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From: cbd@iham1.UUCP (deitrick)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Riding as a Way to Meet Women
Message-ID: <457@iham1.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 4-Oct-85 10:08:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: iham1.457
Posted: Fri Oct  4 10:08:32 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Oct-85 06:43:11 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 49

>      I've found one enormously successful way of meeting many women.
>Get a horse.  Far more women ride than men; the ratio at most barns is
>about 5 to 1.  And they are generally good-looking, young, healthy, and in
>good shape.  Women used to bossing thousand pound animals around are
>spirited enough to be interesting, too.
>
> There are a few disadvantages.  You have to learn to ride.  This is
>	(A whole list of generally negative things about horses)
>
>					John Nagle

I've ridden for more than five years and have similar observations about
the ratio of females to males. Most of the females are in the range of ten
years old to about mid-teens. At about 15-16, most of the girls discover boys
and forget about horses. The ones who keep with it after that cover the same
range of appearance, temperment, spirit, and personality as the population 
as a whole. Sorry, but generalizations about riders are no more valid than
generalizations about anyone else.

You can avoid all the problems you've had with horses if you get a good
professional trainer to select a horse for you. If the professional knows
his/her business, the horse will match the rider's ability level (calm
horse for timid rider, high performance model for experienced rider, etc). If
the professional you work with has a good eye for conformation and you have
a vet check the horse over thoroughly before you buy, you can avoid a lot
of the soundness problems you've encountered. I did it this way and in more
than two years, the horse has been lame for a total of a week. That happened
because he stepped on a nail. I've needed no liniments, no wraps, and no special
diets. Of coure, you have to warm the horse up properly, work him at things
appropriate for his level of conditioning/talent, and cool him out properly, but
it's the trainer's/instructor's job to show you how to do that. A good 
instructor will teach you in such a way that you can have a good time with 
minimal danger. I'm serious about riding well, do a lot of jumping and 
galloping, and in five years have suffered only a sprained ankle. Again, it
all depends on the skill and attitude of the instructor.

However, it's dumb to do something you don't like just to meet girls/women.
If you don't like horses FOR THEMSELVES and the girl/woman you want to get
to know does, you have no chance for a successful relationship. You have to
do things YOU like to do and get to know the women who like the same things.
I started to ride because I've always liked horses and love being outside.
I like that fact that there are so many women in it, but if 90% of all riders
were Serbo-Croatian refugees over 65, I'd still do it.

This discussion doesn't belong in net.singles any more. If you want to 
continue it, let's move it to net.rec or do it by mail.

					Carl Deitrick
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