GINA B. GOOD / PVTSearch and Rescue Commander Pat Clow, holding map, assigned volunteers specific grid locations and horse trails to search. GINA B. GOOD / PVTFred Jones, center, Nye County Emergency Services liaison for Search and Rescue makes a point with Commander Pat Clow, left, and Vice Commander Terry Dougherty, right. K-9 handler Albert Bass is looking down at his dog, Rocky. Advertisement

On Saturday, Nye County Search and Rescue trained new and probationary members in an all-too-familiar Pahrump scenario: a missing horse rider.

A radio call went out to search and rescue volunteers about 8 a.m., saying a white female, about 35-40 years old with blonde hair, was missing.

Her name was not known but she started her ride at the east end of Bond Street, off Homestead Road, where the volunteers were told to gather. The woman was known to ride in the vicinity frequently.

It was not known if she had any water with her, but the horse showed up in the area of Quarter Horse and Martin avenues.

The protocol for Nye County Sheriff's Office when a resident calls 9-1-1 because a saddled horse is found without a rider is to dispatch patrol deputies to the scene to gather information on the rider.

If the horse is wandering on a familiar street and the neighbors know it's owner, the deputies try to find out whether the rider normally follows a certain trail or rides cross-country.

They ask if the rider was seen with a companion or alone, the last time she was seen and where she started her ride.

By finding her car and horse trailer, it is assumed the rider started from a nearby trailhead. Deputies also asked about medical conditions and gather other personal information.

A search of the immediate vicinity is conducted and, if the horse came in from the desert, deputies explore as far as possible with their vehicles. If they don't find the rider, search and rescue, which operates under the auspices of the Nye County Sheriff's Office, is called in.

That's the scenario the 20-plus volunteers used for their training exercise Saturday morning.

"We engage in continuous training exercises," said Dep. John Berstrom, the county's search and rescue liaison. "This exercise is to give some of the new members experience and to enhance the skills of our more experienced team members.

The "victim" was placed in the desert for volunteers to find.

During the exercise, more experienced volunteers shadowed probationary members, letting the new members be their eyes and giving suggestions as they followed horse trails, checking gullies filled with mesquite.

"Our volunteers assist deputies to search for persons who may have gotten lost while hiking or look for people who have just wandered away," Berstrom said. "We are also ramping up to help with other emergencies."

As a patrol deputy, Berstrom is the only paid member of the search and rescue team. There are 24 volunteers, counting a few probationers.

Human beings aren't the only team members. Rocky, a handsome, 1-1/2-year-old husky with one blue eye and one brown, is a K-9 tracker. He was on the scene with his owner and handler, Albert Bass.

Although Rocky and Bass weren't officially tracking on Saturday, they were observing less experienced team members.

"I've worked and trained with Rocky for eight months," said Bass, who indicated his dog loves working out in the field.

Asked how Rocky could track an unknown missing person, Bass explained said if the horse rider's vehicle or trailer were found, Rocky could get a scent from items in the vehicle.

"Today, we're just man-tracking," said Bergstrom, meaning only teams of men and women would be walking the horse trails, driving quads through the desert in grids and keeping in touch with the base and Commander Pat Clow at regular intervals.

The command post was set up at the beginning of the horse trail where the rider was last seen.

The trackers looked for any signs that the rider might have passed by certain areas, such as footprints, broken foliage and upturned rocks.

Fred Jones, a member of the search and rescue team, and a retired police officer, is the liaison for Emergency Services. Jones was evaluating members as well as team leaders Clow and Vice Commander Terry Dougherty.

"Briefing the team before the search begins is key," said Jones. "Each member must clearly know what they are expected to do and what the other members are doing."

The victim was found at 10:20 a.m., about 2 hours and 20 minutes after the call first went out.

"She wasn't that far away," said Jones. "But it could have been a lot longer day if the search hadn't been conducted correctly. We found some areas of training that need attention, and that's what the exercise was all about."