Mounted search and rescue

[Richard Lynch <cavalrycpt@hailstorm.org>]

Excuse me, you do need to re-enforce the horse when he makes a find.  It would be ignorant not to do so.  This is exactly how the K-9 handlers do it and Terry Nowacki is also a dog trainer.  Maybe you are forgetting that the rider in some cases has been so accustomed to being in charge that they do not let the horse do what is natural.  I can guarantee you that a horse (unless deaf and cannot smell-which means they can't breath, since they are nasal breathers) will never ignore a threat.  I assume that you have not read Terry's book.

Dick

On Jun 28, 2013, at 1:35 PM, irvin lichtenstein wrote:

You are not teaching the horse a trick. He/she/it air scents naturally as part of its self preservation.

What you are trying to do is read the horse’s reaction to its environment. Unlike a dog which primarily relies on its nose a horse fuses all its senses to detect threats all the time, even when not guarding the herd.

You should not need to re-enforce this behavior unless the horse has been so “desensitized” or “bombproofed” that he is a danger to himself or his rider by ignoring possible threats.

You do not train a horse the way you train a K-9 because the dog needs training but the horse doesn’t. The rider needs training in how to track, what is a clue, certain organizational skills, and how to read the horse.

And horses detect targets downwind as well as upwind, because they use all their senses.

 

Irv Lichtenstein

www.sepasar.net

 

From: msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Sharon Kenney
Sent: Friday, June 28, 2013 12:52 PM
To: Mounted search and rescue
Subject: Re: [MSAR] Airscent training

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