Everyone has their breed preference, and in all reality, I wouldn't worry about being breed specific.Just as with dogs, but it all boils down to the suitability of the individual horse. Lots of very nice grade horses that would work just fine. You have to evaluate the individual and determine if it would suit your needs. I'd be more concerned about calm, willing temperament, and certainly soundness and good feet would be a top priority, as well as endurance and an easy keeper.

Best of luck!

Sue

I believe I remember that Rainer is somewhere in Africa...LOL he is NOT goign to find Quarter Horses, Morgans, TWH or even alot of warmbloods there! I was in Cairo/Giza a couple of years ago and rode daily - we were 1/2 mile from the pryamids in Giza, you could see them from our front porch...prevalant were Arabs - 'stamped' Arabs adn mixed arabs...some TB and TB crosses...the grade horses look to be Arab/TB mixes...the Police go to Germany and buy WBs....my vet here has gone over on buying trips with them...he has a practice in Cairo.

GSDs are a herding breed, and as such, many will want to nip the heels of horses...I often ride with 4 to 6 dogs running along side...horses in the group will be a Selle Francias, a Quarter/App, a TB/App and a few Arabs..then 2 horses who were herded by my bitch are prone to keep an eye on the dogs, the rest are neutral to each other..

The Arabs adn Arab crosses are going to be the soundest horses you are going to find there I believe Rainer...the imported horses are usually sold like the GSDs from Germany...LOL - the one trip, the Cairo police bought 30 horses, a year later, only one was serviceable....the next year, when Jack went to Germany to vet their choices, he failed 28 out of 30 and they looked at almost 200 to find 15 more...

Oh - Bob....I always use the halter horse-reining/cutting horse analogy to explain to people about working and high lines.... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

To help out with VanCamp's question about Hunter Horses.

All horses are prey animals. Their first instinct is to run away from a threatening situation. Hunter horses are simply conditioned not to bolt around running dogs and gunfire. Old days of the English fox hunts, horses were also trained to jump a fence.
Some horses will accept this better than others, regardless of breed. It would be comparable to nerves in a dog. I have 3 horses. I brought them into the round pen to see how they would react to gunfire. #1 horse freaks out and rears up at the sound of a single shot. #2 horse remains calm but flinches at the sound of the report. My 3rd horse doesn’t even flinch under 15 round rapid fire burst as I use her back as a gun rest.
As you can see, Horse #1 would not be a good choice if you were going to be put in a situation where sudden loud noises could be a factor.
Horse #3 is the horse I would pick and train with as a candidate for equestrian/K9 team tracking.

Now my question would be. How hard would it be to train your dog to track off leash while on horseback? I think it would require ALOT more training of the dog.

Many dog units in SA train their dogs to track either on or off line...they use a "down" command when necessary and also the dogs are trained to go only so far ahead then return to check on the handlers. Grey's Scouts in Rhodesia were entirely horse mounted during the "late unpleasantness" there and they found the Boerperd breed to be very good for the work, but used any horse that was suitable. So far as I know, they did not integrate dogs into their particular missions, but they certainly did use many tracking dogs in the Rhodesian military forces, often deployed via helicopter insertion. Making the jump to Police use of combined dog and horse tracking / search units, especially with air support, would seem to be an excellent idea.

Thanks – one and all:

Yes we track on and off lead here ( yes South Africa) and when the dog gets to far ahead the handler gives a stay or recalls, if they hit contact the dog will down stay or move for cover? Yes we train this as well, as for the horses I have found some local police and military riders that gave me the same advice, use a mix up , no race horses, and try hot blooded horses first.

Thanks for all your input, in my mind it boils down to preparation finding the right horse rider and dog combination, then conditioning and training them as one team and then throwing it all together and addressing the issues as they present them selves- would you agree?

Maybe you should look at what lines/types of horses are being used for endurance riding and farm work in your area? Different climates and terrain require different things in a horse.

I used to ride hunt seat a while ago and there were some horses that were great for newbies like me, but their gait didn't make it too easy on the rider after a while. Something the future riders might be very interested in .