Can my kid ride your pony??!!

[D66]

A colleague at work once grilled me on whether I would take my horse and carriage for her friend’s daughter to arrive at her wedding - for free. I explained the carriage only had one seat and the horse being newly broken to harness and not used to crowds might kill someone, which would spoil the wedding celebrations - and I didn’t have insurance.
I didn’t explain that I wasn’t going to spend 2 whole days washing the carriage, harness and horse, and waste a Saturday morning loading the lorry or use expensive fuel getting there for someone I didn’t even know.
The look I got suggested I was just being awkward.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

I can honestly say no parent has ever asked me if their darling offspring can ride my ponies. I would love it if smallest child would take an interest but when she comes to the yard with me all she wants to do is sweep it 🙄

 

[MrsMozart]

Someone once asked me if they could ride DD1's showjumper. I said "Only if you want to die". They didn't ask again.

 

[Equi]

One of the most frequent qu i get asked when people come to talk about my minis is "can you ride them?" emmmm.

 

[Red-1]

Try having a shetland ... you always get muppets at agricultural shows ask if their kid can sit on the pony! I have always declined for obvious reasons - most latterly the fact that I was holding onto an unbroken colt! But hey! He looked pretty and quiet!

This happened to me with Rolo the Shetland. He was feral when we got him, and when he was just 2, after he had been here for about 6 months, he was a lot better, picked feet, halter/groom etc. I had started to take him out in hand to see some of the world and took him to the show that was over the road. It was all very friendly, we were welcome as long as the pony was well behaved.

I was standing at the ringside admiring the view when Rolo became a bit fidgety, raised his head and suchlike. I looked to see what was bothering him to find a friend's 3yo daughter sitting on him! The friend would have known not to do that, the 3 yo daughter was in the care of grandad. I asked for her to be lifted off as smiley and calmly as I could muster, then informed them that Rolo was only 2 years old and the child had just backed him!

The grandad just said that he thought if the pony was mine, he would be well behaved. Erm, give us a chance!!!

No harm done, but I quit taking him to the show!

 

[Megan V1]

Just say no. I was walking my little mare out in hand once as she was recovering from an injury and a neighbour asked if his granddaughter could just jump on when I said no as mare not suitable for a child and was recovering from injury he told me how spiteful I was and his granddaughter really wanted to ride and he had promised her that I would allow it! The child was heavier than me and I wasn't riding myself as I thought I was too much for her at her stage of recovery. He then proceded to tell other neighbours how mean and spiteful I was for not letting her ride. One neighbour told him in no uncertain terms how rude and rediculous he was to assume that the child could ride someone elses horse. He didn't speak to me again.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

It's also surprising just how many people turn up at the racing yard and expect to get a shot on a horse! We get at least 1 person a year saying they can ride, had a day off from work and fancied riding a racehorse just to see if they could. We get people asking if we are a riding school too - but to be fair most of them just see a large amount of horses and don't actually know it's a racing yard and they are quite happy to toddle off to the local riding school when we give them directions.

The worst lot though were all the people back in 2017 - after that memorable day in April! Who thought the could drive into - yes INTO - the yard and pet Arthur. We had to keep the gates closed for a month after and we got to the point where we just told people he was either at the other yard or on his holidays in the Borders - when the horse was standing yards from us! I know he turned into Scotland's horse but that doesn't give people the right to just turn up unannounced and expect to do what they want!

 

[Tonto_]

I had some (horsey!) (not really) friends the other day ask if they could ride my loan horse! Erm, no!
I don't own him so it's not up to me and I don't ask if I can come and ride your horse! I couldn't believe it, I hadn't spoken to one of the girls for nearly a year! Not like he's anything flashy anyway, he's a very green cob that I've put a lot of time into.

 

[Pippity]

I bumped into my high school bff/bully (I think you know what I mean) in the supermarket a few months ago, while wearing jodhs. In the unavoidable, "Oh, I haven't seen you for years!" conversation, it came up that I had a horse.

"Can my kids come up and ride it???"

I've let my friend who hasn't ridden for 25 years sit on Blue. I'll be letting my beginner-rider niece sit on her. But at that point, she became a fire-breathing dragon and completely unsuitable.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

She could always offer to ride their husbands, if it is share and share about?

😱

It's that time of year when your sister must be thinking that she needs a new waterproof jacket for when she's taking her daughter up to the yard.

She could get one with a nice little message printed on it.

"Before you ask, NO, your offspring cannot ride on my daughter's pony".

As long as it’s a Regatta! 😂

I don't mind people riding our pony if they are a suitable size. If too big I'll say so. What's the difficulty?

