The Ultimate Guide to Raising Confident and Courageous Girls: Horsemanship and the Equestrian Sports for Girls

Helping a girl develop an interest in an activity she's passionate about will contribute greatly to her self-esteem and help her to become more confident. Many girls express an interest in horses at an early age. As a child, the margins of my notebook were filled with galloping horses. The shelf above my bedroom window was home to the seven Breyer horses my parents, who were not wealthy people by any stretch of the imagination, gave me as birthday and Christmas gifts over the course of several years.

I'm no physicist, but as a lifelong horsewoman who's taught many children to ride over the years and as the mother of a confident and courageous 10-year-old girl who's an avid equestrian, I'd like to share with you this fundamental principle of the universe--

Horse + Girl = Energy

You probably won't see it in any science books either, but it's as basic as Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. This is a recipe for a confident girl. An equation for building self-esteem and courage in girls.

The sheer number of women in the United States who are involved in the equestrian arts demonstrates that there's something special going on here. In her AMEA paper, Women and Horses ~ What's It All About?, author Mary Midkin from Equestrian Resources (EQR) found over 75% of the members of all equine-related non-racing organizations in the United States are female; over 80% in the American Horse Shows Association (AHSA) alone. This percentage, however, does not indicate the higher number of females involved in pleasure riding. She estimates at least 500,000 females in the U.S. are enjoying horses as a sport or leisure activity and says that is a considerably conservative number.

So what exactly do horses teach us? And how can we help our girls become confident and courageous by encouraging them to become involved in horsemanship and equestrian sports? Many parents, upon hearing the benefits for the very first time, are simply amazed at how a horse can boost a child's self-esteem. The opportunities for a girl to learn and grow in equestrian sports are priceless--