Horses Are for Guys, Too

After all these years of going to the Fair and events with my personal emphasis on horses, I find it odd that equestrian events are 99.9 percent populated by young women and girls. In all these years I can only recall one young man in these competitions. I wonder why that is?

I loved horses when I was a boy, though I didn’t have one of my own. Had I owned my own horse I would have loved competing in these events.

I guess in horse country the boys are more into rodeo events of getting bucked, kicked, dragged and stomped nearly to death after they spur, rope and otherwise abuse animals that are frightened and have yet to be trained. I suppose there are roping and cutting horses that are well trained and riders that have some equestrian skill sets, but generally boys avoid equestrian event that requires skill instead of brute force and the ability to recover from injuries.

The thing that makes it extremely odd for me is that most horse clinicians are men. If you go down the list on RFD-TV you will see Anderson, Lyons, Parrelli, Shrake and a dozen other men, and then you see only Julie Goodnight and Meredith Hodges as women trainers.

Guys, here’s a hint. Being able to teach people how to ride and how to manage their animals equals big money and a side benefit is you’ll always be able to find a date.