I understand the whole insurance thing too and it is tricky. If I know them and agree the consequences I'm ok with it. I've not hd anyone ask for a share but if it did happen, they'd have to have BHS Gold.

And the minute their little darling falls off and breaks something, they sue. Just no bloody way.

I was at a very naice dressage/showjumping yard briefly. It wasn’t a riding school. One sunny Sunday afternoon, a young woman turned up with her-presumably-charge. She asked if he could have a ride on one of the horses because ‘he’s bored’. We were all astonished, even more so when told no, she tried to persuade us with her very convincing argument of ‘But why not, he’s bored’. Yeah, we heard you the first time and that Grand Prix KWPN is not really a donkey on a beach, love. Batshit.

 

[Jellymoon]

Some people don’t even ask .
Is have a friend with some ponies in a field with a footpath through it. One mum in the village merrily told her she regularly puts her toddler on the ‘little grey one’. Imagine! And she couldn’t see an issue with it at all!
Bonkers.

 

[Lois Lame]

I think the brazen ones who don't like being told, "No," (or words to that effect, but somewhat more gentle) are the sort who might sue if something goes very amiss.

 

[BOWS28]

A friend at the yard has a 13.2 pony for her 2 kids. They took him to a friendly, local show a few months ago. Her oldest daughter's friend's dad (woah mouthful!) rung the night before to say he'd given his daughter £20 to enter a few jumping classes at the show on her pony.... My friend very politely said no and he was outraged! "how can you expect my daughter to come to a show all day with her friend and not ride???"

Some people are just unbelievable.

 

[Tarragon]

My elder pony is currently ridden by a lovely little girl. I was out carriage driving with him when a landrover was driven past, then stopped and a lady got out. She came back to me and asked if I was local and was there any chance that her daughter could get involved as she was pony mad. It turns out they live just 3 miles from the farm I keep the ponies. We are now three years into a lovely mutually beneficial share agreement, where they pay for his livery and ride him when she can and I do all the looking after and keep him ticking over when she can't ride. I suppose, if you don't ask you won't get!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

My elder pony is currently ridden by a lovely little girl. I was out carriage driving with him when a landrover was driven past, then stopped and a lady got out. She came back to me and asked if I was local and was there any chance that her daughter could get involved as she was pony mad. It turns out they live just 3 miles from the farm I keep the ponies. We are now three years into a lovely mutually beneficial share agreement, where they pay for his livery and ride him when she can and I do all the looking after and keep him ticking over when she can't ride. I suppose, if you don't ask you won't get!

I'm glad it worked out for everyone.

I do understand what you are saying, I guess that the people I have had ask, weren't really asking with the expectation of a no answer being possible. They were actually demanding and the question was just a formality to go through as they were fully expecting a 'yes' and were very put out that I could dare to say 'no'.

I have always hated the 'if you don't ask, you don't get' saying because the people that I know who say it always make me feel like they have some thumb screws (or other torture device of their liking) ready to use on me if I don't say what they want to hear (and their question is often ridiculously cheeky and unreasonable too). I wish that people would say 'if you ask, you might get' instead. It may sound like dull semantics to some, but it just sits better with me.

 

[Fransurrey]

Some people don’t even ask .
Is have a friend with some ponies in a field with a footpath through it. One mum in the village merrily told her she regularly puts her toddler on the ‘little grey one’. Imagine! And she couldn’t see an issue with it at all!
Bonkers.

That happened to me with my shetland many years ago. I found out when I caught the guy feeding chappatis to my ponies. After telling him politely that this wasn't suitable diet for horses, he dropped into the conversation that his boy loved 'riding' the little one. Said little one had never been backed and it's testament to his lovely temperament that he didn't launch the kid into the next field. I did inform the chap this and hope he never did it again, but who knows!!

 

[tallyho!]

😱



As long as it’s a Regatta! 😂



And the minute their little darling falls off and breaks something, they sue. Just no bloody way.

I was at a very naice dressage/showjumping yard briefly. It wasn’t a riding school. One sunny Sunday afternoon, a young woman turned up with her-presumably-charge. She asked if he could have a ride on one of the horses because ‘he’s bored’. We were all astonished, even more so when told no, she tried to persuade us with her very convincing argument of ‘But why not, he’s bored’. Yeah, we heard you the first time and that Grand Prix KWPN is not really a donkey on a beach, love. Batshit.

Well yes, I did say about insurance. If you are offering rides or sharing like I am, it's worth checking as it isn't a lot more.

The sue everyone culture is off-putting. It's nice if people are interested though and I do think interest in ponies and horses is going down. When I was at school loads were pony mad and riding schools were plenty. People seemed a lot friendlier and if you did fall off the local ponies and break your arm - well it was your own fault. Fast forward 30 years and where I grew up there is only one for twenty miles maybe more where there was five/six before. Where I live now, 5 yards and schools have closed in just 10 years.

