The 5 Horse Cluster *F* Deal of a Lifetime!

If I have proven anything on this blog in its short life already, its that people are stupid. They will expect you to literally buy anything they try to sell you, hook, line, and sinker. They cast a wide net, and know pretty soon, some unsuspecting moron is going to bite on the bait they have set, and faster than you can say "hippopotamus" we've got a live one. 


I wonder how big of a net the writers of this ad cast...because its a doozy of an offer. 


I can just picture it now, the carnival tent, red and white striped, with the ring master standing on his soapbox in all his glory, with his carnies spread around him, fire flaming, balls spinning and knives flashing in the air, the smell of popcorn heavy and seductive. He's yelling out to the crowd, "Come close everyone! Come listen close! Have I GOT the deal for you today! Have you ever wanted to start your own breeding operation in just one day? Have you ever wanted to look out in your pasture and see lots of adorable fuzzy baby horses frolicking around? For the low low price of $5000 you can have JUST THAT!" 


Now, picture the blonde in the bikini standing in front of the curtain pulling the drawstring, and the red heavy velvet drapes slowly fold backwards on themselves...

              

Ad Text (Its LONG, Don't say I didn't warn you!):  For Sale:: AQHA/APHA package Deal. The 2 AQHA mares are exposed to foal in 2010, Sire is an APHA stallion. Grand Son of Smart Little Lena, Son of Little Lenas Legend(NCHA Money Earner). One of the mares is a Grand Daughter to Sonny Dee Bar & a Great Grand Daughter to Dr.Fager(TB). The other Mare is a Great Grand Daughter to Easy Jet & Double Bid. The Stallion also has Peppy San Badger, Doc O’ Lena, Doc Bar, King Fritz & Skipper W. These are Legendary Names in the horse industry right in One Package!!! I searched long a hard for these mares because I need mares that produced correct foals, but they also needed to be SUPER easy keepers & know how to be a horse. These mares can run on crap land & stay nice fat & healthy. They also have wintered now 2 years on the mountain without Assistance! They know how to hack it in Wyoming’s ever changing weather conditions. They LOVE grain & will follow you anywhere too!! We turned the stallion out with them May 09’ so babies could drop here in a month. 

The stallion is Amazing & parting with him is a tough decision. He is super easy to maintain, doesn’t require much to keep him fat & happy. He can be pasture or hand bred. Can be pastured with the gelding as well. I have had the youngest of kids around him without having to worry. Just not a mean bone in his body. He was injured when he was younger so never got trained for anything. We have never wanted him for a Saddle horse either, just a stallion. In 2008 he lost his left eye in an accident. If you are thinking you want to get him for a saddle horse I suggest you look at another stallion/horse. If you are trying to start into the horse breeding business this stallion is a good one. Easy to handle & get along with. Easy to catch, stands tied, load/hauls great. Has been hauled into town unloaded & walked around then tied to the trailer. Wasn’t bothered by the commotion. He stand around 14 hands on the smaller side, but built like a TANK with a HUGE hip on him. He too winters with the mares on the mountain without assistance. He now has a 3 year old Filly going to start competing in Reining. We have been VERY impressed with his offspring & there natural abilities. 

This is a 3 horse package deal with potential to get 2 babies. I have filed all the paperwork so that the babies will be registered as well. ONLY reason for listing this group for sale is that I moved out of State & can no longer attempt the trips back & forth. I am losing more money trying to do that & I can not bring them to where I live Now Unfortunately……. Price is $5000 for this Package Deal. SERIOUS ADULT INQUIRES ONLY PLEASE…….. I do have some video of the mares & stallion…..If anyone is interested I also have a 4 yr old Gray Quarter Mare(have her AQHA registration application, just never sent it in) who is also exposed to the above stallion to foal 2010. Blue Valentine breeding, I could also add to this package deal for a little more money… 

Email us at wrangler_     @yahoo.com. Once we have established you aren’t a scammer we will release our phone number or would be happy to call you too…. 

Now.  If you managed to make it through all that, congratulations. You get the prize behind door number 3. 

If not, l'll sum things up for you. They have 2 mares, whom are going in foal in a month. They were bred to the do nothing, no name stallion, who's only claim to fame is that he can winter with the girls out on the range - Who is also thrown into the deal! They didn't even bother to saddle break him! Advertising that he can be turned out with the herd is NOT a quality that I would look for in a stallion, especially a BREEDING stallion. 

