Isabella Santiago of Venezuela (C) is kissed by runner-ups after she was crowned Miss International Queen 2014 at the transgender/transsexual beauty pageant in Pattaya November 7, 2014. Some 22 contestants from 18 countries, all born male, competed in the week-long event for the crown of Miss International Queen. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

A member of the Palace staff arranges Queen Victoria's Stuart Ball costume which is part of an exhibition to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria (1819–1901) this year at Buckingham Palace in London, Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The exhibition, Queen Victoria's Palace at the Summer Opening of Buckingham Palace from 20 July – 29 September 2019, will tell the story of her 62-year reign and her life at Buckingham Palace, which began when she ascended to the throne in June 1837. (Photo by Frank Augstein/AP Photo)

A 15-year-old girl denied a horse from her parents has turned to a cow to fulfil her riding dreams. Teenager Regina Mayer, from southern Germany, is able to ride her cow, Luna. She has even trained her bovine pet to soar over a beer-crate hurdle like a regular show jumper. Why, you may well ask, when most cow-owners are surely content to let the creatures chew and lactate and sit down to indicate the imminent arrival of rain? Well, Regina's parents wouldn't let her have a horse.

Young Legong dancer portrait, Ubud, Bali on October 25, 2023. While the childrens' parents are out working, in pursuits including farming, fishing and clothes making, their offspring spend the long sunny days making their own fun, and as these pictures show not a minute is wasted. (Photo by David Lazar/Animal News Agency)

Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator’s Lower College Lawn in Scotland on October 21, 2019. The messy display is the culmination of a weekend of festivities where first years say thank you to their more senior student “parents” for mentoring them. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)

Martin Garwood prepares to release baby penguins at Sydney Aquarium on January 18, 2012 in Sydney, Australia. Three baby penguins were released into the aquarium and reunited with their parents for the first time since birth. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Child beauty pageants are a billion-dollar industry in the U.S. While some critics see the pageants as an exploitation of innocents, others—particularly pageant parents—view the competitions as a way for a young talent to enter the entertainment industry.

Contestant Nathalie De Oliveira of Brazil prepares backstage before the final show of the Miss International Queen 2016 transgender/transsexual beauty pageant in Pattaya, Thailand, March 10, 2017. Thai contestant Jiratchaya Sirimongkolnawin was crowned Miss International Queen 2016. The 2016 show was postponed from November last year due to Thailand's mourning period of its late King Bhumibol Adulyadej who died at age 88 on October 13, 2016. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)