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> Well you have a kid that could handle the 50s the first time out. Thats
> very cool and quite amazing. Many kids I know around camp start out with
> the 25s. They don't get as tired and are more willing to come back and
> do it again.
One of my fondest memories of the "old days" endurance riding is when the
Nance boys and Lewis Hollander were little sprites, and they would come in
off of 100s with daylight left in mid-summer and go around camp getting
other kids to come out and play football with them!

I also cherish the time I sponsored Scotty Nance (a couple of weeks before
his 8th birthday)--his big brother had been Junior National Champion the
year before (on the old system of season points) and it was Scotty's turn.
But his mom, who had started off the season with him, was in a horse
accident and was on crutches.  I was leaving after work on Friday night
from central Oregon to drive through the night to Idaho City, Idaho to do
the Boise Basin 75.  I happened to be in Prineville and stopped by Gene's
clinic for something, and mentioned that I was going, and asked if he knew
of anybody who would like to go.  He asked if I'd be willing to take
Scotty.  I said SURE!  He called home and asked Scotty if he'd like to go
with me--no pressure, no dragging, just asked.  Scotty said yes, so his
mom packed him a suitcase and his dad went home to help get his tack and
horse ready, while I went home and loaded up.  I picked Scotty up in the
early evening, and the first thing he asked me when he got in my truck
was, "Have you ever been in a wreck?"  I told him no, and he said, "Good! 
I don't want my horse to get hurt!"  The next thing he said was, "If I was
older, I'd help you drive."

Scotty stayed awake as far as Burns, where we stopped to get something to
eat.  Then he slept on the truck seat on through the night to Idaho City. 
He was too little to saddle and bridle his horse, but he knew exactly how
tight his girth was supposed to be, he vetted his own horse, he took care
of himself and knew exactly what he was supposed to wear and eat, he knew
what his horse was supposed to eat, and the only things I did for him were
the things that he was flat too little to do.  Just before the ride, a
reporter from the local paper spotted him and asked him if he was there to
do the 25-miler.  Scotty looked REALLY insulted, and said no, we sure
didn't drive all this way to ride 25 miles--we were doing the 75!  The
look on the reporter's face was priceless.  <g>

Scotty was a trooper the whole way, vetted his horse at every check and at
the finish, and did all of the horse care he could--and instructed me in
great detail about those things he couldn't do.  Late that night, after
awards (or "rewards" as Scotty called them), we drove to my parents' place
in Boise where we could turn the horses out.  Scotty fell asleep in the
truck again, and my dad carried him into their house and put him to bed. 
When I woke up the next morning, he was already up and was happily eating
breakfast, while giving my mother a cheerful and detailed blow-by-blow
description of our ride the day before.  (We were 3rd and 4th overall on
the 75, and he was the first--and I believe only--junior.)

All kids are different.  Scotty had had some learning problems prior to
his first big endurance season--and it was the accomplishment of riding
that brought him out of his shell and caught him up with his peers.  Thank
goodness nobody tried to tell him he was too young...  (And yes, he DID go
on to the AERC Junior National Championship that year--and we all
practically fought over who got to sponsor him!)

Heidi



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