East Point Horspice has given me a unique perspective as I witness Charlene help others develop their own personal relationships with horses as she gives lessons. When it comes to the younger crowds, I’ve been known to sarcastically warn parents of kids who wish to take horsemanship lessons that this is a dangerous thing which might lead to a serious addiction. When it comes to parents with young girls, I’m less than joking.
I have a theory that there is a horsey chromosome, let’s call it HY, which is activated usually around age 4 in girls’ XX chromosomes and tends to become a driving force in their lives. Certain books begin to fill the shelves of little girls’ rooms, books with names like Black Beauty or My Friend Flicka. For girls who are seriously bitten by the horse bug, walls plastered in pictures of the latest boy band are replaced with posters of horses running free in the pasture, or dangerously jumping tall verticals, or majestically in the dressage ring demonstrating a perfectly performed piaffe. At this point, I can only recommend to the parents of these young women to learn to appreciate the virtues of waking before dawn to drive your daughter to unnamed arenas in the middle of nowhere to sit all day on hard wooden bleachers, sipping hot coffee in an effort to keep from freezing to death, or drinking gallons of ice water to counteract the possible dehydration and related heat stroke (most times during the same event), and while eating concession stand hot dogs and popcorn maintain enough strength and mental acuity to drive the long trip back home as the sun slips below the horizon. Some reading this would scoff and believe that such hyperbole is merely a writer’s attempt at humor; the ones that have endured the previous description would indeed nod in agreement and strained remembrance of these efforts to be a supportive parent. Before you discourage your little princess’ ambitions, know there is hope.
The hope lies in the events I’ve witnessed over the past 25 years or so as horse-crazy girls delve into this passion. There seems to generally be two possible paths these girls can take. Path one is where the enthusiastic new rider is involved for a period of time, then becomes increasingly less interested in horses as they grow older and decide their time and energy should be better invested in other events, whether it be school activities, new hobbies or boys. Budding human relationships create a whole other set of circumstances requiring parental involvement, sorry to remind you Dads out there, but EPH tends to lose these riders. This is not to say these girls won’t return later in life to horses, but for the time being there won’t be any of the all-day opportunities to bond with your daughter and the seat of your pickup truck as mentioned above. Perhaps you just went,” Phew, that was close.”
Path two has its own rewards. On this horse journey, these young girls won’t be discouraged from a life among the herd even if they end up breaking bones falling from horses, continually tend to scrapes and contusions as they improve their horsemanship skills (the hard way), and/or pour their hard-earned money into this arduous, life-consuming pursuit. These girls blossom in to true horse loving women and wouldn’t have it any other way. Some even stop fighting fate and nurture this passion in to a horse rescue and therapeutic riding program. Ahem, this hits very close to home, and in true dad joke fashion, you might say we resemble that remark.
Short-term involvement with the horses is no less important than the life path taken by young girls who now approach 30 years old and are as equally enthusiastic, dare I say horse-crazy, as when they took lessons so many years ago. Please understand that it is never too late to let the horses become your teacher, friend and therapist. If you’re late to the party, there’s still plenty of punch left in the bowl for you to allow yourself the pleasure to become involved with horses. If you dare, contact EPH at (308) 762-3848 or eph@bbc.net.