 |
Re: [RC] minimum age for kids? - heidiI'm not even talking about 50. No way would I subject my 7 year old to that even if she wanted to go! She wants to do a 25 with me. We regularly ride 15, and I thought I'd bump it up this spring. I think I'll wait till next year to do it though b/c she still needs to practice taking care of her pony. She's in pony club this year so she'll learn a lot. I think I might like that 10 year old limit too, not sure yet. YOU can always set YOUR own age limit for your child. If you don't think she should go until she is 10, that is your perogative. But please don't force other parents to make the same choice by imposing an across-the-board age limit, since their children may be different than yours. I do think you are correct that Pony Club will help your daughter with the skills she needs. And given your own experience and hers, you are right to start at 25. In the example I gave of sponsoring a 7-year-old on a 75-miler, the boy was capable of entirely caring for his horse, with the exception of those things that he physically was not big enough to do--ie he could not lift the saddle high enough (but he knew exactly how tight the girth should feel, etc.) and he could not reach up high enough to put the bridle on (but he showed me before I put it on exactly which hole the the throatlatch should be buckled at, etc.--ie he KNEW his horse). He did ALL his own presentation at vet checks, his horse trotted with him beautifully while he ran for all he was worth and stopped nicely and turned at the far end of the trot-out, etc. He conversed intelligently with the vets, telling them with pretty good accuracy how his horse was doing, if he had been eating and drinking, etc. He knew exactly what his horse was to eat and when, and did his own feeding other than lifting a bale out of the truck. He was in complete control of his horse under saddle, following a safe distance behind mine on single-track trails and coming up alongside me on two-track roads. He was already a veteran of 50s and 60s earlier in the season with his own mother, and his parents were quite correct that he was ready to ride with a person other than a parent. I might have been leery to take on a 7-year-old junior on a 75-miler, had I not already vetted this young man at previous rides and watched him in action. As it was, I didn't even have to think twice about taking him, because I KNEW what he could do. There is no reason whatsoever for an organization to place an artificial limit on such a thing--children are ready when they are ready, and I can only think of one example (I suspect it is the same one back in the 80s that other posters have cited) of parents being "Little League" parents and dragging an unwilling child along. (And that child was unhappy in the sport even AFTER she passed the age limits that have been proposed--kids don't automatically WANT to do this at a specific age, either. It still boils down to parental good judgment.) Heidi PS: I DO remember Sierra Westlake howling at a ride once--not because she was being forced to ride, but because she WASN'T riding. She was about 4 or 5, and Terry practically had to physically restrain her when Darla left out of a vet check. She wasn't howling for her mother--she was howling "Muffy, Muffy, Muffy!" because mom was riding "her" horse!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|