Growing up on horseback
The benefits of riding as a child and why your kids should ride, too
HE AIR AMBULANCE had just departed, its loud buzz leaving an empty silence behind. We stood on the stubble field with the first response paramedic, taking a moment to comprehend what had happened.ppened. He announced to no one in particular: “I’d let my children ride a motorbike, but never a horse.” We didn’t reply – there was no point – this particular horse had already bolted.
Equine ecstasy
Those of us addicted to horses are acutely aware that sometimes we knowingly place ourselves in potential danger. In 2009, Professor David Nutt (a psychiatrist and neuropsychopharmacologist specialising in the research of drugs that affect the brain) shocked the equine world by suggesting that horse riding in the UK, whichhich is associated with 10 deaths a year, was more harmful
than ecstasy. More recently, research in Australia showed that horses had killed more people than all the venomous snakes combined between 2000 and 2013, with 74 deaths in total. Yet here I am, encouraging my five-year-old daughter to ride a forward going, cheeky Welsh Section A pony. She’s a daredevil, who likes to ride without holding on. So why am I allowing it? I’m certainly fearful of her being hurt, but I try and quash my motherly worries because I know that, despite the risks, horse riding brings a myriad of benefits to children. In fact, if there was a pill providing these equine induced impacts, then doctors would be prescribing it to every child. Here’s what it would deliver.
Assertivenessl
In life, there’ll always be people who try to push you around. However, if a child’s already stopped a greedy pony dragging them to the grass or learned to get a horse out of a field without letting his pushy friend out too, then they’ll have learned how to be assertive.
Patiencel
There’s no quick fix when it comes to riding. It’s about the gradual improvement after hours in the saddle. Over time, a child can learn rising trot, to jump a little higher or to perform a more accurate dressage test, but nothing is instant. For example, it’s the self-discipline needed for daily horsebox practice that teaches a pony to load, or the ability to simply sit quietly in the field with a bucket of food that at last tempts that hard-to-catch pony.
Reliabilityl
If you’re responsible for an animal, then you can’t forget to look after it. This is also the time when many children learn the very useful art of delegation, and dad does the poo-picking while they have a lesson.
Resiliencel
The stamina and resilience a child develops from being around horses is multi-faceted. They must find the endurance to deal with cold toes in winter, as well as cope with the inevitable falls and getting their foot stood on. A successful rider must also have the courage to quieten their fears.
Health and fitnessl
Obesity rates and lack of fitness are on the increase for children, with NHS figures showing that nearly one in five are obese by their last year of primary school. For a generation raised on the sofa, the physical activity associated with horses is incredibly beneficial – it’s also the kind of exercise that
may attract those who’ve been put off by traditional physical education and competitive team games. In an era when childhood mental health problems are reaching epidemic rates, the time spent in green space (associated with improved emotional well-being) can also be valuable. Riding and time at the yard also provides time away from screens and social media, which can be hard to avoid in many areas of childhood now.
Adventurel
Risk has been largely removed from children’s lives. They’re ushered from school to club to sofa like prisoners. In fact, a recent campaign by Persil highlighted that high-security prisoners receive double the daily time outside compared to the average child. Similarly, The Wild Network reports that the roaming distance children play from their homes has reduced by 90% in the past 30 years. Children are scarcely allowed to get dirty or test what their bodies can do. Horse riders will do both. It’s undeniably risky, but it’s the kind of healthy risk that equips children for life, teaching them how to keep themselves safe and make sensible decisions. Horse riding is the perfect antidote to a sterile, riskless childhood. Daring to sit on another creature’s back, then gradually learning to gallop or jump builds a deep confidence that reaches out so far beyond the yard.