Just about the only good thing that would come out of a stud spending time with a bunch of cranky half wild broodmares is they WILL teach him manners. He'll be very respectful of space, and you probably CAN do anything with him, because if he took one bad step out of line, them mares woulda just whaled on him! In a mixed gender herd, the stallions DO NOT rule the herd like most wild west romance novels would have you believe. They are there for two reasons only, to procreate, and to keep his harem together / defend from other stallions. 

That is the stallions job in life. Thats it. Summed up into two small sentences. 

This ad made the blog because of several reasons. 

1 - the no name stallion breeding that shouldn't be. 

2 - who can afford 5 horses these days!? There is no need to keep this herd together like this. Break it up and sell independently if you are targeting family buyers. A decent breeding operation might be interested in a deal like this for the mares, broodmares with damn good lines are being sold off like this for pennies on the dollar, but without the market to purchase the foals, the mares are worth little to nothing. 

3- Who the hell says that they are running their horses on "crap land" and THEN says they didn't help feed them during the winter? Did they totally ignore the horses for months, then suddenly decided they didn't want the horses anymore? Have the horses been wormed? Vaccinated? Feet trimmed? 

4- They don't want the stallion sold as a riding horse because of his eye missing? Total BS if I've ever heard it. 

We discussed riding blind horses -  horses going blind in both eyes due to Moon Blindness. This is NOT the same case. This horse has a fully functional eye still on one side of his head, and I've known plenty of animals, with hooves, paws, or feet, that do very well with just one eye. I bet there is something else with that stud that they don't want anyone to know about - some reason that they don't want him ridden. I just can't see anyone being that stupid to say a horse can't be ridden with just one eye. I'd trust a horse with one eye a TON more than a horse with moon blindness - and many of you would do the same. 

5- who really has the money to raise 2 foals right now, with the intention of keeping them?  Theoretical question I know, but many many people don't have that ability right now. 

So what happens when a Big Name Trainer CAN'T train a horse?

So what happens when a Big Name Trainer CAN'T train a horse?


This question in and of itself is very interesting. See BNT's are supposed to be able to train any horse. Thats why they are a BNT. 


The BNT I am currently referring to is Mr. 2009 Unanimous National Champion Half Arabian Western Pleasure Open. *Whew* Thats a mouthful.  I'll shorten that very long name to simply BNT. (His name is Joe Reiser, btw, for those of you in the arabian/half arabian western pleasure circles.) His website is full of anecdotes about how when he was a boy, he'd dream about being like the riders that got the big wins. Thats just wonderful... I wanna know your training philosophy. (Note to Joe... You don't have the words "Natural Horsemanship" anywhere on your site, nor do you have anything up for sale aside from some shirts, jackets, and hats (amongst other apparel items) that have your barn logo. You get brownie points for that from me. If there were anything remotely resembling a carrot stick you would immediately have gotten thrown to the wolves here. Show me pictures of horses in training. Show me more pictures of your barn, stables, and pastures than just this one.)


(OT again, but my word, does that barn just scream out BNT or what?)


Now, really I'm not here to rag on our BNT today, 'cept for maybe a little bit. He's not so much the focus, though he does play a very major role in todays ad. I know very little about this guy, and from his website, though some of its not finished, it looks ok. At least there aren't any pegasus' or bible quotations on it. Its pretty strait forward and professionally done. It just needs to be finished. I wanna see on their horses for sale page what they say about their horses!


The reason he made it to this blog is because of this ad. 



Now, he's not the one behind the ad. The owner of the horse offered wrote the ad up. 


Lets see what it says; "Registered Half Arabian. Registered Name: LOTTA MOMENTUM (barn name "Oprah"). Her sire is black arabian stallion Momentum NA (Nationally accredited western pleasure), Dam was AQHA LottaChocolate Power, who has amazing western and halter bloodlines. She has been in training with Joe Reser of Setting Sun Training Center in Wakarusa, IN since Dec.2009 and has been under saddle approx. 60 days. She has a sweet personality, great size (15.1 and growing) and bone density. She is destined to be notch western horse, possibly even halter. She is SWEEPSTAKES NOMINATED."

Ok, that all sounds fine. Horse is decently bred, has a great show career ahead of her, everything is going well looks like.





Lets see what it says next; "Price has been reduced from $9500 from $1500 for a quick sale due to the following reasons: Oprah has amazing potential, HOWEVER ... her training isn't going as smoothly as we'd like."

