Mounted search and rescue

[Ruthie Franczek <ruthiefranczek@hotmail.com>]

I am the newbie MSAR rider that posted the response two nights ago about my sidesaddle partner pulling me through my meltdown.  Interestingly enough, no one picked up on that aspect of my posting as everyone was focused on the sidesaddle issue.
Let me explore the PMA issue as I understand that this is absolutely paramount to being a successful SAR responder.  And this is my second meltdown in my very short career in SAR.  I am embarrassed about this.  But I have enjoyed great advice and support in the professional listserves that I subscribe to:  AAEP (American Assoc of Equine Practitioners) and AABP (American Association of Bovine Practitioners).  So I am humbly soliciting advice on my meltdown issue.
At 1:36 AM this morning my phone rang.  It was a professional horseman with a foaling problem.  At 1:48 I backed my truck up to their barn. I was met with three pairs of wide eyes proclaiming: "We think we have a backwards foal.  We've never had this!"
I smiled and said, "Ten percent of dairy calves are presented in posterior position.  No biggie.  We got this!"
By 2am the foal was on the ground and sucking air.
My point is: in emergency response in my world this is what's important:
1. answer the phone
2. get your butt in the truck and to the farm
3. be on your game and be positive and professional
I got all that.
Contrast with this:  four hours into our seven hour mountain mock search last weekend, I hopped off my horse, threw my saddle on the ground and said, "This aint working for me!"  My partner just smiled at me and said, "Ruthie, you've made it thru vet school.  You can do this."  Yeah that was 32 years ago.  But she sure put it into perspective for me.
Maybe it's just the world I am coming from.  My idea of a great trail ride is balls to the wall over logs and coops in foxhunting country for no more than two hours.  This slow and steady hours long trail riding is a hard for me!  On top of that I made a couple of judgement errors and was unprepared for all aspects of what ensued in that ride.  This is no slam on my training.  This is just my stupid cavalier attitude of "Oh well, worst case scenario, I can always go back to the trailer."  Wrong.
Am I on the painful part of a learning curve that others have been on?  How do I work through this?  Or am I a fail?
Looking forward to a variety of responses from all y'all.
Ruthie