For me, a horse gave me something immeasurable. As a troubled teen, I was in a bad state. I’d dropped out of school and become anorexic. It was a true leap of faith for my mum to allow me to buy an unbroken Thoroughbred – three-year-old, Jamie. I was a decent rider, but this was way out of my comfort zone. With Jamie, I had to be strong, so I had to eat. I needed to be calm and assertive in handling him, not weak and scared like I felt inside. I fell off, a lot, but I got back on, and little by little I realised I had built a partnership, gained a purpose, enhanced my confifidence and was able to return to a normal existence (albeit one punctuated by mucking out). Did a horse save my life? Maybe, although despite being an old man he still bucks like an idiot when excited. As I grow older, I discover more and more of the wide ranging benefits of being horsey, from good posture to employment related skills. More recently, I’ve noticed that it has made the transition to motherhood easier, not least because I was undaunted by early mornings, vast quantities of poo and facing a will as strong as my own.
A sandwich in your saddlebag
Having children of my own has led to me reminiscing about my own childhood. Like me, many readers of this magazine grew up on horseback. Whether we scrounged rides at the local stable in return for mucking out, or were lucky enough to own a pony, it offered a freedom and thrill that couldn’t be matched by Saturday morning telly. And when we were hanging around with ponies, it was natural to push the boundaries. What was your pony trick as a child? I was too short to vault on like my friends, but I could canter sitting backwards. Sometimes two of us would clamber on and jump bareback together, knowing that if one of us fell, both would. Do you remember the simple pleasure of lying back on a saddleless horse, looking up at the sky and daring to trust them?
It was perfectly normal to cycle, unaccompanied, to the nearest livery stables or riding school and get stuck in, just to earn your half an hour ride. You’d handle all manner of stubborn, jaded or sharp horses and ponies and get on whatever you were given – often one that had been naughty with more discerning, paying clients. Then there were the full-day adventures. All you needed was a sandwich and a few coins in case you needed to call home. I used to ride for miles as a child, exploring the countryside, naughtily cutting across stubble fields or cantering on roadside grass verges. This included many country lanes and even some longer hacks on bigger roads. If you rode as a child, you’ll have memories like these. Much of it’s really silly and risky, when an adult thinks about it, but it was all so much fun, not to mention character building.
Kids today
If, even as an experienced adult, I tried to ride any of my childhood routes today, it would be asking for an accident. The volume and speed of traffic is now prohibitive. Even the road-based hacks I enjoyed just 10 years ago would no longer be safe. The British Horse Society maintains a record of road accidents reported to them and estimates that at least 3,000 road accidents every year involve horses. Safe hacks for unaccompanied children are increasingly hard to find. Some changes, however, are for the better.
Riding in a risk averse world
I don’t recall much mention of safety at riding schools as a child, or on a parent-free riding holiday when I was 11. In fact, the holiday could have been much safer – I fell off a clearly unsuitable horse, and was also shown an 18 rated movie. Health and Safety and child welfare were clearly not at the top of the priorities in that establishment and many friends had similar experiences. Most progress, therefore, is welcome. Having just read the 60 pages of ‘Health and safety in horse riding establishments and livery yards: What you should know’ by Karen and Michael Sinclair-Williams, I found that the advice is all incredibly pragmatic and not overly cautious. All riding schools should be following it to the letter. Often, however, it’s insurance companies, which regulate behaviour. For example, some riding schools cannot teach bareback riding because it’s specifically excluded from their policy. There’s nothing quite like it for enhancing natural position and balance as well as building a connection with the horse, so it’s a sad loss.
Risk management
Of course, no one wants to get hurt, so healthy riding for children needs to be about risk management rather than total risk avoidance. Taking the sensible precautions of wearing a hat to the latest safety standard, gloves, proper footwear and back protectors should be normal for children. It does surprise me that wearing back protectors for hacking is not considered standard for adults – we do need to set an example. Modern technology can help too and older children may still be allowed to hack alone with a mobile phone to seek help if needed – but the taking of too many action-based selfies is probably the downside of this. We can’t return to the halcyon days of wild kids ‘just helping out’ in yards or disappearing for whole days, but we can delight in the fact that growing up on horseback is still a wonderful, life-affirming experience. There is risk too, but it’s a healthy, empowering risk that, unlike drugs, computer games or reckless behaviour, will make children emotionally and physically stronger and equipped for life.
Do you remember the simple pleasure of lying back on a saddless horse, looking up at the sky and daring to trust them?