Oh boy! The fun begins! First... thats one HELL of a major drop in the price. 


Second... "Her training isn't going as smoothly as we'd like." That just begs to ask the obvious questions. Why not? What happened? Is this a case of the owner being told 'off' by the trainer because they got too annoying? Is there something wrong with the horse? Inquiring minds want to know here!





We find out in the ads next lines; "She hates to be clipped. Her confidence is lacking, I would not describe her as a brave horse. Recently she has taught herself to throw herself over backwards to get out of working (I know ... lovely). She needs a patient, firm, experienced rider/trainer to take her further. Up for the challenge?! She'll be a good horse someday just not under my ownership.:) "

OH WOW. 


So, BNT can't get this mare, which HE started, to stop flipping over, which is a habit she developed while in training with him. What the hell was this guy, or most likely his assistants, doing to this mare during 'training' that she decided to flip over to escape working? Why couldn't the BNT or his assistants, once they saw the problem starting, immediately take steps to correct it? And whats with the confidence comment? A MAJOR part of groundwork training is instilling confidence in the horse. That didn't happen here? Why Not? The clipping comment... eh, thats the only one I'll let slide. Plenty of horses dislike clippers, and never get over it. Its not a deal breaker for me.


But the flipping? Thats one heck of a serious training issue. Its not a behavior issue, because she learned it during her training with the BNT. They allowed it to happen.


HMMMMMM. Brings me back to my original question.

So what happens when a Big Name Trainer CAN'T train a horse?

Now, to play devils advocate for a minute, the best of trainers will get horses that simply cannot be 'fixed'. They are too scared, too traumatized, too set in their ways, whatever the reason is... and once the trainer has given it his/her best shot, the only thing left to do is go back to the owner and admit they simply can't do anything else for the horse.


Whether or not BNT has or will done this I will never know. I'm just going off of what this ad reads, and it sure sounds like owner is more than a bit unhappy that her "Black Beauty" can't be ridden. Instead of her dream horse she gets a mare that has figured out "I don't get rode if I rear and throw myself to the ground." NO wonder she sounds a bit unhappy in her ad!


BUT>>>>THIS is now where I start having even more problems with this ad than the seller admitting the horse flips after just 60 days of training. 


She goes on to state; "Please don't ask to ride her, I don't want to pay anyone's medical bills."

*Sigh*. So you will market her as a decent future show mount, yet you won't let anyone try her out because she flips. Ok, I get that you don't want anyone to get hurt, that makes sense to me, but... 


I'm of two minds here on this one. I showcased this ad because of the flipping after less than 60 days of training at a BNT barn. Yet... if the seller didn't disclose it in the ad publicly, she'd get flamed for it by those saying she's not disclosing all the information on the horse.


On the other hand, BY disclosing the information, you can't very well in the same ad claim that the horse might be a great mount for someone "someday"!  YOU DON"T KNOW that the person you sell her too will A) know what to do to correct the flipping issue, or B) have the money and brains to send her to someone that would know what to do. If BNT can't correct the problem... well then there's a serious problem here isn't there. There are some really, REALLY good problem horse trainers that can and do deal with this type of vice. There are 3 times as many whackjobs that claim to do the same thing, and screw the horse up worse than it was to start with. How does one tell the difference? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is a whole 'nother blog topic. 


So what does the seller do? I actually think she was right to list the flipping in the ad. It will hopefully scare off the ones that wouldn't be equipped to deal with it, and she just might be savvy enough to weed through the ones that think they are, but aren't. By telling people they can't ride her in the test... if the BNT wants to take a commission on the sale of the horse (No idea if he is or not, just throwing it out there for the topic's sake), he will certainly make sure one of his assistants will be present during the showing of the horse, and if necessary, they should ride, or at least work the horse on the ground.


The horse should be sold with the flipping very prominent in the sales contract, so the buyer knows exactly what he/she is purchasing. That way, when the new owner does take possession of the horse, the seller is covered if / when the new owners get hurt. Beyond that, there really ISN'T much more the seller can do. So, while on the surface this might seem like a 'worst of', it really is the best the seller could do with the situation she was handed. 


(I still would like to know the back story on how the mare became a flipper...)


