Locals train in mounted search and rescue

Mounted search and rescue volunteers are a valuable resource available to Deschutes County Search and Rescue (SAR) personnel. A recent training session in Camp Sherman with clinician Terry Nowacki enhanced the mounted unit's skills.

Nowacki (pronounced Nowaskee) is a horse trainer and SAR team member from Minnesota. About a decade ago, he pioneered the concept of training modern horses to detect human scent in search situations. Even though humans have used their horses for detection of everything from game to cows to bad guys for centuries, Nowacki is the first to write about it and teach clinics emphasizing the skills necessary to recognize when a horse detects human scent.

Laurie Adams, a long-time Camp Sherman resident and current mounted SAR member, has hosted Nowacki's visits for four years. Her horse, Joey, is a forward-going and assertive gelding who, according to Adams and Nowacki, picked up the air-scent training very quickly.

Air scenting has been around in the canine search world for quite some time and Nowacki, who has trained air scenting dogs, was able to recognize his horse's ability to hone in on human scent.

The concept is simple: Scent flows off a human in a continual stream, much like smoke from a fire.

Scent travels away from the subject (the preferred training term for a person who is waiting to be found) in a cone shape, with the apex of the cone at the subject.

When the search animal enters the scent cone, he gives definite signals through body language and more subtle signs such as ear twitches, snorts and dropping the head.

When a rider is trained to recognize these signals, he is able to switch off the normal rider tendency to guide the horse and allow the animal to work the scent until the subject is found.

If the horse loses the scent because of fickle winds or terrain, the rider is trained in recognized search techniques that will keep the horse in the search area and enhance the likelihood of picking up the scent again.

Accustomed to the flat lands of Minnesota, Nowacki admits that he finds new challenges during every visit. The forest and mountain terrain in the Northwest affect the wind, and on the breezy day that The Nugget observed the horses working, the wind changed multiple times during each horse's search. The subject was found in every instance, regardless of the vagaries of the wind. Nowacki, who was watching with a two-way radio in hand, guided the riders when they failed to recognize the clues the horses were giving.

Nowacki said that the training he offers, what he calls "equine sign language," helps riders tune into those subtle clues. Those who have undergone the training endorse that statement. Whether riders want to improve their horsemanship or their search skills, all clinic attendees say they've noticed an increase in their ability to read their horses.

Sue Morgan, a long-time member of SAR and one of the founders of the mounted SAR team said, "My search techniques have improved so much with Terry's training."

Morgan has a wealth of horse and search experience and has been instrumental in getting the mounted team up to scratch. Members need to pass stringent physical and wilderness survival tests to prove that they are able to cope in isolated areas with or without their horses.

Every year they undergo an on-foot fitness test that involves carrying a loaded pack through rough country. Members must re-qualify for the team every three years.

She and Kate Beardsley, another team member, wrote a set of standards for mounted SAR units that are now used statewide. Morgan said the team is strongly encouraged to partake of the scent training.

Deputy Rhett Hemphill is the operations manager of Deschutes County SAR and the mounted Posse. The mounted SAR team is a resource he's happy to provide whenever the mission calls for it.

"There is a wide range of uses for the horse team," he said. Mountain rescue and packing of supplies are other ways the horses are put to work. And, "we've had numerous finds with our horse team."

Which is what search and rescue is all about.