Mounted search and rescue

[Karen Nesbitt <spanishequines@yahoo.com>]

RESPONDING TO:

 

Message: 2
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:53:25 -0400
From: "Irvin Lichtenstein " <ilichten1@verizon.net>
To: "'Mounted search and rescue'" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [MSAR] MSAR horse training
Message-ID: <FD70DC16F5FF455AB7AAE80C0DC159D4@irvsbigbox>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I disagree with the "bombproof" approach to SAR horse training.  What you
want is a controlled reaction to events/objects/persons on the trail.

Most of the time when riding actual searches you will be looking for clues
and not paying attention to the trail.  Your horse's job is to pay
attention, keep you from walking off the mountain, and to tell you what is attracting
his attention. 



A bombproof horse will get you killed (and the horse also, probably). 



You need a mount that takes orders, but knows when you are doing something
stupid, and that will alert or tell you if there is something

strange on the tail. 



Irv Lichtenstein

SE PA SAR

------------

 

Irv, perhaps you should explain more thorough what you mean by bombproofing.

Because Im not saying you need to launch gernades at it. That is NOT what I am saying when I say to bombproof a horse.  And your right, someone would get killed if they tried doing something  that stupid.  Remember, I do not volunteer for having dogs sicked at me, guns or fireworks and other things aimed at me. My one mare will try to kill a dog if it came on her.  As for fireworks and some guns, they seem to be in someone elses hands

 

I am saying you do need to have an animal that can take a lot of situations and do a mirade of things. 

 

You have to realize, once you start to train an animal, you are doing two simultaneous things.  One you are asking the animal to become sensative to what you ask it to do.  And

at the same time you are asking it to leave some of its instinct behind and trust you so that it does not have the fear of its going to be eaten.  What you do not want to do in an MSAR horse is train its natural instincts totally out of him so that he will not alert you to things.  Some individuals instincts are stronger or bolder or weaker than others.  And a horse survives on hierarchy and the buddy system. 

 

If you are already riding the horse, you already have asked him and taught him that you are not his foe and that its ok for you to ride him and that you and the saddle will not eat him.  But he knows something will eat him and you cant let your training take that away from him.  Especially when it comes to scent training.  To much could ruin a good thing.

 

So backing up a bit, when I said bomproof earlyier, to me a bomproof horse IS one that has thoroughly learned what it expected of him given the tasks he is asked to do and in his given job and one that will not kill you or itself in the process.

 

I do not need any mount sailing out from under at anytime be it helicopters or dust storms or  cliffs  or whatever.  But what I do want out of my mount is his abilities to perform for me a lot of jobs that also may come  in handy when it comes to using the horse for the RESCUE part of MSAR mission should the horse be further needed.   Searching is one thing, rescuing is an addition to his abilities.

 

Got a tree on top of a victim?  Wouldnt it be nice to be able to fire up a chainsaw, not spook the herd and haul lumber with a rope off the saddle horn just to even get to a victim?

Stuff like that.

 

John had asked for a list of what others do.  My previous list was actually a short list when it gets down to  what I personally would expect MY ultimate MSAR or even ranch horse to do.  And John, if your still reading each of us here will have something that we do and the others will not and just because we disagree, may not make it a wrong.  We are all different.

 

I am sure just about every rider here is going to have a difference of opinion to what they do to train their horse for MSAR on and the other hitch is  turf.  Like Una said, she has rimrock, caverns and cliffs, I have wooded rolls, sand pits and flat turf and some guys just have the city park and unless one has the ability to get to all the areas of the country to experience the terrains and the type of riding, some of us will have no clue what our mounts will actually do if put in a terrain it never handled.

 

So now its going to boil down to  on how far the rider is willing to go with his mount.  Are you locking yourself into a unit that just patrols the same area and turf all the time or are maybe a volunteer willing and able to be one that might opt to cross a state line?  If you hit the road to some place you have never been on turf you have never taken your animal on, you could be in for some big suprises.  Having ridden rimrock and canyons in Texas, Im not so sure I would be taking the big draft Black that IRV has in PA to negotiate those similiar crags and canyons that Una has in New Mexico and I personally would be wanting a more appropriate mount like a well trained rangebred mustang or a horse that is familiar with that kind of turf and would have to even opt to leave my most surefooted lil Pasos at home!   But I would love very much to take also the challenge even knowing I might be doing something rather stupid.  Until you try it you  never know if you have made the mistake or not and the ride is always at your risk.

 

So ok, that in mind, doing stupid... may also be a matter of an opinion.

 

Try to stay safe everyone.

 

 

        Karen

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