Never Look Back••
Every little girl wants a pony. They dream of pink ribbons, tall princesses, and white ponies. Generally, these little girls grow out of the ‘pony stage’ and move onto makeup, dresses, and boys. In my case, I never grew up. On my fourth birthday my Uncle Jim gave me a pony. He said that every little girl wants one, so a small, grey, stuffed pony (that was approximately the size of me) made its way into my life. At the time I didn’t want a pony, but four years later it was all I could dream of. When I was eight years old my mother, my sister, and I walked into a local barn with wide eyes. Dirt stuck to my skin, flies buzzed around my head, and manure scented the air; I was in heaven. I mounted a medium sized pony with my $75 plastic helmet and hand-me-down breeches. I was just like any other pony crazed little girl whose mother wanted to please her. We were oblivious to what we were getting into. I didn’t know that this sport would take many emotional, financial, and physical sacrifices, and looking back, I wonder if allowing developing children to participate in such a dangerous sport is worth it.
Although riding was supposed to only occur as an after school activity once a week for maybe a few months, two years later we changed trainers and I started to ride and compete at a national level. My $75 plastic helmet was exchanged for a $600 helmet and my hand-me-down breeches were swapped out for $200 show breeches. I would be at the barn five to six days a week for three to four hours each day. Riding became a true sport for me and I started to train like a true athlete.
Because I had more time in the saddle, I also had a much greater risk for injury. According to David Bleetman, “Horse riding has a higher rate of severe injury than motorcycle racing and 45% of patients admitted with equestrian injuries require surgical intervention” (Bleetman). Falling off happens so much that it can be overlooked. Equestrians joke around about falling off, but in most cases injuries do occur. Injuries can range from breaks, fractures, and sprains in a rider’s back, arms, legs, ankles, wrists, and heads. I have seen and personally experienced these injuries on countless times in both the practice and show arena.
One of these injuries occurred one week before a very important year-end show when I was practicing simple, easy tasks. I was riding a new horse that had been imported to the United States five months previous from Germany. He was young and new to the style of riding that I was competing in that weekend. Regardless of his skill level, Sly (the horse) and I were well prepared: I had my helmet on and he had been in a constant training program for the past five months. All bases were covered, yet as we came to finish our small course, he became excited and bucked, tossing me in the air and towards the arena railing. The lower part of my brain (the cerebellum) hit the railing and one day later I was diagnosed with an acute concussion. I was advised not to compete in the show that next weekend because if I fell off and hit my head once more, I would never be able to ride again.
Much more recently, Carrie, the assistant trainer at a barn I work for, bought a young horse to train and resell as a project named Bach. This horse was much more along in his training than Sly was though, so Carrie expected a relatively quick turnaround. One week after he arrived at the barn, Carrie and I put Bach’s equipment on him so she could ride him and see where his talents stood. She brought Bach down to the arena and to the mounting block so she could mount him: a very routine and simple task that happens multiple times a day for Carrie and I. Unfortunately this time, Bach freaked out and bucked Carrie off before she could sit firmly in the saddle and as she came down, he kicked out and hit her knee. A 911 call, multiple orthopedic visits, and a considerable amount of pain later, Carrie was told that she dislocated her knee, had torn all four of the ligaments in the knee: her ACL, PCL, MCL, and LCL, and torn her meniscus. Recovery time is estimated to six to eight months.
Riding is indisputably a very dangerous sport. The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System estimates approximately 219 deaths per year caused by horses compared to dogs, which are approximately 14 deaths per year (Some). With this information in mind, why do we allow children and young adults to ride? If there is a huge risk once you sit on a horse, is it worth it to put developing and growing minds in the saddle? I believe there is.
