Mounted search and rescue

[Karen Nesbitt <spanishequines@yahoo.com>]

[Deleted HTML duplicate.  -Una]


I would like to bring something to everyones attention, and on the lines of 
being shorthanded...and in a "career" be it volunteering or not...and where 
no one is knocking down the doors to get in....
   
  If everyone of us recruited just one other person to do a search, for 
horsemen, this gives us also more manpower.  They do not have to ride, they 
would be a person to act as your pit crew.  They may have to move your 
vehicle while you are searching or maintain the base area where you starting 
the search from.  When you get back, they will be able to help you with your 
horse or be an extra hand to hold someone elses when you are exhausted.  It 
is always good to have a little extra backup.  Some of the searchs done, it 
is not possible to have "too much help"  There are so many things this ground 
person could do.
   
  Like Irv once commented, the ground pounders get in their cars, the dog 
teams load up their dogs, but we have to watch out for those low bridges with 
the height of our trailers and.we also have to be able to go under those 
bridges while on horseback and over them in traffic as well.
   
  If everyone showed up with a horse, they would more than likley be deployed 
to ride...BUT.who would maintain the base?  It could possibly take a rider 
out of the search.  That extra person is of great value too as he or she 
gives one more search rider for the string and one more person incase of an 
emergency.
   
  Remember, my first search had only 8 riders.  That "string" of riders was 
valueable, but had it not been for my husband as my pit crew, we would have 
had to cull a rider from the search to handle another detail.  It was he who 
watched our vehicles with the gear we did not take, he maintained the radio 
contact from the horses to the coordinator command and much more. 
   
  ----------------------
   
  One other note on red ribbons and kicky horses, kicky horses are horses 
that usually 
  ones that are feeling threatened when having their airspace invaded and 
they are defensive.  They are not necessarily horses of habit that kick, and 
all horsese can, but schooling them with another rider or even ponying 
another horse is great training for the animal as well as the rider...  It 
gets both horses used to another animal being close to it.  And if you have 
never ponyied before, you will soon learn what part of your body needs  and 
gets a workout!  A good pair of chaps will help with that fun.  I have been 
on many rides where riders had difficulties fording streams and such and 
those animals literally needed a push from a horse riding up behind it...or 
one taking a lead line to drag it across....
   
  Una is so right in stating get lessons.  A good instructor will be able to 
help you do more things.  A good seat is paramount in riding any horse, 
including a Paso Fino.  Keeping your horse supple is extremely important and 
I know every rider knows what it is like to ride a one sided horse at one 
time or another if they know what that is.  But not every rider knows how to 
"cure" it and are more often than not they are actually the cause of their 
own horses discomfort.   Knowing what to do to keep a horse supple in the off 
season and getting them in shape are all things to learn and know.  Training 
for endurance is a must too as one never knows how long the search will 
actually be.
   
  So in adding one more rider to your "string", let it be a good equestrian 
teacher, infact. let it be more than just one.
   
  Karen Nesbitt
  Illinois - Unaffiliated
  Iroquois County
   
   


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