Re: RC: Re: Re: RE: worlds youngest rider

[BMcCrary27@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/10/2000 9:34:16 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
penelope_75647@yahoo.com writes:

<< How else are we gonna
 protect some people from their own selves!!! >>

I'm sure my opinion will be disapproved by some, but my feeling is "Why must 
the government, or AERC, or anyone else, be responsible for protecting people 
from themselves?"  If people choose to do something the rest of us consider 
dangerous, that's THEIR responsibility, not ours.  Shall we now prohibit 
mountain climbing? Surfing? Bicycling?  Actually, from the people I've spoken 
to, I've learned that some of the worst accidents happen in the most benign 
situations.
I continue to have a good chuckle over an image that came to me one day:  
That of the pioneers setting out for California or other points west, 150 
years or more ago, with an expectation of being guaranteed safety all along 
the way, and who would they sue if they met with danger?  Expand on that one, 
and it becomes a joke.
It may not be the safest thing in the world to put a 3 year old on a horse 
and take him through a 25 mile ride, but I personally think it's none of our 
business, only theirs. And as Lif mentioned, other societies put their kids 
on horses at a very early age as a matter of necessity, so what's the big 
deal?  We're just too darned civilized and looking for guarantees of safety 
everywhere.  Off my soapbox now........

Barbara