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Are 5 year olds, even brilliant ones, allowed to drive a car? Smoke
cigarettes? Get married? Go out on a hot date? Run a
company? Run for President? Just because a kid is above average,
does that give the kid permission to ride with/compete with older kids (ex: a 10
yr. old is twice the age of a 5 year old - a bit more mature I would guess) and
adults?
Grow up you guys! Sounds like some of you might make bad
parents: let the kids tell YOU what they want to do and will
do. You are giving them license to do whatever they want if you just
happen to THINK (i.e. feel) that they are smart enough to ..... like
you're assuming that they are as mature as you are. If they were, why do
they have to live at home until they are "of legal age"?? I know this is
an extreme example, but, if nothing else, think like an insurance company...
would they insure, or assume liability, for anyone as young as 5 to be riding in
such a challenging sport as endurance - or any sport? These seemingly,
overly proud parents seem very like the "pony mothers" at the horse shows -
living through their kids, (and through the big money it takes for serious
horse-showing) whether the kids like it or not. They buy ponies for tens
of thousands of dollars, or more, to show off their kids - and themselves.
I was at a horse show two years ago, where a 16 year old girl (ancient, compared
to 5 yo) died (brains literally spilled - and wearing a helmet!!!) when jumping
her horse. I "heard" that the trainers (people in charge of your
children's safety at a horse show) tend to push the students too far too
fast. This girl fell, I hear, with her hands still clasping the reins, and
pulling the horse down on top of her. It was awful! And that's a 16
year old. At horse shows, you sign a waiver for liability on the show
grounds. Wonder why? And horse show H/J riding is just going in a
few circles in a couple of minutes, not hours of dealing with countless
variables out in "the wild." I am sure there are incredibly intelligent,
smart, kids FOR THEIR AGE, but no, they don't go to college without putting a
bit of schooling time in, do they?
And Heidi - you seem to think that riding is so safe compared to other
sports - I hear, according to a nurse client, that more women DIE while
horseback riding than in any other sport. And no matter how good the rider,
there is another form of life and thinking/reacting that he/she is putting his
trust on. The predator riding the chased. I am sure you were an
incredible child rider, but, didn't you improve just a little since you were
that gifted kid rider? I have a feeling you wouldn't have fallen completely
apart if you didn't get that stallion. I bet you would have coped. :))) And
how would the parent that "couldn't say no" feel if their very young child was
injured in any way while riding?
Karen Zelinsky, ESMT (I have to admit I am NOT a mother, but I know I would
spoil my kids, BUT not allow them to be over their heads safety-wise.
NOTE: My one aunt was the youngest girl to graduate from her high
school in Washington, D.C., at age 14, and go to college (engineering) and shook
hands with Albert Einstein way back when, BUT she was way out of her peer group,
and just went to work earlier then the rest of us, and she missed part of
growing up. Intellectually superior, emotionally challenged. I think
schools have since learned that it is NOT good for students to skip grades - at
least to such an extreme. You teachers out there - what is allowed
now?
. While you are right that
most kids are not at that level at that age, please don't count out the ones
that are.
Heidi
The way I read this is, well most little kids can't be allowed to
drive a car, but some can. Does that mean that some kids are so gifted
that they can be allowed to drive off of your own back-40, onto a 4-lane
highway in NJ during rush hour?
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