Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Very young riders in AERC rides

> It's just too bad that just about every issue on this forum deteriorates
>  into an emotional debate.

And it is too bad that standing up for the rights of kids with exceptional
talent and refusing to relegate them to the average is for some reason
considered to be "emotional."  Our forefathers thought that the concept of
individual responsibility and freedom was worth fighting and dying for,
and founding a nation over.  I simply happen to agree.  Too bad those
concepts have become so eroded over the past couple of centuries.

I'm not a parent--I was just one of those kids who was frustrated at every
turn by being told I wasn't old enough for this or that.  Quite frankly,
that was one of the main reasons I got into endurance in the first place. 
The show ring told me I couldn't ride my stallion there--so I came to
endurance, where the only concern was whether or not I had him under
control.  (I did.)  I'm glad I'm not a parent--not because of the increase
in crime, or the erosion of the moral fabric of our society--but because
I'd hate to have to explain to a child that he must be protected from
himself by a bunch of rules designed to fit the average and the mediocre.

It has been cited here that children must learn to mind the rules.  The
quickest way to give children a disregard for rules is to make rules that
are not just.  30+ years after being denied entry to horse shows because I
was "too young", I still marvel over the stupidity of the idiots that made
the rules, and the fact that because of the rule, they turned a child away
who became a life-long horseman and otherwise might have been a
participant.  Beware the legacy you leave with self-righteous rules.

Heidi



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