I was discussing this very ad with the friend of mine that sent it to me and she was telling me about a horse she once knew that was also a flipper. If the gelding wasn't ridden every day, and thats 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, the very next time you went to get on him, without fail, he'd go over. They never figured out why he did it, nor ever got rid of the vice. Its a dangerous habit, and this horse will never, ever, be 100% safe to ride. 


As an interesting side note, I just discovered another ad by the same seller, so maybe its not just this situation that is driving her decision to sell the black mare. Shes got another Half-Arabian Buckskin Pinto Mare up as well. 


Who knows... maybe she saw something, heard something, or was so pissed off that they caused her mare to become a flipper that she decided to get out of horses entirely.

The Stupidity Just NEVER Ends...

Thank you to OkieGirl from the Fuglyblog.com for this ad. She posted it in today's comments, and I just couldn't help myself. 


Today we have a 9 month old colt being ridden. This is just.... STOP RIDING BABIES! STOP STOP STOP!


Its a 9 month old foal for christ's sakes! This type of plain ignorance just makes me sick! 



Ad Text:

 I have a beautiful nine month old stud colt for sale. He thinks he is a dog and loves people. very smart and well mannered does great with his feet and will let you touch him anywhere. I have put bags on him and he does fine. Very trusting little guy. Stetson should be around 14.3 hh when grown. He is registered but the guy I bought him from never sent them to me. I will give you the number if you want to rasttle with it. His mom was running barrels and doing good. Thats why I got him hoping one day he would be my barrel horse but loss of land forces sell. I saddle him up and my three year old nephew rides him around. as you can see in the pic.. Stetson is very gentle and just wants to please you. Asking $400 OBO Also have another solid colt I would sell cheaper. If interested please call 405xxxxxxxx.

And the Picture: 


Ok, its not even ok that the 'rider' is a child. No, not a child, a freaking toddler. SEE PRIOR BLOG POST.


Oh, wait... the colt has 'color' too. See that? Can you see past the saddle to look at the foals' coat? It's a buckskin tobiano! OF COURSE it is! *puke vomit retch*


I won't go through all the reasons that this low life needs to be reported to CPS and have all of the kids and animals taken away from him due to his asinine ideas that its so freakin' cute to him have his child (sans ANY head protection) ride his sub-year old foal. 


I really hope that someone sees this ... I'm gonna break one of my own rules here and post the link.... and reports him to the local CPS for child endangerment. Though, noting the area its from, I doubt that would do a damn thing. 


Link


I can't even get past the fact that he's putting his child on a foal to truly read what ELSE he wrote. 


*Takes deep breath, goes back and reads it.*


Yada Yada, talking about how 'great' he is, how 'well mannered', etc; oh well at least he didn't breed him himself... he bought him from a guy that 'won't' give him the reg papers? Wonder why not... Hmm. Sounds fishy to me there ... moving on ... maybe cause they saw what a fucktard he was and sold him the colt anyways ... hoping he'd be a barrel horse like mom .... was he planning on training him himself? God help us, like the world needs another f'ked up, unsound, insane at the gate unregistered barrel STALLION (oh cause there's NO way he would have ever gelded him...oh no not a RARE Tobiano BUCKSKIN, HERE THIS IS HOW RARE AND VALUABLE THESE HORSES ARE)... oh ok so the boy is three years old and HIS nephew. Yea cause that makes it better. Wonder if MOM is taking the picture. 


AAAAnnnddd...... he's got another solid colt he'd sell cheaper? Oh lord. Cause color is better. Ok, AGAIN, THERE ARE CREMELLOS, PERLINOS, AND ALL SORTS OF OTHER "RARE" COLORS BEING SOLD TO THE MEAT MARKET. Wonder if it was because that one wouldn't let hIM put a saddle on him at the same age as this poor little guy? 


I am so disgusted over this I can't / don't want to go look for something positive to post against it in comparison. There IS NO comparison to this. This is bottom feeding, ignorant, backwoods stupidity at its worst. 

Risking the lives of children...

...is something that most of us parents would never knowingly or willingly do. Right? 

I beg to differ. There is something about a horse that for most parents, safety and common sense goes right out the window. I don't understand it, and it makes me want to scream at these parents for their inability to reason that putting their small child on a 1000 pound plus animal without proper safety gear... (I'm talking helmets now)... is completely beyond me.

I have two examples for you that were posted on 2/28/10. They are from different parts of the US, yet show similar pictures. 

The first is from Austin, TX, near Cedar Creek. Never been there, I'm sure its a very nice area with very nice, friendly people. 

