Mounted search and rescue

SAR responders on horseback are primarily a search resource, but also can provide off-road logistics support and transportation.

[1] In the United States, many counties have specially deputized, usually volunteer, mounted search and rescue groups.

[citation needed] Formal guidelines for MSAR have been established in several states: California,[2] New Mexico,[3] Maine,[4] Maryland,[5] and Virginia.

In Germany, the voluntary humanitarian association Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe (JUH) recently begun establishing local and regional groups that provide first responder services on horseback.

[citation needed] The first group, established in March 2001 in Harburg,[7] adopted standards of the Deutsche Reiterliche Vereinigung (FN) for first responders at equestrian field sporting events.

Riders have training as searchers that includes the detection and protection of clues that may lead to locating the missing person.

This valuable skill allows the mounted searcher to move more quickly riding when the clues, such as shoe prints, are visible from the saddle.

The emergency dispatcher called the Johanniter horse team and the police in Undeloh, both of which patrol the heath regularly.

[14] The equipment described in these publications included a wide variety of special-purpose carts, wagons, and litters.

The patient will feel all movements and warmth of the horses, which improves (amongst others) blood circulation and health in general.

In the United States Civil War, horses were fitted with litters to transport wounded soldiers from the battlefield.

Similar litters, and training manuals for using them, were produced for the United States Army circa World War I.

After the 1877 Battle of the Clearwater in Idaho, George Miller Sternberg used travois to move wounded soldiers from the battlefield to a hospital 25 miles away.