Mounted search and rescue

[Pennbo <pennbo@bbv.net>]

Great topic! We have discussed this quite a bit over the last few years 
as new riders join us looking for mounts and veteran riders look for 
replacements. The discussion about terrain is super important as well. 
We've had a few have to get different MSAR mounts because their's were 
too big. A draft or draft mix just isn't as flexible in our terrain of 
steep narrow trails, low overhanging crowded trees, and large rock 
piles. They often have great quiet minds but their size rules them out 
for "our" best use. I'd say that right now the average size horse in our 
unit is probably 15' or 15'1"- with some a bit over and some a bit 
under. Our members range from about 5'4" to 6"4. 

Jorene wrote:

> Another issue for selection is natural walking speed. For example, if 
> everyone else on the team has a faster walking gaited horse, showing up with 
> a slower moving non-gaited can be a problem by either causing early fatigue 
> in the non-gaited horse trying to keep up, or causing difficulty with the 
> gaited horses continually being asked to wait for the slower moving horse.
Oh boy is this true! About half our members now have gaited horses. I'm 
looking for a gaited horse but it's not imperative as my Morgans have 
fast easy walks and keep up wihtout effort. However it's important for 
the commander or whoever is doing field assignments to know the 'teams' 
well enough to assign like with like in this aspect- for all the reasons 
Jorene mentions. Add that to knowing the talents of the human half makes 
it necessary that the commander know their members very well for best 
match ups.

Chris Pennington