Today's poor horse market has lead many to the conclusion that there simply are too many horses available. Some otherwise decent, though misguided, breeders even call for fewer restriction on horse slaughter. The horse industry cannot bleed itself into a better market. The problem is not that we have too many horses, but instead that we have too few riders. Anyone who really cares about horses, or kids, should support efforts to put more kids on horses.
We need to look at the financial obstacles that reduce horse ownership. Natural horse care not only radically reduces the cost of maintaining horses, it gives us healthier, happier horses. Natural horse care will one day be America's next revolution in horsemanship.
A very small percentage of horse owners are regularly involved in any aspect of the competitive horse world and we should not shape our instructional goals to simply produce ribbon winners. Instead, we need to teach real horsemanship to young riders. They need to understand how to start colts and every other aspect of natural horsemanship. Much effort is put into the futile search for the perfectly safe, bomb proof horse, yet we put no effort into producing bomb proof kids.
1 comment:
That we horse lovers should all mentor future riders is simply so true.
The days of movies and television with alot of heros on horse back are over. Kids are pulled in umpteen different directions besides dreaming of horses.
All of us riders should do our part to share our experiences with others to help others find that being safely with a horse is a reality that can happen.
I am involved with a handicap riding program that inriches the lives of others and in so doing gives me just as much joy.
Judy
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