Mounted search and rescue

[Karen Nesbitt <spanishequines@yahoo.com>]

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:13:58 -0700
From: "Annabelle Pattison" <aapattison@aol.com>
To: <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [MSAR] Bombproof
Message-ID: <008a01cb2cee$5205c6e0$f61154a0$@com>
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I really do not like this term at all. I like my horses to be trained and
desensitized to specific stimuli. We want them to partner with us because
our horses will "hear" way before us could see or hear. We need to know how
to "read" our horses so we know what to expect when they alert us.

Training in different environments is key. We are blessed here in AZ because
we can pick our terrain. From heavy forest to deserts and from plains to
mountains, we got it. When you are searching out there for somebody your
horse has to know how to negotiate the terrain and be safe. They need to
know to stay away from Chollas and keep their distance from Sahuaros and
Mesquite. Otherwise you are doomed out there and will end up being rescued
yourself.

Our recent search for three lost hikers/prospectors in the Superstition
Mountains represented a complexity of training issues:
1- Very rough terrain: rocky, steep, full of boulders and cacti, thick brush
and 3 feet tall grass.
2- High heat: 95 degrees at 6am. 113 by 10:30am.
3- Rattle snakes
4- Communications: no cell phone reception and very difficult radio
transmission.
5- Multiple search parties: horses, dogs, helicopters, planes, foot.
6- Multiagency search

The list goes on...
My philosophy is: go out and train, train, train and expose your horse to
everything you can think off but above all, learn how to read your horse.

A. Pattison
MCSO EVMP SAR


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Annabelle,

 

VERRRY well put!  And I envy your terrain.  One of our mares is from AZ and it has taken her years to adapt to the mesa-less rattlesnakeless territory here and to learn to ignore the corn as it rustles.  Its been over a decade and I cant really say she has actually gotten over it.

 

And John, you, Una and I have some new horse challenges.

 

A horse and rider is never really a team unless they are together long enough.

How long is long enough?  I would say that is going to vary between the horse and the rider.

Annabelles pholosphy of: go out and train, train, train and expose your horse to
everything you can think off but above all, learn how to read your horse says it all.

 

A new horse proposes a lot of challenges to the rider as well as the new rider giving challenge to the horse.  Bonding and becoming an effective team takes time, patience and trust.  Losing a mount and moving on to the next can be very difficult for some people who know what it is like to have a deep relation with one horse. And I dont think too many of us here will not deny the fact that they love their horse or horses.   Same with a dog.  Until the complete bond is there, there will be challenges and reading the new alerts can a dilema of its own. Bonding can take an instant or it can take years.  And if you compare your old mount to the new one or new dog to old, two of you will always some how come out to be a duffus. Guaranteed!

 

Here are some givens though: You will ride the new horse different because it is different.  You will alter your training ideas to the way it alerts you and also to the way you also alert and ride it.  And old habits from your previous mount die hard.  The hardest part is expecting the same reaction from your newb while trying to ride the same as you did on the one before. You dont want to do this, but you will try because its just out of habit.  Some things simply cant be done the same.  Unforeseen changes, guaranteed.  Some days I wish I have never ridden so many horses in my life to know now what it is like to have had one very very good one.  But I am also so very glad I had.

 

Some of us are fortuneate to know only one really really good horse in an entire lifetime.  Some of us that work with numerous horses also know it all too well. 

 

Good luck guys.  Looks like we are in the "duffus" newb boat together even though some of us have been around a while.

 

 

        Karen Nesbitt - VMSAR-IROQ/IL

 Visit STORMS at http://stormyweather1.webs.com/   Where something  new is always brewing!