Because of riding I have gained both mental and physical benefits despite how dangerous it is. If I wanted to ride, I had to work for it because my mother could not blatantly afford thousands of dollars in board and training every month and the several thousands of dollars it cost for one show that lasted three days. I would wake up at 5:00 to be at the barn by 6:00 in the morning to feed, groom, and exercise multiple horses. That is not an easy task when you are twelve years old, but I didn’t know otherwise. I wanted to ride, and in the meantime I learned the value of the dollar, responsibility and how to care for something that needed care 24/7, the patience needed to communicate with something that cannot speak, and how to work towards a goal. I also learned muscle memory in my calves, thighs, abdominal region, arms, and back. Horseback riding is one of the few sports that work all of those regions at the same time.
What makes horseback riding unique compared to maybe exercising on your own and owning a dog to help teach responsibility is that with riding, you learn all of these lessons subliminally. When I was twelve I did not think I was being responsible because I would put my horse’s needs in front of my own. I thought I was just feeding my horse because he had to eat. When I couldn’t buy lunch at school or a new wardrobe for the new school year I didn’t think it was because I was learning how to manage money. I just preferred to save my money for a new pair of riding breeches or boots. When I had to be patient with my horse because he could not explicitly tell me what was wrong, I worked through it because it never crossed my mind that most teammates can communicate with words. When I was sore for days after my lessons, I thought it was because I was doing a new exercise. It never occurred to me that I was actually working out and gaining muscle.
If my mom had simply given me a dog exercise with and had personally tried to teach me responsibility, money management, and patience, I never would have been as open to the lessons as I was with riding. Because I learned those lessons with horses, I was unaware I was learning which made me much more open to learning. It was on my terms and was my idea, so I was okay with it. As for the exercise (running with a dog to fulfill the ‘pet’ wishes), I would have not have exercised with the dog as effectively as I exercised with my horse. There are no off days in riding, so even if I didn’t want to ride, I had to because I had to take care of my teammate. If I didn’t want to walk the dog, his well being would not be directly correlated with missing a walk here and there so I wouldn’t see the harm in not walking the dog. Also, riding a horse works many more muscles than walking or running with a dog.
There are also many benefits to sticking to one sport for a prolonged period of time. Like I stated earlier, when I started riding more often, I began training like a real athlete and similar to any other activity, the more time you are spent doing it, the more risk for an injury. Marilyn Price-Mitchell, who has her Ph.D. in developmental psychology, argues “studies indicate three important aspects of sports participation that affect positive youth development - intensity, continuity, and balance […] [and] kids who spend more time in sports activities have greater benefits than youth who participate at lower levels or not at all. With greater time commitment, children develop better mastery of skills and superior knowledge of tactics and strategy” (Price-Mitchell). Because I have stuck with riding all of these years, I have developed much better skills than I would have if I participated in several sports at introductory levels. Another benefit is the dedication learned through sticking with one sport. Even when it was a little harder for me to ride, I stuck with it and that reciprocates into my social and educational life. If I don’t understand something at school or if I get stressed during finals week, I know I can stick with it because I have stayed with riding through all of the ups and downs.
When my doctor told me not to compete again that weekend when I fell off and acquired a concussion, I still competed. The competition was important to me and I understood the consequences of my actions, but I still competed. It may seem silly now, to risk my entire horseback riding future for one competition, but that weekend Sly and I received tenth place at the year-end medal finals and my scholarship essay earned me $2,500 towards school. I then went to put the video clip of my medal finals round into a recruitment video for NCAA Equestrian Teams all across the country and in the fall I am headed to South Dakota to ride for the team on scholarship. Riding has given me a way to exercise, a way to strengthen my brain, and a way to pay for college.
Ultimately, riding a horse is not the safest thing for a person to do. But neither is flying in a plane, drinking alcohol, or crossing the street without looking both ways and we do all of those things on a wide scale. Riding, with the correct safety precautions, is worth the consequences because of the payoffs. I believe that it is hard enough to find something that makes you happy in this world without limiting what you can or cannot do. Growing up is about taking risks and investing in what makes you happy and I would not be the same person I am today if it were not for riding.
