"Horses kept me out of trouble all the way through high school."
Excellent points. Invaluable life lessons are learned while riding. Hard to be a rider and a helpless victim at the same time. Oil and water: they simply don't go together.
Horse magic works for disabled children too. Dallas had an Equest program that was outstanding. Some of the children were blind. Others were deaf, paralyzed, seriously ill, mentally challenged or any number of other maladies. Didn't matter. Nearly all of them LOVED horses and they loved to ride.
No mystery to it. Most young people "get" horses. Unless or until they invent something better, I'm confident they always will.
I volunteered one summer at a Riding for the Handicapped. The delight in those children's eyes was priceless.