Mounted search and rescue

[Karen Nesbitt <spanishequines@yahoo.com>]

California Fires...Brought to you by AP Associated Press: 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100728/ap_on_re_us/us_california_wildfires

We have been having a rousing discusion the last few days on training, bomproofing and the new MSAR horse....

 

I beleive the reason why I try to expose my mounts to everything I possibly can in training is also because you never know when an emergency such as a fire like the ones in California could break out. Rescue type training has more precidence over the search aspect even though the two can go hand in hand.  If the animal is not a good trail horse or a good using mount, if all he can do is search, it to me is absolutely worthless.

 

Reality check here, the search training in the MSAR horse becomes Rescue in disasterous times.  If you do not expose your horse to as much as you can, when it comes down to it in relying on it for your life, you will lose.

 

When I tossed in the chain saw the other day in the conversation, I am wondering now, how many of you out there were snickering.

 

I live in a wooded and prairied rural  area and as I look around me I see many reasons how stupidity could start a fire.  I see trees that residents let grow in electrical wires,  trees in the wires like this can not only mess up communications for daily communication, in an emergency, those people could be held accountable for blocking communications in a disaster because they could also be the cause of a fire.  And dont we all know how important communications are.  Some idiot like that will get someone killed one day ignoring complaints of the problem as they refuse to have those trees professionally trimmed.  But does it sink into them??

 

I see drivers driving down the highway tossing garbage and lite cigerettes to the highways ditches and where tall grass exist.  A vehicle accident on the highway could be a spark to a fire, recently the 4th of July brought fireworks hurling over woodland and into nearby pastures,  The perp, still thinks its a joke when told not to do it,  But I guess some folks mentallity will not reach out to the consideration of others.

 

I see some homes that have many trees overhead and crowding their buildings that some stupid act could easily take their home and the rest of the neighborhood in the event, perhaps someone is  a smoker and they  fall asleep while lighting up, I see people smoking in barns, a hot peice of farm machinery or a mower that is not properly  cleaned and cooled and put away either in a building or parked near brush,  lightning could easily set a fire, I can see a train on the railway causing issues. Then there is the ever popular burning of trash, people burning manure, brush piles etc that could have that chance of getting out of control.  How about those mal-installed hotwires on pastures with brush uncleared....the list grows.

 

 There are so many stupid, and manmade and natural things that could spark a fire as I sit write and  think, it is incredible to me.  And need we mention malicious intent which I can see some of the stupidity acts falling into such as the fireworks, etc.

 

A fire the size of the ones in California its getting not so far fetched anymore in my own territory due to the CRP programs and the farmers in government programs for forestry and green and that California  nightmare or the fires Unas territory experienced could be a reality out here.  God forbid it happens, but if it does, I continue to work very hard to trim trees, mow pastures, keep my place as clean as possible and give my horses as they are able to handle the jobs and the work they need to hopefully handle themselves in a dyer emergency.

 

I dont know how one can effectively train a horse for a fire.  Especially one of epic porportions.  Those here on this list who have been there, perhaps they can give us a clue.

My guess, you either got a good horse or you dont.

 

Meanwhile back at our ranch, I throw crinkly noisy plastic  tarps on my animals over their

heads and their saddles, with buckets on their horns, I hose them, I fill the buckets with water and make them carry them, I drag timber from the saddle horn and they get exposed to the noise of a chainsaw  and I expose them to large machinery, trailering, walking through obstacles with a blind fold, always working to gain more of their trust.

 

I put more precidence on my ability as a tracker than the horse in much of their search work, but also work them in search ability.

 

As I sit here I am still and ever continuosly trying to invent things to "play" with my animals for the sake of preparedness.  My only prayer is is that some folks would get off their complacent rearends and get into the business of doing more work toward PREVENTION.

 

May you all ride and train safe.

 

        Karen Nesbitt - VMSAR - IROQ-IL 

 

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