Harlan and I reported at 0700 Tuesday morning at the Waterford Fire Station to help the Maine Warden Service look for a 77-year-old woman who had gone missing after her usual morning walk.
See here for my previous post on what the search structure is like in Maine.
Three other horse/riders were able to go as well, and Harlan and I were teamed with Sharon and her gelding Zephyr. After checking in at Command Post and getting our assignments downloaded onto our GPS units, we trailered to our search area, tacked up, and headed out. Our directive was to ride the roads and any promising trails.
Unfortunately we had only been searching for 45 minutes to an hour when Zephyr's back legs got caught up in a cable. Nothing too disastrous occurred but it was definitely the end of Sharon and Zephyr's search. The other horse team was in the middle of nowhere so I wasn't able to meet up with them so I also had to call it a day.
I'm actually kind of grateful we had a short day. It was HOT. Both Harlan and I were soaked in sweat just standing around. It was a good, short, sweaty introduction to searching. Harlan did great, Zephyr is doing fine, and the woman we were searching was found alive. Nothing gets better than that.
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You may be asking, "Why use horses while searching? Aren't ATVs faster? Don't dogs do a better job of searching stuff out? Isn't using ground searchers easier? It's really just some horse-crazy girls on ponies, right?"
Horse teams have multiple advantages. Mounted searching is not better or worse than any other method, it just provides a different service.
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| One ear is pointed forward towards the crazy lady taking pictures, while one ear is cocked back towards the scary tarp and suspicious dog. |
1. As prey animals, horses are constantly on the lookout for things that don't belong. They will pick up on hidden deer and birds and people (and horse-eating rocks of course) on the trail way before we do. So we take advantage of their prey animal mindset to help us look for a missing person.
Horses have superb hearing through ears that can swivel independently up to 180 degrees, a broad field of vision, excellent night vision, and a great sense of smell. They can alert us with a rapid halt, snorting, snapping up their head, both ears intensely focused on one particular thing, and/or of course spooking or shying away from something.
Any kind of rider will at least pay partial attention to their horse's body language. You never know when a horse-eating leaf might blow across your path!
Mounted SAR riders hone that skill to utilize the most out of our search partners. We "look where the horses look" for clue detection.
Here's a great example from the previous search. See if you can spot anything in this picture:
Anything? Neither of the two riders would have noticed what was "wrong" if their horses hadn't alerted them to it.
2. Another advantage of using an experienced horse team is horses will pick out the best paths for them so the rider can concentrate on looking off the path. Harlan and I are still working on this
aspect since he's more concerned with being close to the other horse than going in the general direction I point him, but for more confident teams this is a great asset.
3. Being on horseback provides a different vantage point. Our eyes are located about 8' off the ground, higher than both ATV riders and ground searchers. Having different types of searchers at different eye levels can help pick up things that might otherwise be overlooked.
4. Horses are a type of transportation that are quiet so riders can listen, but can also cover ground quickly as needed. Plus we can pack a lot of equipment onto them!
5. Some types of lost people might find horses more approachable than "just" a human. Kids and folks with mental disabilities may be more apt to come out if a horse or dog is involved.
Mounted SAR horse/rider teams are certified together, meaning I can't just take someone else's certified horse if Harlan is benched for some reason. As I alluded to in my last post, certification is a rigorous process to make sure both human and horse have a strong partnership.
Our horses really are partners and we're trained to use them as such. The Maine Warden Service is starting to utilize us more and more, and I'm glad Harlan and I can both be part of this.
I borrowed liberally from MMSAR's website so if you'd like more information, please check it out.
Here's a great example from the previous search. See if you can spot anything in this picture:
Anything? Neither of the two riders would have noticed what was "wrong" if their horses hadn't alerted them to it.
2. Another advantage of using an experienced horse team is horses will pick out the best paths for them so the rider can concentrate on looking off the path. Harlan and I are still working on this
aspect since he's more concerned with being close to the other horse than going in the general direction I point him, but for more confident teams this is a great asset.
3. Being on horseback provides a different vantage point. Our eyes are located about 8' off the ground, higher than both ATV riders and ground searchers. Having different types of searchers at different eye levels can help pick up things that might otherwise be overlooked.
4. Horses are a type of transportation that are quiet so riders can listen, but can also cover ground quickly as needed. Plus we can pack a lot of equipment onto them!
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| It's not just cats who find Harlan's big mug adorable. |
5. Some types of lost people might find horses more approachable than "just" a human. Kids and folks with mental disabilities may be more apt to come out if a horse or dog is involved.
Mounted SAR horse/rider teams are certified together, meaning I can't just take someone else's certified horse if Harlan is benched for some reason. As I alluded to in my last post, certification is a rigorous process to make sure both human and horse have a strong partnership.
Our horses really are partners and we're trained to use them as such. The Maine Warden Service is starting to utilize us more and more, and I'm glad Harlan and I can both be part of this.
I borrowed liberally from MMSAR's website so if you'd like more information, please check it out.
Excellent very informative article. I learned a lot.
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