Mounted search and rescue

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

From: "Dana Angus" <danaangus_realtor@yahoo.com>
> Sue, my name is Dana Angus and I'm with a floundering mounted unit in 
> Santa Clara county. I saw your reent e-mail alluding to the fact that you 
> may know of some other msar trainings in CA. I saw your teams web site and 
> i would like to go to the sensory training in May but I hope that you may 
> know of some other trainings.  I am in charge of a team that basically 
> starting from scratch so I can use all of the help that I can. <
===

Dana, Mounted SAR should be qualified SAR personnel ... who are also good 
riders on appropriate mounts. Much of your training should focus on learning 
SAR skills that are needed on the ground, then learning how to transfer 
those skills to the saddle.

Local SAR teams might have good training available and might be interested 
in joint training. Keep in perspective that a *lot* of SAR training is 
needed for the rider, and the horse doesn't always need to be in the 
classroom or even the field for training. ;)  But building good working 
relations with other responders in your operational area is advantageous ... 
with or without the horse.

Another source for you in CA is SAR conferences like SAREX, SAR City and 
SARCON for additional training. The web links are in my last post.

If you're not familiar with the CA state Typing for Mounted SAR, visit
http://www.oes.ca.gov/Operational/OESHome.nsf/Content/A3F586FD13D795C788256B7B0029BBFF?OpenDocument#_fatkmop35e9n6asrj419maobicdk209h0a9in6orlckg54rrcckIf
 you're interested in meeting national standards for SAR (you'd also meetthe 
basic CA requirements for the Mutual Aid guidelines), investigate theNASAR 
programs and shoot for the entire team becoming SARTECH II by 
passingFundamental SAR. www.nasar.org  Going forward there will be a 
MountedSARTECH program available through NASAR, but first we need to develop 
theMSAR national / international standards through ASTM.~ ~ ~ ~ ~Jorene 
DownsTulare Co SAR - Hasty Team ICP Team www.ceoates.com/sarTulare-Kings CERT 
www.tk-cert.org