I am so thankful I grew up in an era where there was not the paranoia
of having kids snatched that there is today. I rode all over the area...I
remember having men expose themselves and men make crude remarks to me.
When I would tell my mother, she just told me as long as I was on my horse, I
would be safe, and to use common sense (of course, I was the youngest of 4
children, and she was much more relaxed raising me...). Doing the
type of work I do, I see a lot of mothers who will not let their kids ride
outside of a ring, and then only under supervision. When I've offered to
take them down the trail with me, they usually refuse on the grounds that the
horse will shy at things. Of course they may just be worried about sending
their little darlings off with someone like me!! ;-)