Yes you could point them in the direction of the nearest riding school - far away.

It's not an accessible sport anymore and unless you have horsey family and friends, you rarely get an opportunity. I do encourage interested kids to ride, have a go on a good pony. I'm trying to pay forward the kindness people showed to me at that age when I started getting interested, within reason!

 

[Tarragon]

I have always hated the 'if you don't ask, you don't get' saying because the people that I know who say it always make me feel like they have some thumb screws (or other torture device of their liking) ready to use on me if I don't say what they want to hear (and their question is often ridiculously cheeky and unreasonable too). I wish that people would say 'if you ask, you might get' instead. It may sound like dull semantics to some, but it just sits better with me.

Yes, I agree; "if you ask, you might get" is a much better way of phrasing it

 

[Denbob]

My favourite was someone asking if their 12yo daughter could share my 16hh+ 4yo because she'd met him when she was at the riding school (despite him being on the livery only section) and he was just SO handsome, quiet and calm he must be a delight to ride. She didn't get the irony when I asked her if she was sure she meant my horse...

Said child was very short so what I really wanted to say was "if she can reach high enough to tack it up she can ride it, he'd only bloody stand there anyway". I simply suggested he was very big, very young and not suitable for a riding school level novice.

 

[HazuraJane]

Great stories. I've had my best success when asked by responding, with comical horrified expression, "Oh, GOD NO." End of.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

I think the most gosmackingly rude and cheeky and very possibly dangerous thing that happened to me was at a horse show, I was sitting on my reasonably well behaved horse just watching the show jumping when a member of the public appeared from nowhere. Before I had a chance to even register him right next to me or had time to object he was thrusting his sniveling toddler in front of me onto the horse's neck!!! Grinning like an ape and cooing at said snotty nosed toddler and saying inane things like ''ride the gee gee - lovely gee gee!!!!'

I could not believe it and told him in no uncertain terms to remove his child from across my horses neck before she got injured and before I injured him for being such an irresponsible eejit! Luckily all my horse did was throw her head in the air in surprise which had the effect of seating the child further back down against me and thus probably less likely to fall off as the father only had a very light hold on her jacket as far as I could see.!

 

[Blazingsaddles]

Someone once asked me if they could ride DD1's showjumper. I said "Only if you want to die". They didn't ask again.

Mines a bit of a fruitcake at times too. I wish that I could allow children to ride her.

 

[Gloi]

I used to have a stallion and one spring took him to a guys house to run with his two mares. A few days later I was out in the car a couple of miles from the field and saw my lad trotting down the road in the guys trap. He said he thought he might as well take him out for a drive while he was there.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

My elder pony is currently ridden by a lovely little girl. I was out carriage driving with him when a landrover was driven past, then stopped and a lady got out. She came back to me and asked if I was local and was there any chance that her daughter could get involved as she was pony mad. It turns out they live just 3 miles from the farm I keep the ponies. We are now three years into a lovely mutually beneficial share agreement, where they pay for his livery and ride him when she can and I do all the looking after and keep him ticking over when she can't ride. I suppose, if you don't ask you won't get!

Difference being she didn't have her kid with her demanding to sit on your pony there and then for a photo shoot! The mother had her head screwed on a little bit more there by asking if the kid could help out - probably hoping the kid would phase out of horses altogether in the end 😂

 

[LadyGascoyne]

The best I had was taking my fairly sharp mare down to the beach in South Africa, only to be accosted by... a nudist.

He was completely convinced he could manage the horse, totally in the buff. When I pointed out that I didn’t really want to share my saddle with him, he suggested I could take it off and he’d have a go bareback.

I don’t think he had any idea how prickly horse hair can be.

 

[honetpot]

I used to have children share my daughters ponies, took them to PC, shows hours of hacking etc. Unfortunately the parents think you are doing them a favour and are basically treated like a babysitter. Not once did any parent offer as much as a packed lunch and often I ended up forking out for food as well as even if they sent food there was not enough to last the day and never any money for entries.
I come from a working class non horsey family so I blagged rides for most of my youth, so I know exactly how desperate it is to not be able to ride.
Yes lessons are now expensive but people are so ungrateful now I would rather the pony sat in the field and not have the worry.
If I sent my child out for the day with someone elseI would either ask was that I could do and give the child enough money if needed.
I think the best was when we gave a ride to a child who got to go in the evening performance of PUK. It involved sorting out transport as we were already there, and blagging a ride home. I did not Get a thank you from the parents not even a bottle of wine ,and certainly not a thank you from the child, not even a card later.
My daughter who could have ridden the pony was miffed, it taught me a lesson.