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[RC] Completely healthy? - k s swigart

Carrie said:


If you look at the death toll due to drug/alcohol abuse vs 
horseback riding, there's a huge gap, not to mention the
?lives of those families/friends associated with the drug or
?alcohol abuse and the distruction it causes.


If you were to compare the numbers on a "per participant" basis, I am willing 
to bet that the death toll from horseback riding is FAR greater than for 
drug/alcohol use (note that I do not say "abuse" as there are plenty of 
drug/alcohol users that do not "abuse" them).? If you look at the report of Dr. 
Nutt's article it says that deaths from "equasy" in one year were 100, while 
deaths from ecstasy were only 30...and I am willing to bet that there were more 
ecstasy users than there were horse riders.


I don't of know too many families who have been torn apart
?by horseback riding. 


I do.? I know of plenty of failed marriages that can be laid at the foot of 
(usually, but not always) the wife's horse/s.? And I know of plenty of families 
that have only managed to survive being torn apart by horse/s by getting rid of 
the horse/s (i.e. stopping the addiction).

Horses are physically hard on the health because they are big and they have a 
mind of their own.

Horses are mentally and socially hard on the health because they are expensive 
and time consuming.

There are some physical and mental health benefits to horses and some social 
responsibility aspects of horse ownership/care that also can have great 
benefits, but that does not change the fact that there are some rather 
substantial downsides to the activity, especially when it crosses over into the 
realm of addiction, which it often does.? I find addictive personalities among 
horse people far more than I do in the general population (although, they are 
pretty easy to find on a sail boat too, so horses are not the only "addictive" 
past time).

Me?? I had a serious problem with horse addiction (and it was on the road to 
financially and physically ruining me).? I had to leave the country to get over 
it, and I still have to guard against it.

kat
Orange County, Calif.
:)

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