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Pics then and now: HC Oldtimers Sarah Hluchan and Regal Means

Written by: Erin Harty, VetCentric.com Staff Writer

It's late on a summer evening -- probably later than it should be, but it's easy to lose track of time here. The lengthening shadows have melted together, and the softness of dusk has enveloped and muffled the landscape. It feels quiet, until you really listen and hear the chattering of the nighttime bugs and the creaking of tree limbs in a brief gust of breeze.

The sound of crunching gravel emerges from the collection of other evening noises. A girl -- about 14, willowy, and perhaps all of 95 pounds -- walks briskly down the path from the barn. she matches strides with the lanky Thoroughbred she's leading; dark bay and at least 16 hands tall, he dwarfs her somewhat as he walks contentedly next to her. But the softness in his bright, brown eyes belies the true nature of this gentle giant.

The pair walks through the gate at the end of the path, and the girl stands on tiptoe to remove the horse's halter while he obligingly drops his head. Freed, he glances about, lazily shakes his head to tousle the carefully combed mane, and saunters off to join the rest of his pasturemates.

The girl has closed and latched the gate behind her, and hangs over the fence for a moment, watching as the horse walks down the hill. she stays for a few minutes, just watching the horse graze, before she turns and walks back toward the barn where her mother waits to drive her home.

What is it about horses? In a world of bright plastic toys, blockbuster movies, the Internet, and shopping malls, what is it about this four-legged farm animal that seems to capture the hearts and imaginations of young girls?

Don't try to chalk it up to insignificant, youthful fancy. According to a recent study by the American Horse Council, 1.9 million Americans own horses. Just over 4 million people are recreational riders, and 3.6 million show and compete horses. The horse industry has a $112.1 billion impact on the US gross domestic product: greater than the motion picture services and the tobacco product manufacturing industries.

One look around any summer riding camp or local horse show, and it's obvious that horse-crazy young girls (and those who are decades past "young," but still horse-crazy) comprise the lion's share of the industry.

With the advent of the internal combustion engine and the endless expansion of cities into what used to be countryside, horses have long disappeared from daily life for most Americans. And yet their allure hasn't faded. Is the phenomenon cultural or biological? Is it "just a phase," as most parents fervently wish, or is it something deeper? The answers aren't entirely clear.

Jo Ann Dawson, of North east, Md., runs a series of week-long summer riding camps that teach basic equitation, horse care, safety, and other skills. Twenty children participate per week. "It's mostly girls. If we get two boys, we're lucky," said Ms. Dawson.

Although some of the children will already have had some lessons or riding experience, most don't come from equestrian backgrounds. "Their parents say 'I don't have any idea why this girl loves horses so much.' We hear that all the time," Ms. Dawson said. "But the parents say they've loved horses from the time they were born."

It may not be an exaggeration. As "the fairer sex," women are built differently: they're smaller, and they have less muscle mass than men do.

"Evolution has prepared women to learn how to deal with larger muscle-mass creatures, like boys and men," said Stephanie LaFarge, Ph.D., senior director of counseling services for the American society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "Girls are so attracted to horses because they're evolutionarily inclined to want to know how to control and work with large muscle-mass animals."

A typical horse weighs between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds. A typical young, female rider won't even weigh a tenth of that. And yet these wisps of young girls care for the horses, work with them around the barn, and direct them on trail rides or over complex patterns of jumps, with no regard for the vast differences in size and strength.

"You learn that you have to out-think your horse. It's an animal you can't control with strength; you have to control it with negotiation. You have to anticipate the needs of the animal, and get the animal to concentrate on what you want it to concentrate on. You can't beat it into it," said Dr. LaFarge.

As girls learn that they have this ability, it gives them confidence. "You can't be shy and retiring around a horse. The horse knows it," said Ms. Dawson. "Parents always tell us their children have blossomed [after participating in the riding camp] and become a lot more confident. When you teach kids to be confident around horses, it helps them in their other life."

"The horse provides a kind of path to mastery, control and power, in addition to its beauty and all that other stuff. Women don't have many opportunities for that," Dr. LaFarge said. "It gives a girl something she's good at during a time when she's having a lot of identity problems."

Riding is one of only two Olympic sports where men and women compete as equals; the other is yachting. Although the ratio of men and women evens out at the very upper levels of equestrian sport, girls overwhelmingly dominate the beginner levels.

"Where else are girls 10 feet tall in the center ring?" asks Kris Carroll, of Bainbridge Island, Wash. Ms. Carroll maintains a website called "Horse Country" that is devoted to young riders, offering Internet discussion lists, pen pals, interactive games and activities, all centered around horses. About 25,000 kids visit the site per month; most are between the ages of 13 and 15. Ms. Carroll estimates that 95 percent are girls.

"[Riding] is their heroic fantasy. Few sports allow girls and women the spotlight in the center of the arena the way riding does. And horses encourage girls to be competitive! Girls are able to express their competitive nature in a socially acceptable way, while at the same time forging a strong partnership [with the horse]," said Ms. Carroll.

The allure of riding horses isn't just in the riding, though. There's the added bonus, and responsibility, of the other living, breathing creature that completes the equation. For girls, the additional duties around the barn are as much a part of the sport as the activities in the arena.

"Women are not (as) excited by driving fast cars," explained Dr. LaFarge. They enjoy the nurturing and caretaking aspects of horsemanship... and a car isn't going to appreciate a few extra carrots, or a good scratch in its favorite itchy spot.

Riding offers many peripheral benefits: it's an outdoor, physical activity. It promotes healthy relationships, both with animals and other people. studies show that children who have pets and are responsible for taking care of them have more empathy toward others, and behave more responsibly toward other people, according to Dr. LaFarge. The effect can only be magnified with an animal as large, and yet fragile, as a horse.

"After they're here for a week, they learn it's not just 'Let's jump on the horse and ride,'" Ms. Dawson said of her campers. Horses need to be exercised and cared for consistently; they're not toys that can be relegated to the back of the closet when interest wanes.

In a period of time when parents worry constantly about the type of environment their kids are in, a riding stable is an appealing option -- although it's certainly not immune from societal problems, like drugs and sexual predators.

"I don't think the barn is safer or more drug free than anywhere else these days, but I do think there isn't any healthier opportunity for a kid than a riding stable," said Ms. Carroll.

"Riding can have a protective value to teenage girls. Being involved with horses can delay their involvement with boys," said Dr. LaFarge. she also thinks girls who ride make better drivers because they're used to looking ahead and anticipating the unexpected.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a young girl anywhere who won't profess to love horses, but the ranks definitely thin as they get older. For some, it may signify that a phase has passed. For others, it may be a concession to the considerable expense and impracticality of keeping a horse. "Not very many people can spend the time and energy to keep a horse going while also doing other things," said Dr. LaFarge, who herself struggles to train in the equestrian sport of dressage while practicing in Manhattan.

"I don't think kids who quit riding actually outgrow horses. I think they bow to family or societal pressure and realistically confront limited financial resources. They sacrifice their own interests for boys and school," said Ms. Carroll, who added that many will return to riding when they're mature and financially secure.

A horse and all its accoutrements are not an insignificant investment. "Parents are happy to see their kids so interested in something. But they're not happy when they find out how much horses cost," said Ms. Dawson.

No one is sure why some girls' love of horses seems to fade so quickly, but Dr. LaFarge feels it varies with the intensity of attachment the girl feels to the horse, and with how much support she receives from her family.

Visit Kris Carroll's "Horse Country" website, with activities and discussion groups for girls interested in horses, at http://www.horse-country.com.

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