Mounted search and rescue

[philip easley <easleyranch@foothill.net>]

Tomi' Finkle wrote:
>It is a shame that MSAR is not listed as a Search & Rescue resource in
>the National Response Plan.
[... snippage by Una]

You are right, 20 years ago when I went to a Search And Rescue Management
School put on by California State Office of Emergency Services.  We were not
allowed to consider the mounted teams as a resource in our training search
scenarios.  It was as it is now, dogs, foot soldiers, and planes.  I worked
real hard over the last 20 years with my department, Nevada County Sheriff's
Dept. to open their eyes on the use of horses.  Even after demonstrating how
the mounted hasty teams did not effect the tracks on a trail enough to not
be able to recognize sign and that the dogs did not seem to be influenced by
the hasty search being done ahead of them.  I still have SAR coordinators
that will make the horses stay in IC until the dogs arrive an hour later so
the scent is not disturbed.

Philip Easley