Mounted search and rescue

[Helen Cunningham <stormyandme@gmail.com>]

Hi Irv,

As usual your response if very thorough and well thought out. We have worked through much of what you have suggested and in fact we are planning to start a mounted unit as you can see from my earlier email to Derek. I would like to take you up on your offer to send the collection of notes and list of training exercises if your offer extends to others. Though I have a lot of information, there is always more to learn and you have a lot of experience. I would appreciate any training suggestons that you think I should incorporate into the certification requirements.

My email is: stormyandme@gmail.com
Thanks very much,
Helen Cunningham

On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 12:00 AM, IRVIN LICHTENSTEIN <ilichten1@verizon.net> wrote:

Normally I would reply to you off list but everybody has been using the
lister so--
1. Canada is different from the US, but you knew that.
2. There are no US national standards or best practices for mounted search
and very few for ground search, urban search, and technical rescue by career
fire personnel (NFPA 1706 used to be the standard number). Various state SAR
councils have adopted standards but depending on the state they may or may
not be considered best practice.  Maine for instance only allows the paid
Wardens' Service to run searches and used chase civilians away until they
were reportedly taken to court.
3. Most of what has been published has been stolen from the pioneers in the
mounted search venue so check the bibliography here at MSAR rider and at
MSAR ASTM first. And check the credentials of the experts you rely on.

Assuming you have a well organized and functional ground team with
sufficient infrastructure to satisfy Canadian national and provincial
practices you should ask yourself why you would ever want to add horses.
You must have sufficient rationale -- call frequency, terrain, availability,
and any other favorable factor.  When I ran a comprehensive search
organization and we decided to add mounted in 1986 it was because we were
searching public parks with horse friendly terrain on foot, the horses were
available (our members owned them), and our searches ran long enough to
deploy them. Today I run a mounted only organization and it is still
difficult but it is a lot leaner.

Several peer reviewed papers indicate that the horse's prey behavior can be
utilized to enhance search efforts, much as a dog's predator behavior can be
enhanced.  Horses appear to discriminate better than dogs do as to scent
sources and can disregard a source when instructed. Horses also appear to
have sensor fusion which dogs lack. And, the best part from my point of
view, you ride the horse and don't walk behind in the muck.

MSAR is difficult to use. Unlike ground searchers or dogs who jump in the
car and go you must go get the horse, hitch up the trailer (or is it a horse
box?), load the horse, tack, fresh water, feed, and then get to the scene at
a much slower speed because pulling a trailer is not easy while listening to
the dispatch radio, reading pages, and making rude noises at other drivers
who think the truck ends at your hitch, not the end of the trailer. Once you
get there you must reverse the process, and set up a temporary corral or
"holding area" for your horse while you get briefed and tasked.

If MSAR is new to the area the search managers (both operations and planning
sectors) won't know how to use you and will probably task you with
assignments that don't fit, you can't do as well as the proper resource can,
and therefore the manager never learns anything but that MSAR doesn't work.

Before you do anything you must justify establishing the search resource and
spending the team's wealth on it.  Look at your last 5 years' calls and see
if MSAR would have helped or did it help to use some form of mounted
resource- RCMP, provincial police, local riding clubs, other untrained
searchers. And look to see where funding will come from.  Will the local
authorities or government grants or charitable foundations pay the bills?
And yes there are bills even if the members own the horses.  You will need
insurance for the horses' actions, for the members' tack and other equipment
brought to calls, unexpected veterinary emergencies, and even road service
if a member needs specialized assistance enroute to or from a call. In the
US the AAA usually doesn't cover vehicles over 9000 pounds GVW or trailers,
and definitely won't pay overnight board if your rig breaks down.  You
should also find out if your horses are protected by law against harassment
during training.  Basically, you must find out what it takes to be organized
with a mounted unit first.  If you decide to go ahead send me your postal
address and I will send you a collection of notes and articles on CD to help
you decide what to do as to training and operations.

Irv Lichtenstein

-----Original Message-----
From: msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Derek
(alternate)
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 3:20 PM
To: msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [MSAR] Starting a MSAR team

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