Child equestrian influencers

Kirstineridesagain said:
It’s also the over the top consumerism. I’m all for treating yourself now and again, but why does a 12-year-old child need five-six ponies? And ALL the new Lemieux sets every season? Luckily my daughter isn’t impressed. She’s about being with the horses, not the clothes (having said that she does like Lemieux and sometimes wishes for a set - like at Christmas. She only gets a new set when she’s outgrown the last one).
Click to expand...
Isn’t the fact that she is a child with serious health issues having to exercise four ponies every day, because they are all stabled during the day. Again according to some bizarre philosophy of the mother who thinks horses cannot be outside during the day in summer in England. Really!

And the child has to have an individual support worker with her at school all the time in case she has a seizure. This is all information posted in stories from Frankie’s ponies, so you won’t see it on the account as stories disappear.
Frankie can only attend school from 10.30 till 3pm apparently because of the health issues and yet the she goes to train a couple of ponies for a few hours after school. I don’t know what is true, but if what the mother is saying is true, it is very wrong in so many levels.
Is it ok for Frankie’s well being? Why is the education system funding all this care for Frankie if the mother is in fact having the child ride for hours after school and event on the weekends.
 
If people don’t engage with these accounts then eventually they won’t get the metrics that brands demand. I can’t understand why any adult would be interested in posts about a child that isn’t their own 🤷‍♀️even if it’s just to get outraged by it. Unfortunately bar a few principled brands which don’t use child influencers, marketing departments just look at audience demographics, engagement etc - morality usually doesn’t trump profit ..
 
I agree with don’t engage with them from a making money perspective. But what about the issue more broadly, this is a child with serious medical issues who shouldn’t be doing what she is doing. Yes the mother said in one of her recent posts/stories after the child had a bad fall. ‘Eventing is not for the faint hearted, Frankie is determined to go to xxx event next week, maybe a gin for me.’ Who looks after these children, don’t follow them is not enough.
 
Georgiagordon said:
Isn’t the fact that she is a child with serious health issues having to exercise four ponies every day, because they are all stabled during the day. Again according to some bizarre philosophy of the mother who thinks horses cannot be outside during the day in summer in England. Really!

And the child has to have an individual support worker with her at school all the time in case she has a seizure. This is all information posted in stories from Frankie’s ponies, so you won’t see it on the account as stories disappear.
Frankie can only attend school from 10.30 till 3pm apparently because of the health issues and yet the she goes to train a couple of ponies for a few hours after school. I don’t know what is true, but if what the mother is saying is true, it is very wrong in so many levels.
Is it ok for Frankie’s well being? Why is the education system funding all this care for Frankie if the mother is in fact having the child ride for hours after school and event on the weekends.
Click to expand...
I was talking about Harlow, but Frankie’s ponies may be have same amount of horses…which is crazy when she’s not in the best health.
 
Sorry it is sort of the same but worse. Harlow doesn’t have health issues or ride in RDA competition. This also raises an issue, how is the same child able to compete in open events and also RDA competitions.

The last update is that one of the ponies is intensive care with colic. No surprises there. The mother insists the horses have to be stabled all day, so they don’t get sun exposure and they are let out at night. Absolutely bizarre concept in England. The pony is on this intense diet (provided by sponsors), which mum (who by her own admission has never had any experience with looking after horses until a few years ago) is now giving dietary advice for horses. This pony was apparently having a rest aka shut up in a stable while Frankie concentrated on schooling her other three ponies (one is actually a horse that is way too big and experienced for her) and surprise the pony that is stuck in a stable gets colic. This is not acceptable, how do you actually report these issues to authorities?
 
I’m not a fan of child social media but…

There are lots of yards in the UK that have horses in part time and switch to overnight turnout in the summer - more time outside, less flies, better for anything with a lot of pink skin on the nose. So that in itself isn’t wildly unusual.
 
maya2008 said:
I’m not a fan of child social media but…

There are lots of yards in the UK that have horses in part time and switch to overnight turnout in the summer - more time outside, less flies, better for anything with a lot of pink skin on the nose. So that in itself isn’t wildly unusual.
Click to expand...
Yeah out at night is normal enough, but it's not to avoid sun exposure. Tbh I wouldn't even ask someone for a reason for choosing out at night and in by day but if you offer an absolutely insane reason...
 
smolmaus said:
Yeah out at night is normal enough, but it's not to avoid sun exposure. Tbh I wouldn't even ask someone for a reason for choosing out at night and in by day but if you offer an absolutely insane reason...
Click to expand...
Mine have summer overnight turnout, for all the reasons @maya2008 mentioned - including avoiding sun exposure on their pink noses.
 
Georgiagordon said:
Sorry it is sort of the same but worse. Harlow doesn’t have health issues or ride in RDA competition. This also raises an issue, how is the same child able to compete in open events and also RDA competitions.

