Mounted search and rescue

[sarcrna@aol.com]

I respond to many disasters here in Texas and I would have to ask why one would do so with a horse?  In a post hurricane situation I respond with my dogs not horses as the terrain is too dangerous for horses.  I am thinking about the recent situations that I have gone to and I can not say I would have accomplished very much with a horse.  The swamps in Chambers County were certainly not appropriate for horses--ATV's and swamp buggies were used as the muck was deep and difficult to move around in.  If a horse was shod it would have lost all its shoes the first 30 mins. of searching.  Sometimes there are better tools available such as the ATV's as Hazmat and debris will not do as much permanent damage to a machine as they will to an animal.  I have dealt with health issues for several years post Katrina with a search dog due to a hazmat exposure.  At least with a dog a liver biopsy is not that big of a deal and hepatitis fortunately is something the dog can overcome.  I am not sure how a horse would handle a hazmat exposure.  That would be a very expensive vet bill and the horse would still probably still not survive.  Horses are not as resilient as dogs.  Not that I wish for either of my animals to become exposed to something that could harm their lives, but at least the dog would be less worrisome and easier to treat.

Susan Martinez