Post by Tockita on Jul 9, 2008 13:30:12 GMT -5
I was blessed as a child to have a mother who could not give me a horse so did the next best (or maybe better) thing and made time for me to be with horses and people who would teach me about them.
Living on the "westside" (of L.A.) there were no horses around without making a huge commitment of time (since L.A. had fewer freeways then) But she found a group she manage to afford for me to be in and drove and drove and sat while I rode and learned.
I LOVE my mom for spending so much of her time, making sure we each got to do the things we loved most.. and with 6 kids that was tough to do! I also wish I knew where Pam Miller and her mother were today because they are the ones who put on a program that barely paid to rent the horses for us to ride.
Sadly there are many children growing up in places less child friendly then the "westside" in the 70s, and there are many children there who would love to just be near a horse... to ride a horse, well they would not believe it was real at first.
At Equine Affair I met a gal who started out letting kids pet and sit on her horse Dusty. It has grown to 4 chapters of inner city kids who they take riding a couples of times a year.
While I know we are always strapped especially now feeding and rescuing I figured I would put this out there because even if people can't donate maybe it's the sort of program you might consider starting near you.
They have a nice magnet board of horse parts they make and sell to raise funds too. So all you 4H and PC leaders should take a look at it.
www.dustysriders.org/newsletter.html
Living on the "westside" (of L.A.) there were no horses around without making a huge commitment of time (since L.A. had fewer freeways then) But she found a group she manage to afford for me to be in and drove and drove and sat while I rode and learned.
I LOVE my mom for spending so much of her time, making sure we each got to do the things we loved most.. and with 6 kids that was tough to do! I also wish I knew where Pam Miller and her mother were today because they are the ones who put on a program that barely paid to rent the horses for us to ride.
Sadly there are many children growing up in places less child friendly then the "westside" in the 70s, and there are many children there who would love to just be near a horse... to ride a horse, well they would not believe it was real at first.
At Equine Affair I met a gal who started out letting kids pet and sit on her horse Dusty. It has grown to 4 chapters of inner city kids who they take riding a couples of times a year.
While I know we are always strapped especially now feeding and rescuing I figured I would put this out there because even if people can't donate maybe it's the sort of program you might consider starting near you.
They have a nice magnet board of horse parts they make and sell to raise funds too. So all you 4H and PC leaders should take a look at it.
www.dustysriders.org/newsletter.html
