
others on the Task Force lurk here, and post infrequently.) We were in the 
process of developing NASAR MSAR standards when NASAR decided to work with 
ASTM regarding standards and focus on training and certification with the 
SARTECH program. So our Task Force focus has been adjusted to include 
working through ASTM to develop international standards for MSAR. Not a fast 
process, but it will get done! ;)

Again, ASTM will have the international standards, in the F-32 section 
regarding Search and Rescue. NASAR will offer certification for Mounted
SARTECH in the NASAR SARTECH program. The rider will be required to meet the 
related ground SAR standards, then meet the Mounted requirements.
www.nasar.org      www.astm.org

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jorene Downs
Tulare SAR - Hasty Team ICP Team
www.ceoates.com/sar
Tulare-Kings CERT
www.tk-cert.org