Lorrie Barger: My sister Gayle Snow-Lynch has a wonderful little girl named Mariah who is 8 years old. I have a wonderful little boy named Tristan who is 8 years old. They were born about six hours apart. So my sister and I have been able to watch these two growing up side by side.

Watching a girl and a boy of the same age, raised in a similar manner, made both Gayle and me realize just how different girls and boys are. It has definitely made both of us appreciate and accept the differences between women and men. Yes, men are from Mars and women are from Venus, and it starts at birth!

Gayle and I both had our kids around or on our horses from . . . well, almost day one. Gayle worked with both Mariah and Tristan in an arena at about age 3. We both bought them ponies at age 6. Our thought on this is that ponies can be stubborn and it can be hard to get them to do what kids want, but if you pick the right one, they won't go very fast or very far. Both ponies seemed happiest when walking. This allowed us time to get over our fears and the kids had to work real hard if they wanted to trot.

About a year later we moved the kids up to a horse and Mariah and Tristan both found the horse was much easier to ride, of course.

Before Tristan began riding a horse on his own I began to take him on my horse -- I would hike and Tristan would ride next to me. I have to work with Tristan remembering to stay calm around the horses. He loves them so much but sometimes forgets how dangerous they can be.

During training rides he never wants to stop. When the question is, ÒDo we want to do one more loop?Ó I can always count on Tristan to say yes, even when I am thinking no. What helps motivate Tristan to train is when we plan on going to endurance rides he knows we have to train in order to go and the harder we train the faster we get to go.

During the last two years of training and doing endurance rides we have found what is most important to avoid whining is to make sure you have snacks on your packs. It also helps that Mariah and Tristan get to ride with one another. Kids love kid company!

Tristan Barger: Although the Lake Oroville Vista Endurance Ride was hard work, it was also very beautiful. It was extremely cold in some spots. The hardest parts were making sure my horse Flash was taken care of by the vets and finding my way through the course (I love looking for the ribbons).

It took several hours and my legs were very tired. I'm sure Flash's were too. The beautiful parts were the berry vine bushes and the single-track trails. Single-track trails are my favorite and this ride has lots of single-track. It was cool when we rode by the lake and could see where the lake was dry where there is usually water.

The best part of the day was coming up to the finish after 50 long miles in the saddle. Riding the Lake Oroville ride was a blast! I plan to do it again.

Gayle Snow-Lynch: My daughter Mariah started riding at a very young age. She started out on ponies and moved up to horses as she got older. We never gave her formal lessons and took her out with us on the trail. Unfortunately she became afraid of the horses after falling off multiple times while we were riding. She would get scared, let go of the reins and lose her balance.

Her father and I decided to approach her riding differently by putting her into riding lessons in an arena. She gained confidence and learned how to ride with a balanced seat. It changed the way she approached and would ride a horse. I would highly recommend this to anyone with young children.

I have enjoyed endurance riding for years. I have experienced the joy of crossing the finish line first and getting BC. Yet, there is no greater high then than spending the day riding with your child and crossing the finish line together.

It has always been very important that Mariah learns to ride a horse well. However, more important is that she learns to respect the horse, understand the care of a horse's needs and accept the responsibility of having a horse. She has accepted this and cares for her horse well.

Mariah's little accomplishments were important. I remember how proud she was to be able to pick up a horse's leg and clean a hoof. It was her favorite thing to do and she spent a lot of time on cleaning hooves.

Riding with my sister Lorrie and her son Tristan has been great experience. Mariah and Tristan were born six hours apart and are like brother and sister. We do much of our training together and make our AERC rides into family camping trips. It is so fun to watch both of our kids grow.

The cool thing about riding with kids is the games we play. Mariah's favorite game is for us to pretend we are Indians being chased by cowboys. Tristan likes to pretend we are riding in a jungle escaping the jaws of alligators, snakes and tigers.

Mariah Lynch: Hi my name is Mariah. I am 8 years old and my horse's name is Katarka and he is 15 years old. I want to tell you about the 50-mile ride I did at Lake Oroville. The ride was extremely gorgeous even though it was very, very hard. I took good care of my horse and I practice a lot with my horse. I like practicing with my horse every day and riding on my horse.

When we first started the ride my horse was pulling on me. We got to the vet check and Katarka made it through the vet check very fit -- he still had strong muscles to trot and canter. At the end of the ride my back hurt a lot, but I was very proud of my horse. After the ride I took of my horse's tack off and wrapped his legs. Katarka's favorite part was eating his mush!