Re: RC: World's youngest rider question

[Lif Strand <fasterhorses@gilanet.com>]

At 09:55 PM 10/10/00, Liz wrote:
>I am assuming a 3-year old is not old enough to really want to do this and 
>nag his parents until they say yes.

Don't know about that.  We had some guests this summer who had their 3 year 
old daughter with them.  The mom is horse crazy but they don't have any 
horses.  The kid wanted to get on a horse very badly the whole time she was 
here, so when mom decided to go for a ride, the kid threw a tantrum till 
she could ride, too.  The parents first had her on the saddle with 
them.  Then when they got tired and wanted to get off, the kid had another 
fit - she did NOT want to stop.  They humored her and led her around a 
while.  When they took her off - after about 1 1/2 hours of the first time 
ever on a horse - the kid cried - she wanted to keep going.

This leads me to think that maybe if she lived here, this would be a kid 
who wanted to get on a horse every day.  This 3 year old would definitely 
nag her parents till they said yes.

By the way, I've seen lots of little kiddies on lead line classes at 
shows.  Have seen them being ponied in parades - that's way more 
unpredictable and dangerous than on a trail, if you ask me!  I have seen 
them here in NM at roundups and cattle drives, riding old babysitter horses 
with no one even holding a lead rope.  AND I last year I watched a 4 or 5 
year old - I can't remember which now - *competing* in barrel racing (she 
wasn't very fast but she did it).  Heck, they have classes for kids that 
age riding (bucking) sheep - then they graduate to riding (bucking) calves 
by the time they're 6 or 7.  5 year olds are out there goat 
roping.  There's a whole world out there of people whose little kids are 
not as sheltered as what I've been reading about on RC.  Those kids can't 
all be simply the result of parents who are pushy.  Lif


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