The last update is that one of the ponies is intensive care with colic. No surprises there. The mother insists the horses have to be stabled all day, so they don’t get sun exposure and they are let out at night. Absolutely bizarre concept in England. The pony is on this intense diet (provided by sponsors), which mum (who by her own admission has never had any experience with looking after horses until a few years ago) is now giving dietary advice for horses. This pony was apparently having a rest aka shut up in a stable while Frankie concentrated on schooling her other three ponies (one is actually a horse that is way too big and experienced for her) and surprise the pony that is stuck in a stable gets colic. This is not acceptable, how do you actually report these issues to authorities?
Click to expand...

Erm, mine are stabled by day in summer. It gets them off the grass and away from the flies.
 
Georgiagordon said:
Isn’t the fact that she is a child with serious health issues having to exercise four ponies every day, because they are all stabled during the day. Again according to some bizarre philosophy of the mother who thinks horses cannot be outside during the day in summer in England. Really!

And the child has to have an individual support worker with her at school all the time in case she has a seizure. This is all information posted in stories from Frankie’s ponies, so you won’t see it on the account as stories disappear.
Frankie can only attend school from 10.30 till 3pm apparently because of the health issues and yet the she goes to train a couple of ponies for a few hours after school. I don’t know what is true, but if what the mother is saying is true, it is very wrong in so many levels.
Is it ok for Frankie’s well being? Why is the education system funding all this care for Frankie if the mother is in fact having the child ride for hours after school and event on the weekends.
Click to expand...

No idea of the detail, but the riding may well be helping the kid therapy or physio wise if unable to do other forms of activities. Having health issues doesn’t automatically mean not doing anything, ever. See also people who have workplace adjustments but manage other stuff in their spare time on their own terms.

Oh and plenty of people stable in the day, turnout at night in the UK.
 
Georgiagordon said:
Sorry it is sort of the same but worse. Harlow doesn’t have health issues or ride in RDA competition. This also raises an issue, how is the same child able to compete in open events and also RDA competitions.
Click to expand...
Most of our paralympic riders, especially those graded in the less severe grades, also compete BD in regular classes to a very high level. Absolutely no problem with doing that. In fact all the more impressive!
 
I’m an abusive parent, daughter only has one saddle cloth (and we share a white one) and today I left both ponies in the field, in rain AND sun.

It’s a strange concept, daughter (7) is always pleased when she appears in the branch PC newsletter because other people see it, but has no concept of what social media really is.

Eldest (10) has more of an idea but only because he learns about it in IT lessons
 
Georgiagordon said:
Sorry it is sort of the same but worse. Harlow doesn’t have health issues or ride in RDA competition. This also raises an issue, how is the same child able to compete in open events and also RDA competitions.
Click to expand...
Totally legit to ride able bodied & para

Frankie was at a competition I was at the other weekend. She's a nice kid & nice rider but I'm not sure having her life broadcast all over SM will be something she appreciates when she's older. Saying that if it had meant my parents could afford 3-4 ponies for me as a kid I might have forgiven them!
 
Just remember all the Lemieux sets etc are sent to them for free (or not free exactly ie have to be shown on SM etc) and these are given due to the views and engagement on their accounts. The parents don’t buy this stuff
 
My issue isnt with how many ponies they have or what they spend their money on, its the fact the parents have monetised them to be able to buy these ponies. They have essentially exploited their lives for money, free gifts etc. There is no real informed consent to what they are putting out in the world, no privacy and the expectation that they have to keep putting out content to keep the cash coming.
Their are plenty of kids with multiple ponies but that is because their parents are funding the dream, not because they are 'selling' their kids presence on the internet. There are so few safe guards for child influencers so we have no idea on the consequences.
 
Gamebird said:
Have you seen the Netflix doc about (non horsey) child influencers in the US? They've obviously ramped up the drama a bit, and it's hard to know how one sided it is, but the parents are proper pieces of work. Makes anything over here look very benign!
Click to expand...

I watched it. It was insane.
I don’t understand who would watch the crap they were making in the first place but the contact with known child sex offenders was disgusting.
 
smolmaus said:
Eh???? For melanomas? Coat bleaching? what???????
Click to expand...
Melanoma in England? Is this that an issue. People and horses need some sunlight. And horses should be horses and be able to move around, not stuck in a stable for 8 -12 hours a day, particularly if you can’t commit to exercising them every day. She just has no idea about what she is doing, but she has no issue with spruking these bizarre ideas that have no basis in theory, other than she can promote a horse food company that is sponsoring her. So wrong!! She actually told me that keeping horses stabled during the day and in the field at night is common practice in England. I find it hard to believe. I am from Australia and it is certainly not common practice here, where it might be more logical.
 
Georgiagordon said:
Melanoma in England? Is this that an issue. People and horses need some sunlight. And horses should be horses and be able to move around, not stuck in a stable for 8 -12 hours a day, particularly if you can’t commit to exercising them every day. She just has no idea about what she is doing, but she has no issue with spruking these bizarre ideas that have no basis in theory, other than she can promote a horse food company that is sponsoring her. So wrong!! She actually told me that keeping horses stabled during the day and in the field at night is common practice in England. I find it hard to believe. I am from Australia and it is certainly not common practice here, where it might be more logical.
Click to expand...
This might be why you are struggling to understand some of these things.

