Modern parents, especially those raised away from the soil and without experience with horses, do not realize the threat they present to their children's safety when they encourage their kids, by word or action, to be afraid of horses. Riding is a great way to work through fear and gain confidence. Parents who allow, or even worse, encourage their kids to avoid anything that they are afraid of risk consigning those kids to lives impaired by fear or even serious anxiety disorder.
That is the long term problem. The immediate problem is that there is nothing more dangerous than being afraid in the presence of a horse. That fear transfers to the horse. A horse that is afraid is dangerous. A kid that is afraid uses poor judgement. It is a dangerous combination.
Kids need support and encouragement to work through the fear. They need to be pushed into learning that they are not as helpless as they believe. They need to talk about the fear and will need to be given concrete strategies to over come it. It takes patience on the part of the instructor and the parents.
Things were simpler when was little. If a little boy whined his mother would let him know directly that such behavior was not to his long term benefit. (e.g. "Shut up whining. If you whine like that while you are lying in a ditch in Vietnam the Viet Cong won't have any trouble finding where you are.)
Too few modern parents understand the importance of that kind of love.
(It was twenty two degrees when we set out on the forty mile ride in the picture above. The Viet Cong won't ever find these kids.)
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