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msar-riders - Re: [MSAR] Drill Team or SEARCH HORSE

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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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  • From: Una Smith <una.smith@att.net>
  • To: Mounted search and rescue <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [MSAR] Drill Team or SEARCH HORSE
  • Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2006 08:36:26 -0400

IRVIN LICHTENSTEIN wrote:
> The need for speed (cantoring and galloping)on the
>search part of the mission is rare, although it may be needed for the rescue
>portion of the assignment.

For both rescue and search tasks, high speed is best reserved for
the deployment stage of the task. Eg, your task assignment is in
a particular cultivated field or on a particular trail located a
few miles away, and for various reasons you choose to go there on
horseback rather than trailer.

I have been on some field teams where all parties were able to
gallop in company, and on others where at least one party (horse
or rider) would have lost their composure.


> And lastly, your mount may signal you that he
>wants to change gaits because some other gait may be easier on him than
>where you have him. Can he walk as fast as a slow trot? Or cantor as slow
>as a fast trot? Which is easier on that particular horse and terrain?

Paraphrasing a very academic book on this topic, horses are like
automobiles. There is a point at which shifting to the "higher"
gait, like shifting up a gear, allows the horse to travel at the
same speed with less effort. For an individual horse, its slow
trot will be easier than its very fast walk, and its slow canter
will be easier than its very fast trot. But this turnover point
varies from horse to horse and also depending on condition.


>The best to find out is to go out and ride with your team.

Yup.

Anyway, this thread illustrates again how MSAR and rodeo parade
posse are not a natural combination.

Una Smith
New Mexico




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