Mounted search and rescue

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

I know of a mule - not trained for air scenting - that alerted on a several day old cadaver that had been missed by searchers and SAR Dogs.

 

As Terry mentioned, if riders pay more attention to their mount, many messages can be received from that mount doing a "natural" / untrained air scent or use of other equine senses. I suspect if the pre-search briefing for the Mounted on this cadaver (assuming fairly recent) search is very specific about watching the horse / mule for "what's that?" / distracted behavior there is good potential a good search pattern would be successful. The search strategy should take into condition the prevailing winds at that time, and riders should also be aware of any wind shifts. SAR Dog handlers are trained think of things like this, but MSAR riders aren't.

 

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

 

 

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

From: Thomas and Christy Matthews

Just wanted to know if anyone has tried training a horse to do cadaver search

 

Our dog unit is currently faced with a cadaver search on a 10,000 acre ranch.

relatively flat pasture land. A lot to walk with your dog. This is a case where

handler would be able to cover more ground if mounted and work the dog, or

even better a horse that would indicate on cadaver.

 

Christy Matthews
SAR Tech II
Stillwater Co. SAR
Central Montana Search Dogs, Inc.