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Why does it seem like kids who come from riding familys cant ride as well as those that dont come fr2007-11-24 21:23:23

Not that there aren't kids from horse families that are exelent riders and trainers, or that there aren't kids from non-horse families that can show but not train.

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Note: The following is something I've noticed, and I am not saying that all people who ride at barns are unskilled, but:

A lot of times, kids like these ride at full-service barns where ALL of the horse's care, training, tacking, and grooming is done by someone else. All the client has to do is show up and get on the horse. After the ride, the horse is handed to a groom to be cooled out, untacked, etc. If the horse needs training, a trainer does it, not the client. The very basics of horses and riding skills are lacking. These people are passengers, not riders. On a horse that acted up, they'd be in big trouble. In many places, the emphasis is on winning, not building skill.

For some people, the only time they actually ride the horse is at shows. If he horse is 'pushbutton' and the rider has decent position, this can work.

When I worked at a guest ranch, we saw people all the time who had been riding and winning in shows since they could walk and claimed to be expert riders. Some were, but many were not. These people were clueless about what to do if their horse tried to eat grass while they were riding, etc. Their position on the horse was excellent, but their riding ability on rough terrain or a horse that wasn't 100% schooled was not good. More than one person refused to ride after the first day since they couldn't ride with a loose rein and stay balanced. One girl, who came equipped with photos of herself on hunters winning big classes panicked and fell when her horse spooked a step sideways at a deer in the bushes, and her friend (also a long-time rider) stopped riding with us after a horse kicked at a fly on it's belly and she was convinced it was bucking. Basic knowledge that one learns while working daily with a horse (not just riding) was completely lacking. One of the girls' mothers berated us for allowing her daughter to get on a horse that we had not 'schooled for an hour or so' before she got on to ride. She was convinced her daughters' "skills" would be ruined by leisurely ride on a regular trail mount and that we were giving her daughter and friend mean and untrained horses. The horses guests rode were not wild, unruly, young, or untrained horses, but your typical everyday-type horse that follows along and does what the horse ahead of him does--- generally very easy to get along with, safe, and easy to ride but nothing fancy.