focus onCOMMUNITIES


child/adolescent/family psychol- ogist, and author of Heads Up: Practical Sports Psychology For Riders, Their Families, and Their Trainers. “They simply respond to what their rider does. Riding enables kids to realize how their choices, atitudes, and behaviors affect the other living creatures around them,” she adds.


Scholastic enhancement. The perseverance needed


to ride well can translate into improved performance in the classroom. “Riding increases a child’s


focus and intensity,” observes California trainer Carol Dal Porto, who prepares youngsters to compete on the Appaloosa circuit. “You can’t let your mind wander when you’re riding a 1,200-pound animal.” This learned concentration later shows up in kids’ schoolwork,


“to their parents’ delight,” adds Dal Porto.


Leadership training. Especially if your child becomes involved with a group like Pony Club, 4-H, or the youth group of a breed association, the opportunities for learning man- agement and leadership skills abound.


“Holding an office, leading a smaller group of children, work- ing on a project–all of these are ways in which youngsters learn and grow,” says Mary Fay, the American Youth Horse Council’s 2003 Youth Horse Leader of the Year. “4-H requires children to keep records of their time, activ- ities, and money spent. These are all important life skills.”


Health benefits. Riding is terrific exercise.


“People who think the horse does all the work have never really ridden,” notes Katie Phalen, an instructor at Waredaca Farm in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Apart from its aerobic benefits, riding also helps a youngster develop


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balance, coordination, and flex- ibility, she notes. Moreover, the activities involved in caring for a horse—grooming, heſting buck- ets and saddles, cleaning stalls— can make for a great upper-body workout. Then, too, as children learn


how important good nutrition, veterinary check-ups, dental work, and regular exercise are to a horse, they begin to appreciate their own health needs.


OK, But Aren’t Horses Expensive? They don’t have to be. As you’ll see in Chapter 2, you needn’t own a horse to involve your child with one. And, if you do own, there are ways to trim costs, as you’ll learn in Chapter 4. Besides, as all parents know,


expense is a relative term in child rearing. “One Pony Club dad summed it


up this way,” notes national Pony Club past president Melanie Heacock. “‘I knew that when my


July, 2025


21


daughter turned 13, I was going to be spending a lot of money–at the shopping mall, on behavior counseling, or on horses. I chose horses, and I’ve never regreted it.’”


In the 21st century, when par-


enting is not a job for the faint at heart, horses provide a way to keep youngsters positively engaged during those “scary” years from pre-teen through young adulthood. Now, just how much is some-


thing like that worth? EDITOR’S NOTE: Author


Jennifer Forsberg Meyer is a native Californian and for- mer Publisher of California Horse Review. This article was reprinted by ELCR with per- mission from the 2006 edition of “Growing Up With Horses”. Jennifer’s most recent book, “Friends With Four Legs,” is available on Amazon. Here is a link to excerpts and to order: htps://bit.ly/friendswithfourlegs


925550-2103A


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