You have more space than us. That means horses can be kept in a very different way to here.

Melanoma is absolutely an issue here. In particular it's very common in grey horses.

Common practice over summer is indeed to stable the horses in the day and turnout at night.

With respect, perhaps you could learn a bit about how horses are kept here before criticising people for keeping their horses in a way that is actually typical here, where we do the best we can with what we have.
 
JenJ said:
This might be why you are struggling to understand some of these things.

You have more space than us. That means horses can be kept in a very different way to here.

Melanoma is absolutely an issue here. In particular it's very common in grey horses.

Common practice over summer is indeed to stable the horses in the day and turnout at night.

With respect, perhaps you could learn a bit about how horses are kept here before criticising people for keeping their horses in a way that is actually typical here, where we do the best we can with what we have.
Click to expand...

In fairness to GG I’m up north off Scotland and it seemed crazy to me when I first heard people stabled their horses in summer through the day.

Here it’s the best time for them to be out. Sunny, warm but not hot at 20 degrees, a breeze to keep the flies off and stop it getting hot, rain isn’t quite so horizontal compared to winter.

Reading other people’s replies about the heat and flies you get south is a world away to what we deal with and getting those with laminitis risk off the grass also makes sense.

I’m sure GG didn’t mean to cause offence or criticise as it does seem an odd concept if you don’t know the reasoning. I was confused when I first heard it and was glad to have been educated
 
I prefer to stable during the day, it usually means they spend a shorter time in the stable than if they are stabled overnight, they are in the stables if I need to ride and they can have time out of mud/flies/grazing muzzle. It also means when I get up in the morning I don't have to muck out, I just bring them in to clean stables. It also gives me time to feed individually what they need. It's my go to when horses need to be stabled part of the time. For me it works really well as they come in after the school run and go back out before the school run (unless someone wants to ride after school)
 
JenJ said:
This might be why you are struggling to understand some of these things.

You have more space than us. That means horses can be kept in a very different way to here.

Melanoma is absolutely an issue here. In particular it's very common in grey horses.

Common practice over summer is indeed to stable the horses in the day and turnout at night.

With respect, perhaps you could learn a bit about how horses are kept here before criticising people for keeping their horses in a way that is actually typical here, where we do the best we can with what we have.
Click to expand...
I'm in SW England, and only aware of a coupe of people who bring in during the summer. So not typical, but becoming more commonplace. And that's usually for the fatties. I have shade in my field, but if it is going to be really hot, I'll open up the stables so they can come in for a couple of hours if they like. Which they do.

I don't think that melanoma in greys has much to do with sunlight. It's more to do with the greying process, where the hair follicles basically age prematurely. Or something like that.

Melanoma in non-grey horses is a serious problem.
 
It depends on your set up, at home stables would be too hot in the day, we had no horseflies, horses on a track. On livery stables were cool and meant pony could come in have some time without muzzle and fill up on hay and it worked well, I certainly couldn’t get upset at horses being in part of a 24h cycle.
 
Georgiagordon said:
Melanoma in England? Is this that an issue. People and horses need some sunlight. And horses should be horses and be able to move around, not stuck in a stable for 8 -12 hours a day, particularly if you can’t commit to exercising them every day. She just has no idea about what she is doing, but she has no issue with spruking these bizarre ideas that have no basis in theory, other than she can promote a horse food company that is sponsoring her. So wrong!! She actually told me that keeping horses stabled during the day and in the field at night is common practice in England. I find it hard to believe. I am from Australia and it is certainly not common practice here, where it might be more logical.
Click to expand...

I’ve had horses for a long time and we’ve always brought ours in during the day during the summer months. It gets them off the grass for a few hours and away from the horse flies. We have dreadful horseflies here and it’s not uncommon to see horses being plagued by them and getting very distressed. My stables are cool in summer and ideal for them to spend a few hours in.

I know a lot of people who do the same as me, so it’s not as strange as you think.
 
Kirstineridesagain said:
The latest is a tiny 3-year-old -making content with all the usual brands/influencers with large followings and receiving parcels full of free, gifted stuff several times a week. I started following because I thought it was a more “natural” and non grifting account, just documenting a small girl and her cute share pony. She started riding at 2 and now, at just 3, is getting her own pony and every video is designed to create more interest. It just seems so calculated and prescriptive, and a three-year-old has no idea of the implications - looks very much like they’re trying to copy Harlow’s journey but starting at the toddler stage. I think I’m going to unfollow as I don’t want to support child exploitation.
Click to expand...
I’m really surprised that any ‘reputable’ company would sponsor or gift things to a child this young - you’d think the damage to their reputation would be massive! What’s really sickening though is that you can’t help but think with a child that young that the parents had the idea first and then created the child purely for that reason……..urgh!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top