This week I am headed to the Annual Meeting of the US Pony Club to speak to the leaders about how to grow their local clubs. I am excited about this opportunity because organizations like Pony Club (http://ponyclub.org) help kids to develop personal and leadership skills. These kids will lead and shape our world in the years to come.

My goal is to remind leaders that they are doing something worthwhile. Sure, there’s the challenge of how to engage kids in a time when a million programs offer to entertain them. But entertainment has its limit, and leaders who care about what they’re doing are up to the challenge. I offer those same words of encouragement to anyone teaching horsemanship, sportsmanship, how to work toward a goal, and so forth.

My experience is that kids want to connect with what’s real, and horses give them a great opportunity to do that. They don’t mind working hard and obeying rules, as long as those rules have meaning. They want leaders who are real, too. In fact, we all need real-life heroes.

This past week we saw how good training, personal discipline, and character played out in the lives of so many people, as Captain Sullenberger guided US Airways Flight 1549 to land in the Hudson. We marveled at his ability to keep a cool head, to weigh factors and make good, quick decisions. We could talk a long time about how he knew his aircraft well enough to make that extraordinary landing, his dedication to check through the downed plane before himself being rescued, and so forth. It is inspirational.

And then we remember that when we’re teaching kids how to handle horses, we’re helping them to develop those same qualities. Sure, there’s the fun of “playing” with your horse or of winning a competition. But as kids get up early to bring warmed water to their horses on a cold morning before going to school, when they painstakingly figure out a lesson plan in training for an event, when they forego loping because of riding with someone on a skittish horse, when they help another kid get ready for a class, when they don’t take their frustration out on their horse, they’re practicing the same strength-of-character skills. And anyone who has worked with horses for very long knows what it’s like to manage fear and develop confidence. 

Not many people have occasion to read the Pony Club pledge, so I thought I’d include it here: “As a member of the United States Pony Club, I stand for the best in sportsmanship as well as in horsemanship. I shall compete for the enjoyment of the game well played and take winning or losing in stride, remembering that without good manners and good temper, sport loses its cause for being. I shall endeavor to maintain the best tradition of the ancient and noble skill of horsemanship, always treating my horse with the consideration due a partner.”

You don’t have to be a Pony Club leader to model that sentiment and teach it to your kids. It’s worth doing. And, if necessary, use words. Let’s hope your kids don’t have to land a plane in the Hudson. But if they do, they’ll be ready.