Re: NOT FLUFF/mileage

[Merryben <Merryben@aol.com>]

In a message dated 98-03-15 00:37:43 EST, Sully@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU writes:

<< On the other hand........it's pretty awful to see children dragged
 on endurance rides becuase their parents don't have babysitters, or
 are trying to accomplish some sort of family mileage.
 
 To me, taking a 5 year old on a 100 mile ride could constitute child
 abuse!  How many 5 year olds can concentrate on anything more than
 20 minutes at a time, and how many take naps?  Also, to expect a
 child that young to have any concept of how dangerous a horse can be
 is absurd.
  >>
This is probably true, but Larrissa begged her mother to let her go on the 50
with me.  I offered to let her do 25 but she said no.  She must not have been
too traumatized because when she was 11 she won the national championship by
riding about 2200 miles in one year on the dad's 16.2  1/2 arab appy.  Again,
this was her choice.

One of my juniors who is now 15 and started with me when she was 7, her first
race was a 50 when she was 9 was reading some of the posts and said "why would
anyone want to do 25 when you can do 50.  She wants to do 100's now.

I do agree that parents or anyone should not drag children along.  Personally,
I would be miserable with an unhappy child along with me.  My original only
rule was no whining or complaining and do what Maryben tells you.  However, if
anyone feels that they don't want to finish the ride, they are free to pull at
any time.  I would never in a million years try to make them feel like they
were quitters or anything else.  In 25 or so years, I have only had one junior
stop at the 1/2 way mark.  She felt she was too tired to finish and that was
fine with me.  She was a 14 year old at the time and has since gone on to ride
other rides.  Becky even let her ride Rio on a 50.

However, putting an age limt on riders is not a good idea in my opinion.  I
wish my parents had been endurance riders........Maryben