I grew up on a small horse farm - hobby farm if you will. My dad raised standardbreds for a while, and while it was great growing up... I now think that that was probably a bad idea... considering how fickle the horse racing biz is.
Besides the broodmares and foals, I also had some back yard riding mounts - my favorites were Raven, my morgan, and Dicky, my welsh pony. I also had for short periods of time a quarterhorse (not a fan), 2 arabians (pretty but could never get used to their gaits) and a thoroughbred (she was my third favorite mount).
I didn't do anything like 4-H (well I did but that's a long story), or show... I just rode in the back acres of property that the neighbor's had. I wish I had done more now... but c'est la vie.
I can't go around horses anymore due to my asthma so it's unlikely I will ever own another. I do however like alpacas.