Infants and toddlers on horses

[Marv Walker <Marv@MarvWalker.com>]

This subject is making the rounds of listdom...

As one who has had his share of horse wrecks, a considerable 
number of them occurring out of the blue with absolutely no 
warning or any contributing factors on my part, and personally 
knowing people who were killed or vegetated, I feel compelled 
to weigh in on this subject.

Horses are the most dangerous animals on earth.  When you are 
involved with horses it is not a question of *IF* you will be 
injured, but *WHEN* and those injuries can range from chipped 
fingernails to worse than death.  (Worse than death is when 
you wake up in the hospital and someone says, "I'm Dr. Smith, 
blink once for 'yes', and twice for 'no'.")

Even under the best of circumstances you can go out your back 
door, as one friend did, and find your child dead in the yard 
while her bombproof, do anything with, totally trustworthy 
horse grazes calmly nearby.

When you engage in horse activities, you accept the risks and 
only you can determine, for the most part, how you will operate 
within those risks.  When your children are involved you have 
to be FANATICALLY analytical in your search for ways to lessen 
the possibility of harm.

Infants and toddlers are especially fragile.  I think the factor 
here is NOT how some people have done something risky and had 
it turn out well but rather that some people have engaged in 
risky activities and escaped unscathed.  Risk does not ALWAYS 
result in penalties that's why some folks view it differently 
than others.

Think back to a horse wreck you had that struck out of the blue 
and that there was little you could have done to prevent it.  
Now then, what if you had had your infant or your toddler 
strapped to you when this wreck occurred?  (I don't need to hear 
from those of you who DID have, or you heard of someone who did 
have, and it turned out okay - that was dammned lucky.)  Bad 
enough the toddler makes a five foot fall to the ground, it's 
even worse when you drop a hundred or so pounds on him from the 
same height he has just fallen.

At the very least, wait until the child is old enough to wear 
properly fitted safety equipment.

One post I read somewhere said that age restrictions on rides 
(or by inference, at horse shows) would not be needed unless it 
becomes a wide-spread problem.  That reminded me of when the 
saddle club I was president of decided to have a "Go As You 
Please" class.  I looked in the arena and saw two people face 
to face on the same horse with the moron facing the horse's 
rear guiding the horse behind his back.  When I removed them 
from the arena I could hear others cooking up ways they were 
going to better those clowns for the next "Go As You Please" 
class.

At last weekend's clinic one of the hands-on participants was 
a 10 year old boy with a finely developed sense of self-
preservation.  It is far better and safer to at least wait 
until the child developes that sense.  I would worry that 
starting infants and toddlers on horseback (and I'm not talking 
about being lead with sidewalkers here) would deny them the 
opportunity to learn how to deal with the inner voice that 
increases our chances of survival.

Be aware that you are operating in an extremely risky environment 
when you carry infants and toddlers on horseback.  And yes, I know, 
you cannot eliminate risk.  You can, however, mitigate it.

Marv "I'm not afraid of bears but I'm not going to run up and kiss 
one either." Walker
-- 
Upcoming 2000 Clinics 
Murfeesboro (Near Nashville) TN, Nov 11-12, 2000
http://MarvWalker.com/clinic.htm