Re: bring the kids!

[BMcCrary27@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/26/98 10:36:35 AM Pacific Standard Time,
flemmerl@rcbhsc.wvu.edu writes:

<< Supervised children or children participating with a sponsor - ABSOLUTELY
 welcome.  Children who are unsupervised are a whole 'nuther story.  They can
be
 disruptive to the horses and riders and if they get hurt, how do you reach
mom &
 dad on the trail?  A sitter <cannot> give consent for medical treatment other
than
 to stabilize the child's life pending further treatment unless there is a
well
 written note from the parents (& the Doc will do the minimum until he
actually
 talks w/ the parent, anyway).  This means no immediate care for lacerations
(ie
 sutures), broken arms, concussions, etc.  (I was a pediatric nurse for years
- it
 can be a nightmare if we can't care for a child pending parental permission
or a
 judge's order to treat.)  I'd be a nervous wreck if I had left my kid
unattended
 because "there are a lot of people around who will keep an eye on them".
  >>

One year at one of our rides, a small child toddled onto the raceway at the
finish line just as a couple of riders were racing to the finish.  I saw what
was happening, made a dive for the child, and yanked it out of harm's way.  It
was very scary.  I have no objection to children, but they need supervision.
As an aside, one year there were two little girls, age unknown, but pre-teen,
maybe 9 or 10, whose parents had brought their ponies along to keep the girls
occupied.  They were riding around the camp and some well-meaning person asked
them if they were endurance riders.  Whereupon they set out on the first loop
of the trail, all 30 miles of it, by now unmarked because the drag riders were
instructed to pull flagging.  These children must have been pretty sharp, as
they apparently followed the tracks of the entered riders.  Anyway, as the day
wore on, the responsible party -- the parents, we assume -- wondered where
their girls were.  My brother-in-law flew his plane out to search, the park
rangers had been notified, and we were just calling the sheriff's office when
they rode into camp (it was now dusk).  The drag riders had also closed and
locked all the park gates and there was no way that ponies could have gotten
over the horse bars at the side of each gate (if indeed there were any at that
time -- there are now, but it's a high step over them).  The little girls had
simply led their ponies down over the steep banks and through the brush to get
around the gates.  Believe me, this was a very tough 30 mile trail.  Their
feat was quite remarkable, but it surely caused a lot of anxiety for ride
management, parents, and others!

Barbara McCrary