Mounted search and rescue

[ALLEN SNYDER <allendana1@sbcglobal.net>]

Thank you for more info and encouragement to use what my gelding does naturally well.  He is curious, likes/is comfortable with dogs and games, and is highly treat motivated.  I had spoken with Irene Korotev with Kansas Search Dogs in the past and will reconnect so they can meet "Pride" and see how everyone can work together.  K-9 folks also understandably want to be assured the horse is not likely to kick or injure one of them or their dogs.

 

I had an older QH that had had EPM and I thought could only do light work or trails, but he warned me of a probable poacher upwind a couple of years ago.  We had seen unregistered traps in the "no tresspassing/hunting" woods where we had permission to ride,  but I had not thought of the chance we would encounter the hunter on the trail at sunset probably checking his traps.  My gelding spooked in place the way he had when we encounter a dead animal, and I occasionally saw pieces of the animal, but he was reacting to this man the same way.  Since they are prey animals, horses have reason to worry they may be next. 

 

 The closer we got,  I tentatively asked this man if he we was aware he needed to speak to the owner  to be on the property, the more anxious my wise horse became.  I took the hint from my mount and hurried  home to notify the property owner and game warden of a physical description of this person, location and time of day because they had been trying to catch him for awhile.  Dogs had been caught in previously baited, unchecked traps and had to be euthanized.

Una Smith <una.smith@att.net> wrote:

> Dana,
>
> Shawnee County
>  Sheriff's Posse sounds like a solid mounted patrol
> group. Glad you made contact. Such groups are the foundation of a
> lot of the more specialized MSAR groups and usually there is more
> mounted patrol work to do than SAR work.
>
> Judging by the websites, it looks like the focus of volunteer search
> and rescue in Kansas is the Kansas Search and Rescue Dog Association,
> www.ksarda.org. You might get in touch with them. Most of their SAR
> missions are in the Kansas City metro area. MSAR and K9 SAR have a
> lot in common, namely the animal factor. Horses like dogs can learn
> to airscent and probably also track scent. Maybe also discriminate
> scent. Even if they don't scent, horses have acute senses, so one
> of the things you can do with them is teach them to show you someone
> hiding in the undergrowth. You do that by having someone hide, who
> has treats for the horse. Then you teach the horse that by finding
> someone, they get a treat from you.
>  That way, the horse looks for
> a person, not just for a person who smells of horse treats. Use a
> verbal cue, so the horse knows when a treat is on offer. This is a
> really short summary of entire books on teaching dogs to search for
> humans.
>
> The hug-a-tree program teaches little kids to carry a whistle in the
> woods and use it if they get lost. You can teach a horse to home in
> on a whistle to get a treat. This may help you find a lost child
> faster, because the horse may hear the whistle long before you do.
>
> Una Smith
> New Mexico
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