I read my most recent copy of John Lyons' magazine Perfect Horse with the normal level of excitement and enthusiasm. (when I can ignore the ridiculous amount of Wrangler jeans brand placement). Although not trained in natural horsemanship, I am very eager to learn and just LOVE the philosophy of working WITH your horse rather than controlling your horse through fear, control or other punishment.  One article especially caught my eye. It was on a volunteer search and rescue team in Pennsylvania which is trained to work on search and rescue missions when large expanses of ground need to be covered and canvassed.  Horses, being a creature of prey, have special senses that can greatly assist in these efforts as well as keep you higher in the air aiding in the area you can visually search, while allowing you to cover greater spaces of ground.  This organization has been around roughly for 20 years and more recently formally organized themselves into the .....  Immediately I thought of the use of such a team here in South Florida.  Bordering the Everglades and Big Cypress parks, we have literally thousands of square miles that might be a location requiring such talents at one time or the other. Additionally, being in a hurricane and fire prone area, you never know when such searches might be necessary.  I thought of the South Florida Trail Riders (SFTR), a rather large association of horsemen and women in Dade County and wondered if they had heard or thought of having a similar organization.  I made a mental note to write to them the next day about the article.

As luck would have it, the very next morning, the cover of the SFTR's newsletter had a picture of a man on a horse with an article inside about just that.  Several of the SFTRs members have a team, SFTR Emergency Management Team, and had just participated in a search assisting an organization out of Texas, Texas Equussearch, in search of a missing person.  They had already received the training and this was many members first actual search.  Unfortunately, at least on that search, the person was not found, but they know that they did their best in assisting in finding them.

I spoke with Peter Shaw, a member of the SFTRs and the search team who told me that they definitely could use more members on the search team and pointed out there are some basic requirements of horse and rider to make a suitable pair for searches.  They are as follows:

TEXASEQUUSEACH STANDARDS
If you are interested in joining the search team here are a few standards that should be considered prior to making the decision in joining this type of activity:
Standards for Horses:
(Safety and Control are always our primary concern at all times.)
1. Any horse that kicks, bites, rears, or bucks is not allowed to help in search and rescue work.
2. Horse should be able to pass the physical criteria as deemed appropriate.
3. Must have an up to date negative coggins at all times. Regulations for Mounted Search and Rescue Information
1. The horse must be able to walk, trot, canter (lope) and stop and stand under control from either direction in the arena
2. The horse should stand quietly while tied or being held, mounted or dismounted from either side.
3. The horse should be able to pony another horse and be ponied as well.
4. The horse should allow the rider to hold at least two other horses while mounted and stand calmly.
5. The horse should allow the rider to put on a slicker in calm or windy weather and open a map while mounted.
6. The horse should be able to negotiate obstacles in an arena that demonstrated the riders control, such as: drag an object using a rope, back readily into an "L", side pass, walk over a large plastic tarp, open a gate from horseback.
7. The horse should accept motorcycles, bicycles, backpackers, baby strollers, tents, gunfire, helicopters, chain saws and sirens while in control.
8. The horse should be able to be loaded into both step-up and ramp trailers.
9. On the trail, the horse should be under the rider's control while riding at a variety of gaits. The horse should also: be able to leave a group of horses at a specified gait and return under control, be able to be controlled while the other horses move away, allow other horses to move ahead at a more rapid rate of speed and remain in control of rider. The horses should be able to negotiate a bridge and water alone or with
other horses present.
10. The horses should be able to climb and descend a steep grade at a walk.
11. The rider should be able to lead the horse by hand over rough terrain easily without the horse pulling back, pulling ahead or bumping into the rider.
12. The horse should be able to negotiate thick brush calmly.
13. The horse should be able to carry 20-30 pound saddle packs of SAR equipment.
14. The horse should be able to pack a 200 pound person.

Standards for the Rider
1. Must be eighteen (18) years of age.
2. Must exhibit a positive attitude at all times.
3. Must demonstrate proficient horsemanship and trail etiquette.

If you are in South Florida and are interested in joining the SFTR Emergency Management Team, email Peter at shawp007@hotmail.com

If you live outside of South Florida and are interested in starting or joining a search and rescue organization, here is a good list. 

Here is a blog post by Brigia McKelvie about a rescue mission that really did become a rescue, by her friend's horse! 

Janie Coffey
Owner/Broker, GRI, TRC, QSC
cell: 786-252-4970
email: janie@papillonllc.com

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