World's Youngest Rider & Comstock

["Linda Hedgpeth" <lth@thegrid.net>]

I was at the Comstock ride this last weekend and saw the little 3 yr old boy and his father.  We saw them several times during the ride and the little boy seemed happy and right at home.

 

The only thing I saw that I questioned was when his father and he rode their horses down a very long, steeeep, rocky portion of the trail.  At the top of this trail, you could see forever - including all of Reno and surrounding communities.  There were lot's of people behind and in front of us, all "carefully leading" their horses down.  It was very, very steep with lot's of rocks we had to pick our way through.    I was basically sliding down in the sand between the rocks, and I was wearing trail/hiking shoes.  We were about halfway down when the father and son *passed us riding*.   One misplaced step and this could have easily become a horrible, tragedy.

 

I think that a well-mounted adult could ride down this trail carefully and safely. There are probably locals that ride it all the time.  I question the decision in making a 3 yr. old ride down it on a horse that could take a wrong step at any time.  There were lot's of people around and things could have been arranged so that the baby could have been carried down by a human.

 

That's my 2 cents worth.  Back to lurking.

 

Linda Hedgpeth
Janesville, CA
lth@thegrid.net