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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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  • From: Una Smith <una.smith@att.net>
  • To: msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [MSAR] 'Tis the season...
  • Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2008 18:01:45 -0600


In North America, it is that time of year again. Rodeo season. This is
when many county sheriff's posse groups are asked to do the most public
relations work on horseback such as parking lot detail, meet and greet,
and crowd control.

To do or not to do, that is the question. This year, I thought maybe it
is time to work up a FAQ-type review of the pros and cons...

Pro
* shows a spirit of cooperation with your sheriff's office
* tests your newer members' willingness and ability to respond with rig
and suitable horse
* tests your newer members' willingness to respond for an event that is
(to most people) not fun
* gives some practice in team management, both operations and logistics,
possibly also planning, maybe also radio communications

Con
* may displace paid professional security
* some risk of bodily injury to horse or horse and rider, especially if
alcohol is sold during the event
* may have limited value as training
* has little or nothing to do with search and rescue

Can you expand these lists? Please do!

Ultimately, the equation boils down to your unit's identity. Is it a
SAR team first and only? Is it a public service group that does SAR as
well as other public service? Is it a recreational saddle club that
sometimes also does public service? MSAR units are all over the map:
both in how they see themselves and in what they actually spend their
time doing. And that's okay, provided that the unit recognizes what
it is. Each unit has to look at itself and its members, and consider
the local demand for services it can offer. Where SAR missions are
very infrequent, working parking lots may make a lot of sense.

Consider that, whatever the unit spends most of its time doing, that
is what most new members are going to want to do. However, you'll
draw in the kind of people who like doing what the unit actually
does only if your recruiting is relevant to what you do. If your
recruiting involves holding arena play dates, you'll recruit people
who like arena play dates but not necessarily SAR. If you recruit
by holding despooking clinics, you'll be recruiting people who have
spooky horses (but at least they're doing something to fix that).
So how do you recruit people who want to do SAR? How about giving
a talk about searching on horseback, followed by a small mock search
(maybe even a simple detection experiment)?

If you're going to do parking lot detail, at least pre-plan with the
sheriff's office or professional security folks what to do in the
event someone reports a lost child or dog. "What to do" meaning
which of you to call, by what means, and what your members will do
to help. Or, what if a bad lightning storm blows in and suddenly
everyone wants to leave at once? What will your members do? What
if there is a bad accident or someone collapses in the parking lot?
Are there emergency exits? Who will be responsible for taking
charge? How will new orders be communicated?

Other thoughts?

Una Smith
New Mexico




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