Mounted search and rescue

["T'mi Fi" <tfinkle@erols.com>]

For those that have requested a copy of of the TrotSAR HRE slideshow and 
related documents, most requests were sent this afternoon.   If anyone 
has an email block that requires the sender to register with an email 
service, then those requests will not be forwarded.  Our team Training 
Officer does not have the free time to spend registering with email 
services, so when you request  a copy of of the TrotSAR files please 
make sure you have a working email address.  

Thank you,

Tomi`
---------------------------
Our team's new Training Officer created a nice powerpoint slide show 
that outlines our Horse and Rider Evaluation (HRE). The slideshow 
presentation has proven to be a very succesful recruitment tool.  The 
presentation explains up front what riding skills are expected and what 
areas will be tested.   We make it very clear that our MSAR team does 
NOT teach basic horsemanship or trail riding.   The HRE is very basic 
test that all prospective members [and all new horses of curate members] 
must successfully complete before the horse and rider team [as a single 
entity] are considered suitable for MSAR training activities .  The HRE 
includes basic ring, field and trail riding exercises.  Both Irv and Una 
have observed the HRE in person and Una was able to participate in the 
trail section of the HRE. 
Karen, if you or anyone else would like a copy of the HRE slideshow, 
simply  email <officers@trotsar.org> attn: Dr. McGuinness, to request an 
electronic copy.   Thanks to Una suggestion, this year we have included 
a HRE ring map that outlines and describes a course layout that each 
horse and rider must first complete (alone) in the ring.  Each horse and 
rider are observed alone in the ring as they complete each outlined 
skill following the directions of the course map .  All prospective 
horse and rider teams who complete the ring course will then move on the 
testing with other horses for additional ring work, before trail riding 
skills are tested.

Both PDF publications (Map & Slideshow) are the property of TROTSAR, but 
as long as credit is given to the Team, it is free to be used by other 
MSAR teams.    

Tomi`
Commander
TrotSAR Mounted Team
Maryland