In 1997, a group of horse riders came together to form the Boulder County Mounted Search and Rescue, or MSAR, team. Now, 25 years later the team hopes to expand its services.
When MSAR began, 37 men and women came together to assist the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office with missing or lost people, searching for evidence and other things in the open spaces of the county.
Over the years, MSAR’s involvement with the county has ebbed and flowed, according to Lauren Grimditch, who has been with the organization since its inception.
When Jana Ward, team leader, joined, the group steadily became more active in search and rescue efforts. MSAR also expanded its contribution by assisting in large animal evacuations, which were needed in the Marshall fire.
The Marshall fire hit Boulder County on Dec. 30, 2021, burning more than 1,000 homes in Boulder County. MSAR was able to step in and coordinate the evacuation of large animals.
When MSAR began, volunteers would seek out training on their own time, resulting in a myriad of skills and training but not a comprehensive or cohesive education for the group. With the help of the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, MSAR volunteers now receive group training on search and rescue practices, how to navigate horse trailers around rescue equipment and survival training in the backcountry.
With the advanced training has also come a higher demand for the group’s services. According to Grimditch, the view from on top of a horse is vastly different than a dog’s or a human’s on foot. This allows rescuers to see things that can’t be seen from ground level and to cover more ground at a faster pace.
Also, with the increase of wildfires in the area, a need arose for coordinated large animal evacuations. Since MSAR is made up of people with extensive knowledge of these animals, it only made sense for them to help, Grimditch said.
“I think those two (emergency rescue and large animal evacuation) go hand-in-hand with emergency services. That’s been a nice tie-in for all of us because when I started (we asked) how we can help … we all have large animals and also appreciate that help for evacuations,” Grimditch said.
“The public, the horse community, they’re really giving and supportive of each other. When there’s a fire what happens is a lot of the barn people out there all want to show up and help but without any kind of training it can become a dangerous situation,” Ward said.
The county is asking that community members willing to help with large animal evacuations look to MSAR for ways to volunteer during a crisis. MSAR offers clinics to train volunteers for such events.
Over the years, MSAR has been a volunteer-based resource for the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office. Many of its members take on the costs of the rescue efforts often resulting in hundreds of dollars per rescue.
In the Nov. 2022 election, Boulder County residents voted and passed Ballot Issue 1B which will provide additional funding for fire mitigation, services and support. MSAR is in the process of fulfilling the requirements necessary to qualify for funding.
“That will really change a lot for us,” Ward said, adding that the additional funding will help the organization with training and equipment to better serve the county.
MASR now consists of 27 volunteers who have served for over 290 volunteers hours for call outs and has taken 29,000 hours of training hours.
“The Mounted Search and Rescue group has played an important role public safety in Boulder County for the last 25 years. The dedicated volunteers have honorably served our community, this was most recently highlighted by their courageous role during the Marshall Fire,” said Boulder County Sheriff Curtis Johnson.
For those looking to get involved visit boco-msar.org.
