The youngsters these days have a LOT more to
entertain them-computers, cable TV, etc. My 17 yo daughter did say that
she was glad I turned off the TV and made her go out and do things, mostly
related to riding. She is a working student at the local dressage center and
actually gets paid to ride horses!!! She did learn she doesn't want to be
a horse trainer for her bread and butter tho. We were riding 50s when I
was sent to Iraq. Things in life make major changes. Most youngsters
just have easier things to do. Dating is a big one too. It reduces
their interest in other things. My daughter is grounded from dating until
she is 18. The public schools also discourage kids from doing things and
they take up way too much time for what they accomplish. All these things
and more enter into the equation about how much kids can ride. Having a
horse is more of a challenge for kids if the parents don't own any. Lots
of things in our modern society add to the lack of juniors, including many horse
people choosing not to have children as they don't care to be bothered with the
hassel of raising children. Take a look at the stats of who is
having children and it is not the YUPPIES or others with income. IT TAKES
INCOME TO HAVE HORSES AND MORE INCOME TO COMPETE HORSES IN ANY EVENTS. The
group not having a lack of youth in their activities is the AQHA.
Arabs have a bad name in most other horse things besides endurance and Arabian
racing or the picture of a beautiful horse. I won't go on about the
Arabian registries as that would take a lot of typing. They are so
political and self serving to the professional money makers that it is
disgusting. If I did not want to continue to do endurance, I would be
switching to another breed, probably the quarter horse or a naturally gaited
horse as I am not getting any younger. At least my daughter says I am not
to ride green horses anymore. Oh, well. all can buck and all can
kick. Challenge is to find the ones that don't care to do that anymore, no
matter what the breed.
