toddler riders

["ckellerfarm" <ckellerfarm@stellarnet.com>]

I wasn't going to comment on this as I just  a newbie at riding LD myself
but here goes.
I'm the mother of 5  and a grandma of  1. All my girls ride with me, all
started early 3 maybe 4 years old.  But never until they were  5 or 6 did
they ride alone , I would lead the horse from the ground, around the yard
for a while. All of them cried their eyes out when I took them off! Little
kids on horses are sooo cute, little feet sticking out so you can see the
souls of their little boots, big smiles a twinkling eyes. I have many
pictures of all my kids on the back of a horse. Too cute! But  I wouldn't
dream of putting my child on a horse alone until she/he was 5 or 6 and then
again only a home with my our horses not strange horse and riders that I do
not know. For only a 1/2 hour or alittle more, thats a long time for a child
to ride.
My 11 year old rode with me on a ride this fall, she rides the bus 22 miles
to school everyday, she is smart she knows what  25 miles is, she said she
liked  the ride but it was alittle long.   My 7 year old begged to go but my
husband and I decided she was too young for a ride that long around horses
she and the mare didn't know.  She rides a 30 year old mare with me on trail
rides around home. Can a three year old understand how long it is?
How stiff was this little boy the next day?   My 11 year old daughter was
very stiff and she rides allot. Little legs  on a horse that long ,they must
of hurt.   My brother in law is a Ortho surgeon he tells me  half his work
is fixing  kids up who's parents and/or coaches pushed the  kids to far.
Sure it was fun at the time,  but what are you doing to young bones ect ?  I
haven't asked him about horse riding,  but I'm sure it falls into the sport
list.  Father and son bonding can take place on shorter rides, safer rides.
I do not see how making a rule on how old a rider has to be would bother any
parents unless they are into it for their egos.
I'm sorry, I'm sounding like a Mom I know , but I am a Mom.  I know that  3
years old is way too young to ride that long on a horse being ponied And if
understand the post right he wasn't even being ponied, so not even that
measure of safety was not being taken.  We as adult rider can have trouble
sometimes with handling a horse even an old trooper when the unexpected
happens. Horses are large animals that for some reason allow us little
people (OK I'm not so little:) ride them and tell them what to do. We all
can tell tales of what our horses did unexpected, I remember that I read a
story once in
Horse and Rider years ago about a lady who took her 4 year old trail riding
on a old pony being ponied by her on her horse.  Her horse spooked and ran
over the pony and her little boy was
killed. She said she was so sure he was safe on the old pony.  It's not how
safe the older horse  it is  how safe is every other horse on the trail is.
Don't lots of people use 25 mile LDs to trail their young green horse? I'm
very surprised that the RM allowed the little 3 year old to ride. I'm even
more surprised that his Dad put him out there. We as parents can't save our
kids from everything, but we can use our own good sense and keep them safe
from the things we can.  There are rules to keep young horses  safe from
being used to hard too young, I would think there should be rules to keep
our kids safe too. Even from their own parents ,and well wishers who think
the boy is having a great time. How great would it have been if another
horse spooked a ran between his old trooper horse and his Dads horse?
Maybe someone out there has a 2 year old, big in their mind ready for 25
miles , he can't ride that horse in that ride, but a baby person can ride
it. It takes 18  years for a child to be grown up in our eyes, and it was
just discussed that its 7 or more years before an Arabian is grown.   I
think if the horses are to young at 3 , PLEASE so must the people who grow
much slower.
And as far as using Monty Robert's as a example of a young rider who
excelled,  reread the book he believes he was abused as a child.

Tami (who is sure she'll be burn for this but just had to say it, I have a
big mouth sometimes when it comes to kids)