Henry County Sheriff's Mounted Search & Rescue Patrol

Mission Statement

The primary mission of the Henry County Sheriff's Mounted Search & Rescue Unit is the establishment of a well-trained and fully equipped Search & Rescue Team capable of serving the public as a qualified resource that assists in locating lost, abducted, or missing persons in Henry County and surrounding areas in a timely and efficient manner without endangering the searchers or further hazarding the lost person.

What We Do

• We participate in searches which are organized by the Sheriff.
• We are strictly volunteer
• We hold fund-raisers and sometimes receive donations to buy equipment such as radios, pagers, medical packs, and an occasional instructor when needed.
• Each member owns his or her own horse, truck, and trailer.

Who We Are

The Henry County Sheriff's Mounted Search & Rescue Patrol is a trained, certified, and a fully equipped unit, capable of serving the public as a qualified resource that assists in locating lost or missing persons in Henry County and the surrounding areas.

We use well-trained horses able to search large tracts of forest, snowmobile/bike trails, open fields and other terrain to locate such things as downed aircraft, lost hunters, or hikers lost in the woods.

The search rider of a mounted unit must adhere to all requirements for search training provided by Search & Rescue. The horses of the mounted team must also meet the acceptable standards for Search & Rescue. All riders are trained and certified by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

Advantages of a Mounted Unit

Horses are valuable searchers. They do not track scents, like dogs, but they do have highly developed senses of hearing, smell, and sight. They are instinctively aware of their surroundings and will alert on anything out of the ordinary, especially the presence of another human or animal.

They can detect something well in advance of the of the rider. A good mounted team will investigate anything that attracts the horse's attention. 

Mounted teams are not hindered by such things as terrain, climate, ground cover, or length of time missing.

Mounted teams are better able to perform a quick search and containment due to the fast travel speed without sacrificing clues.

Mounted teams receive regular training including simulated rescue missions over actual terrain.