Mounted search and rescue

["Terry Nowacki" <wwfarm@wiktel.com>]

James said -> The skill/ ability to open gates while mounted is certainly a
good skill
> for the horse/rider to have, but why make in mandatory.  Really, how
> often is opening the gate while mounted required?

Hi James
I agree that it would not be very often that gates would really be required
to be opened on horseback.
In my original post I said -Test such as opening gates, using lateral
control,
turning in a small boxs with out touching the sides are all horsemanship
test
designed to see if total body control can be achieved.
The idea for the gate obstacle in 4-H and other horsemanship test is only to
set up a
arena situation where horsemanship skills can be tested and judged. Trust me
most 4-Hs kids that go through this type of testing a yearly basis may
never have
to open a gates in real life either.

I belive Jorene explained it best a couple of post back in a reply to a post
on this
subject. See Jorene explanation below.

TER

Jorene typed -
> Yep. Demonstrating the ability to open, pass through and close a gate is
> simply demonstrating rider control for movement in a limited area that
> includes whoa, stand quietly, moving sideways and at an angle, basic
pivots,
> etc. It doesn't matter if you expect / don't expect to open gates in the
> field. The rider control of the mount to navigate slowly through an
> obstacle - perhaps one step at a time, in any direction - can be useful in
> any environment.