Ad Text:

APHA Mare. Candy has done it all. Trail Riding, Team Penning, Barrel Racing, Pole Bending, Play Days, and working with cows. She is 12 yrs, but has a lot of get up and go. UTD on shots, never been sick or injured. If you want a horse for barrel Racing, she is fast!
She is best suited for an experienced rider. I will consider a lease or sale for $5,000.00 OBO. Price has been reduced for quick sale. 

Sounds like a wonderful horse, and a fun one at that. So, the issues come into play when you scroll down to the pictures. "Best suited for an experienced rider." Keep that in the back of your mind...

In the lower left hand picture we have a small boy riding bareback with mom leading with a halter. He's got a western hat on, but that is NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR A HELMET. This mare also has a small foal at her side. 

I decided to start this blog highlighting these ads to give the ad writers a heads up on how their target audience sees them. However, I'm starting to see a way to help educate as well. 

Here's the problem. Foals like to run and play. A Lot. They don't always follow instructions from the human to walk alongside us nicely, no matter how much we'd like them to... and thats when they are on a halter and lead. Little foals like this, even when ON a halter/lead tend to do silly things like pull back, buck, jump, run us over, crow hop, attempt to bolt, and even flip over on their furry little heads. This becomes even worse when they are running loose next to Mom. 

Most horse owners have a limited horse education. Some get smart and realize that they just don't know as much as they'd like to know, and start doing things like reading books, watching DVD's, asking questions, take lessons, and generally begin stuffing themselves with as much horse info as they can hold. Horse Behavior, while fascinating to nearly all self proclaimed "horse lovers", is a highly complex and complicated subject of study. What I've found happens most often is the person might read one or two very popular books that are currently available at most major book retailers that delve into the general aspects of horse behavior, yet don't get into it very deeply, or cover things like how a mare acts around her foal. 

The behavior of a mare with foal is an interesting dynamic. The common misconception is that when you have Mom on a halter and lead rope, and baby is running free, (like what we have in this little scenario), baby will always follow Mom. This is unfortunately, not the case. See, foals are curious, impulsive little creatures, and if they suddenly get the urge to run willy-nilly around the pasture, well, there's not much you can do to stop them if they're free. They will be gone, tail straight up, faster than you can say "Where did she go?" But MOM is still on a halter and lead. She can't go running willy-nilly around the pasture with her foal. MOM then starts to get agitated and nervous, and well, no matter how well behaved she might be otherwise, will still most likely do everything she can to run after her offspring. 

It doesn't matter to her if there is a small child on her back. This is especially true of Quarter Horse and Paint mares. They are tough, stubborn, single minded, and contrary to popular belief, are not the most easy going sorts when it comes to their foals. Some of the nicest stock mares you'll ever find turn into raging horses of evil and hate when you DARE get within 50 feet. They were bred to be independent and take care of their foals out on the open range where a foal is dinner for a hungry coyote pack. There's no getting around it. We created them that way.

The moment I laid eyes on this seemingly innocent picture, I saw that cute little fuzzy foal suddenly bolting off in a frenzy of joy, Mom seeing baby run off, Mom running over the handler to get free, and bolting off after offspring, thereby DUMPING THE CHILD OFF OF HER BACK. I'm not making this up folks. I've seen otherwise calm, sane, respectful mares suddenly go berserk when their foals take off and they decide to follow more times than I'd care to count. Matter of fact, the middle finger of my right hand nearly got shattered when a mare decided to run after her foal and *Your's Truly* was walking her to turn out. 

If thats not enough my best friend in high school got double barrel kicked square on the chest when the Arabian mare she was leading to turn out decided to run after her foal who was nearly 100 feet ahead of her. The mare didn't even think twice, she lunged forward, pulled the rope out of my friends highly experienced hands, and within a second let those hind feet fly. My friend woke up 20 minutes later on a gurney, staring at the ceiling of an ambulance without a clue how she got there.

The cute little miniature cowpoke on her back doesn't stand a chance if that were to happen. He's got NOTHING to hold on to, and NOTHING to protect his head if she dumps him into that tree in the background.

