Children messing with my horse

[FestiveBoomBoom]

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All children in yards should have to wear those shock collars you get for dogs.

Then if they are misbehaving you can grab the remote control and give 'em a good jolt.

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LOL! I think in this situation I would just go mental at said child. I wouldn't care if I upset the parents! Although slightly tricky as you haven't seen it happen first hand. But still, she sounds like she deserves a good slap she is 12 too - little sh1t!

 

[Ranyhyn]

LOL @ shock collars, problem is I might get gratification from zapping them when they run screaming round yard, don't put things back, look at me wrong

 

[Indy]

If it were me and my horse I would cop hold of the kid and give it a bollocking, then I'd cop hold of the parents and let them know of said bollocking and would expect them to have words with kid. And then I'd speak to the YO out of courtesy to let her know what's going on.

I think you have to go straight to the source - at 12 the kid knows better - she needs to learn consequences of actions.

I know if it were my nephew doing that to someone elses horse, I'd expect the owner to sort him out and then I'd kick his arse from one end of South Yorkshire to the other. Not on.

 

[Natch]

Absolutely laughing very loudly at the smack the child/zap the child etc comments! Maybe we should have a Childline button to push?!

I would calm yourself down, plan what to say, and go and find the child when its parents are present. Tell the child in front of the parents that people have seen her approaching & touching Ed over the stable door on more than one occasion, and smack him. Tell her the sign is there to protect her, and that Ed does it because he is afraid, so smacking him makes it 10 times worse.

Ask (in a tell kind of way) her not to approach him again.

Then ask her parents to support you in this. Then go find yard owner and ask for the same support.

I would say you need to tell the gremlin - sorry, child - what she has done, why it is unacceptable and make sure she knows she shouldn't do it again - and then let the responsible adults around know this has been said.

I (we) know she will know what she is doing is wrong, but I think you need to play the game in making sure (with witnesses) she knows it is wrong. That way you (and YO) are perfectly justified in hanging gremlin child from the rafters upside down and lowering her into Ed's stable as a snack when she does it next

 

[AmyMay]

Yes, you must speak to the YO about it, but also do mention your concerns to the parents.

And then start looking for a yard that bans the friggin things (children that is.......).

 

[JoJo_]

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How old is the chiild?? small, teen or tween?? to be honest and people can and will disagree with this but the way we handle things on my yard and where i used to work, is if it bites it gets a slap, wether a reason for it or not. but then the kid would get a bollocking too.

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My horse doesnt bite but I would be extremely annoyed if someone was taunting her and caused her to act out and bite. I would be even more annoyed if some slapped/smacked my horse when they had no permission to handle her in the first place! I have never heard of a livery yard having such a rule. If I happened to be giving another livery's horse attention when I wasnt asked to (just talking to him over the stable door or something) I would never reprimand him for bad behaviour. I shouldnt be bothering the horse in the first place.

 

[devilwoman]

If that was my child i'd kick her a*se infact even if she wern't mine and she was antagonising my horse i'd kick her a*se too. Brat.

 

[Cobbysmum]

Organise a meeting with the YO, child and parents present. Say you know that the child is antagonising the horse and warn them of his likely behaviour and that if it happens again you will not be held responsible if any harm comes to the child. I did this when a child persistently went in the field with my horses, I told the parents that if anything happened I would not be held responsible as I had warned them of the consequences. It stopped immediately. Probably wouldn't stand up in court but if you have the YO as a witness they might think twice about letting their child continue this behaviour.

 

[joeanne]

What the hell are her parents doing letting her roam unsupervised about a yard anyway? And she should certainly not be near another livery's horse without both permission and the so obviously lacking parental supervision!
YO should be 1st port of call, if that fails there is always the freezing cold water troughs and then the muck heap (tell her its a horses equivalent of tar and feathering!). Or you could get her freezemarked.....BR4T