We went to the Area 9 wes show at Sovereign QH's last weekend - it was a really good show with lots of entrants, and a good mixture of breeds but not many youth riders! I wonder how many of the forum members are youths? At AQHA shows there seems to be a slow increase in youth numbers - it would be interesting to know what attracts younger people to western riding. Is it because their parents are involved already? I would make an assumption that many youths that want to be involved with horses have very little choice - it is either their local English riding school or nothing.. be good to hear from youth riders letting us know how they got into western, and any difficulties they have experienced in getting started.