Mounted search and rescue

["Jorene Downs" <Jorene@CEOates.com>]

Irv's experiment is a great example - scared horse, scared patient, 6 scared
people attempting the process - of some of what can go wrong without
appropriate training. On the other hand, riders I know who have *had* the
training feel very comfortable using it, and have used it ... and a trained
team of 4 riders can get the job done. In some situations you can do a
transport in the saddle with fewer people.

Regarding the military aspect ... the "revival of the horse as a military
animal" is much more than "blending in" according to the USMC Sgt I spoke
with who teaches the packing and transport course at the USMC Mountain
Warfare Training Center. If you do some Google on the subject you'll find
one key reason is the military can get the horse/mule to locations where the
wheeled vehicle doesn't have access, providing those Marines with additional
supplies and such. The "original 4wd" can go a lot of places the engine
version of horsepower can't get to ... if experienced in that kind of
terrain. They train with the pack and riding animals at higher elevation in
the Sierra Nevada in CA to gain experience comparable to what would be
experienced in Afghanistan and other regions with rough mountain terrain,
cold winter climate, etc., so those forces can go off-road with supplies. 

They're also teaching those Marines to pay attention to the pack animals and
riding stock since the animal may notice and naturally "alert" to the
presence of someone else in that area of the mountain, etc. Similar in
concept to the more effective mounted searcher knowing to "look where the
horse looks" to use the equine as a valuable search partner. ;-)

Speaking of being mobile and nimble in more challenging terrain ... I don't
think the military has considered using pack goats since those goats carry
too small a load. ;-)

- - - - - -
Jorene Downs
SAR & CERT
Mounted SAR
www.ceoates.com/msar

-----Original Message-----
From: IRVIN LICHTENSTEIN
[...]
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.  [...]

[...]  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.  [...]