Mounted search and rescue

["philip easley" <easleyranch@foothill.net>]

In 1982, I had first started training our Sheriff's Mounted Posse for
mounted SAR.  After giving instruction on tracking from horseback, where
people would likely go given the terrain and other factors, and to pay
attention to your horses alerts (something we had used previously for
tracking and locating cattle in the mountains).  I had roll players out on
about 2500 acres.  We did a massive mock search.  Every mounted posse member
that went by the roll players that were just sitting in the brush just off
the trail said each horse would try and look at them and the rider would
scold the horse and yank the head back around to the trail and would spur
them on.  That was our first lesson on air scenting.  We had become much
more conscious of that since then and had located evidence and people in the
mountains on searches since then.
Philip Easley
Nevada County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Inc....
Nevada City, California
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Patty Montoya" <riverrider@bak.rr.com>
To: "Mounted search and rescue" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 11:00 PM
Subject: [MSAR] Hypothermia and horse sense/scents


> A similar situation happened to our unit last year:
> The forecast was for rain, so we went prepared for rain...however, it
> snowed.  The subject had traveled several miles up a heavily wooded,
> difficult trail and the searchers on foot were having a difficult time.
The
> horses were also slipping and having a tough time in some sections, but
they
> were able to cover a large area quickly.  Our instructions were to just go
> up this difficult trail as quickly as we could.  The subject had been out
> overnight and was not dressed for cold weather.
> As the team was passing some undergrowth the horses alerted that something
> unusual was there.  The riders investigated and found the subject huddled
> under the brush.  He was elderly and dressed for warm weather hiking with
an
> internal temperature of 74 degrees.  Because of the poor weather
conditions
> and remote location, it took almost and hour to get someone to take him
out.
> (Fortunately, they were in radio contact and immediately radioed for help.
> But a helicopter couldn't get in there and the shortest route was across a
> river, which required bringing up a boat and team.)  By the time a team
came
> in and took him out, the mounted riders were cold, not prepared for
spending
> the night, and it was too late to ride back down the trail they came in
on.
> They had to cross the river with the horses.  All around it was a
difficult
> search and rescue.  We now require all members to be prepared for ANY kind
> of weather and we don't trust the weather forecast.
> Sadly, the subject later succumbed to his injuries but his family was
> somewhat relieved that he was found and had a fighting chance because the
> alternative was that we might never have found him without the horses
> because he was hidden so far under the heavy underbrush.
> This was another example of how helpful the horses can be when our own
> senses are not strong enough.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Sherry C. Hicks" <shicks@nwinc.net>
> To: "'Mounted search and rescue'" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 10:24 AM
> Subject: Re: [MSAR] So you made a find. Now what?!
>
>
> > It is not really a scenario, but a real rescue that Art Wolff told us
> > about
> > during our SAR TECH II class. I mentioned it because someone mentioned
> > that
> > they had taken all their overnight gear from their pack and I wondered
how
> > they would have dealt with this type situation.
> >
> > The rescuers hunkered down and made it through the night, but all were
> > hypothermic then reinforcements arrived the next morning. The two main
> > problems were their lack of preparedness and the fact that they were in
an
> > area of the national park where radios and cell phones don't work
because
> > the park does not allow towers.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
> > [mailto:msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Una Smith
> > Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2006 7:14 PM
> > To: Mounted search and rescue
> > Subject: Re: [MSAR] So you made a find. Now what?!
> >
> > The scenario includes "severe hypothermia" and "got out", as in
> > walked out...?  The scenario's internal consistency is low.  Lets
> > wait for clarification.
> >
> > Una Smith
> > New Mexico
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