The simple solution to this is two fold: 1) Put a damn helmet on the kid. No if's, and's, or but's. In my book, this is non-negotiable. The child's safety is way too important not to. 2) Put a foal sized halter and lead on the foal, and lead the foal. Thats right, because if you lead the foal, there's no way in HELL that Mom is going anywhere her foal isn't. She'll follow baby to the ends of the earth should baby wish to go (or actually, where ever the handler wishes to go). Heck, all you have to do is have a third person lead baby just out side of the camera and you can still have a halter on Mom - really, or the child's sake, its a darn good idea to still be able to control Mom. 

OH, and irritatingly enough, this family obviously OWNS a helmet, look at the picture to the bottom right! Its OK for the adult to wear it, but not the child? 

For the record, judging by the other pictures, this mare really does give off a vibe to be rather decent minded. This situation is still a disaster waiting to happen.

Unfortunately, this isn't an isolated occurrence. 

Example Ad #2. Slightly different situation, yet nauseatingly similar. 

(Though, the title to the ad is catchy...)

We have from my own 'back yard' Wickenburg, Az, another ad that shows how absolutely any parent can simply forget that their child is riding 1000 pounds plus of explosion waiting to happen.

The part of this ad that put it at the top of my options today is the description of the second of the two "long, tall, and ugly horses for sale". 

Ad Text: 

16.2H, 7 yr old, TB mare, chestnut. I put kids on her mostly because she's great in the arena and seems to really like children. Fastest learner EVER. Goes english, western, bareback, and barefoot. Nice girl but kind of dingy. A lot of people throw this around, but this horse has MAJOR potential. Vet checks out sound. She's very broke, but just needs more time put into her. I suggest an experienced rider if you'll be doing a lot of trail riding. If you and your kids are experienced riders, by all means, call me - however, if you want a bombproof horse for the grandkids, this is NOT your mare! CONS: She can be a headtosser and I often use a loose tiedown on her. She needs to be taught how to just be a horse, she's come a long way but it still not a horse you can pasture for a month and then ride. Really, she's a great mare but needs time. $500 

Ok. Is the horse ok for kids or is she not ok for kids? I'm confused. Honestly if the OWNER doesn't know, how is a potential buyer going to figure that out in a 30 minute try out? Also, listing your horses Bad points on a sale ad isn't real smart either... The idea is to talk up the horse? Not scare everyone away. Not to mention: Nice but dingy. Broke but needs time. Puts kids on her because she likes kids but not suitable for a bomb proof horse for the grandkids???

Sheesh make your mind up already, would ya?

Thats not why its on todays blog post though, (Though its not helping matters, mind you)...

Here we go again! Another absolutely adorable little girl, looks to be around four. LOVE LOVE LOVE the pig tails! 

NO FREAKIN HELMET. 

And she's on a horse that (Ok, I'm going to assume its the little girls' mom thats posting the ads, though can't really be sure) well, we'll say an otherwise knowing adult said "however, if you want a bombproof horse for the grandkids, this is NOT your mare!"  

And and and ... the mare is a head tosser? That means she randomly flips her head around in all directions. Most of the time its backwards. Towards YOUR head. Or in this case, the little girls head. To my one day tens of readers, have any of you ever been hit really hard in the face with a base ball, or even by a horse's head? It hurts! Really bad! She's got a tie down on the mare for the pictures, but a tie down is not a quick fix. If this mare was determined enough, all she'd have to do is toss her head high enough and hard enough, and she'd end up rearing part way. Some head tossers fight tie downs so hard they flip completely over. I wouldn't call this safe behavior for a four year old girl.

She's also bareback. If this ADMITTEDLY!!! non bombproof, kid not safe horse decides to spook at... say a small bird in the tree in the background... she's done for. There is NO way this little girl has the ability, skills, or physical strength to stay on this giant 16 hand horse. That adorable little pig-tailed blond could get seriously hurt, if not outright killed. 

I mean just LOOK at how TINY she is on that big red horse! Thankfully,from the looks of the mare, she really doesn't seem to be that bothered about much of anything. However why take that chance? Why run the chance of your child getting KILLED because you were too lazy to stick a helmet on her head? 

Here. That one's less than $50.00 with tax/shipping. Comes in lots of pretty colors too. 

And oh look, another Troxel for only $27.95 PLUS Free Shipping!

Not putting your child in a helmet while on a horse for any reason should be at least a small fine if you get caught. I personally think it should be under the 'child endangerment' laws, but thats just me.

I don't care how much people love tossing around the term 'bomb proof', there is no such thing as a 'bomb  proof' horse. There are only horses that haven't found or come across anything scary enough to blow up at yet. 

/rant.