Somehow, I never thought of our middle class family as being one who would be involved with horses. To me, horses were "elitist," and people who were involved with horses would be wealthy, not ordinary people. Then, in 1981 our beautiful daughter was born, and she was crazy about horses from the moment she began to talk.
I didn't really worry about how I was going to afford horses, training, equestrian clothing, etc., because I thought she'd outgrow this infatuation eventually.
When our daughter began school, she did not do well. Her teachers and the professionals we consulted said that she was mentally slow. They told my husband and me that we needn't worry about college for her. But, we knew our daughter, and we knew they were wrong. So we set out to prove that our daughter was fine, and it was their assessment that was incorrect.
Her first horseback riding lession began when she was 10 years old. On the lesson horse, she transformed from the shy, introvert she conveyed herself as in school to the self-assured champion we believed her to be.
But, oh, the expense of it all. Keeping her on that horse became almost unmanageable for us over that next year, and we suffered trying to pay the costs of this "horse habit."
Then, in the sixth grade, we were offered a trade off for her riding lessons. If she worked at the stables, doing everything from grooming horses to helping new, younger riders, she could earn her lessons.
By the time six more years had passed, the new self confidence that her horseback riding skills brought her helped her to excel in other areas of her life as well. She had top grades in all her subjects, and won a full scholarship to a top college. She was growing up, and at seventeen, her school notebook sported a picture of her first boyfriend instead of her old standby of the past years, her first love, an old horse named Merlin. However, the boyfriend had to realize that he only got that place of honor on the front of her notebook because he was so supportive of her passion for horses.
From the time she was in the sixth grade, she worked steadily at that stable, and received her 3.8 grade point average in college and graduated, without costing us any money at all.
We are sure that our daughter's love for anything involving horses was the key to her success academically as well as in life. Because she was willing to work to earn her lessons beginning at such an early age, she developed an excellent work ethic, which is the envy of many a parent.
We are extremely glad that we allowed our daughter to become involved in this "costly" pastime all those years ago. It acted as an incentive for her to adjust and find her place in this otherwise crazy world. Horses accomplished what the "experts" could not - just by being there for her.
More Information:
Want to read more about
horses and the multiple benefits of being near them? Come to our site and learn how to take care of horses through feeding, health care, exercise, and even
horse bedding
Categories
