Mounted search and rescue

["IRVIN LICHTENSTEIN" <ilichten1@verizon.net>]

It is the condition of the subject/patient that determines transport mode,
if any. If the subject is merely sore, tired, wet, but does not need medical
observation while being evacuated, he can walk out or ride out, or wait for
the limo.

Any patient who requires observation or treatment while in motion or will be
transported to a hospital/clinic for definitive treatment should not be in
the saddle being led out by personnel who may do this once or twice in their
career or even if they do it monthly.  

The risks of delayed care to the patient do not justify risking the
patient's life or further injury, or possibly the rescuers', by using a
stunt you have only seen done with healthy people under ideal conditions.
There are probably circumstances where a patient will be dead if delayed --
head trauma for instance where surgery is needed in 24 hours from injury or
less, but most patients that are candidates for in the saddle transport
discussed here are not in danger by delay.  However, their injuries may
inhibit their ability to stay in the saddle. Broken arms or lower legs are
not even considered "code 3" in most jurisdictions. Femurs (upper leg) and
hips/pelvis fractures can involve large blood loss internally but do you
want a person with internal injuries or a fractured pelvis in the saddle? 

We have experimented in the past with putting simulated lower leg fractures
and broken arms in the saddle.  Otherwise healthy non-riders were splinted
up and placed in deep seat western saddles on well trained trail horses. The
patient was scared, the horse was scared, and the six people it took to lift
them into the saddle were scared.  If the leg is not available to wrap
around the horse the rider is very unstable and the horse may not understand
why only one side feels the leg when you want to go straight. The lack of
arm, especially the stronger arm, also unbalances the patient and they are
trying to guard the injury, resulting in more movement and problems. 
Could a broken arm walk out? Probably. Is it a life threatening injury, not
usually. 

The Army replaced the mule with the Jeep for a reason (actually a lot of
reasons). Except in parts of Italy and the CBI the US Army eliminated pack
animals during WWII.  The revival of the horse as a military animal is
because we have reentered a location of conflict where blending in with the
natives requires more than a white painted Land Cruiser or pickup with a
machine gun.  Just remember, the British abandoned all their cavalry horses
in the middle east at the end of WWI as too expensive to ship home, and the
US Army sent theirs to Mexico for target practice around 1940. 

Irv Lichtenstein