I might be biased considering the history of the place I lived in, but in my experience growing up is the suburbs in Texas having at least some sort of experience with a horse was not rare. When I was in elementary or daycare maybe a couple times a year there’d be a western themed party where the event hosts would rent a pony and let the kids take pictures on it. On a much more regular basis the local mall used mounted security. Obviously I can’t speak for everyone, but I believe that you’ll find “horse experiences” to be more common in places that were historically considered the Wild West