Foul mouthed child on hound exercise ride - what to do?

ycbm

ycbm

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I heard a male child of no more that ten years old today call someone whose pony kicked his pony a 'ducking twit' in very loud voice, if you get my drift.

I swear plenty myself but that's completely unacceptable and no-one said anything to him.

What should I have done? .
 
I wouldn't do anything unless it involved me aka he swore at me. Sadly it's the parents responsibility.

If he swore at me though, that would be another matter.
 
If he was speaking to an equal or friend I wouldn't worry. Most you can do is mention your concerns to the hunt secretary, who will decide you are an old bat like they think I am!
 
Swearing is just words. As long as it's not done out of context (I.e there is not lack of respect) I don't find it offensive.
 
If someone elses pony kicked his I'd consider it a sign he was a foul mouthed child but quite in the right to be cross tbh so would do nothing.
 
I get really angry when people swear in my 4yo childs earshot, but if child wasn't with me I would just tut under my breath most likely.

If child was with me I would be tempted to say something like 'would you mind your language please' to the offender..

Fiona
 
This is a difficult one: none of us were there and actually saw what happened.

I gather what occurred is that the child in question was out cubbing, sorry "hound exercise", and another girl let her pony kick the one he was on? Yes???

In which case one can understand the child being angry, possibly arising from fear that his pony would be injured, and being very annoyed that the girl had let her pony do it in the first place. TBH I think I'd be bleddi angry too, especially if the girl hadn't put a red ribbon in the pony's tail and/or hadn't kept a sensible distance.

Perhaps the numpty girl will learn her lesson and keep her distance from other people's horses in future on the hunting field, it is only fortunate that no-one, human or horse, was injured by this incident.

Personally, whilst the child in question may have used some rather "adult" language which may be regarded as unacceptable, I think, given the circumstances, that it is perhaps understandable??? Tho' perhaps a quiet little word in the child's ear that this sort of language is regarded as offensive in public and in the hunting field, might be warranted.
 
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Anyone who allows their horse to kick another in the hunting field deserves whatever they are called in my opinion. I have heard field masters give much stronger b*llockings for such offences, and people to be sent home and told never to return. (I include teenagers/older children as well as adults in this category.) Agree it is not nice to hear anyone, let alone a juvenile, swear but having received a broken leg myself in the past from someone who was 'careless' in this respect, I have every sympathy for the one who's horse was kicked and none for the perpetrator - regardless whether it was out of character or not. Horses are animals, not robots and should be ridden accordingly. If you can't control you horse in an environment such as hound exercise/cubbing/hunting, then don't take it.
 
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ycbm said:
There was a total lack of respect. He called a girl child of about fifteen whose pony uncharacteristically suddenly kicked his a
f u c k i n g t w a t, and not under his breath either. The girl wasn't with him, I don't think she even knew him. I was shocked.
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And I expect he was shocked at his pony being kicked! I'd have said a lot worse.
 
Sadly my experience of hunting was terrible bad language from the huntsman and field master, if the child is in this environment, that's what he'll pick up. I gave up, long before the ban as I found the professionals very unprofessional! Why would you pay for the privalige of this?
 
As others have said, his pony got kicked, I properly would of said a lot worse as an automatic reaction, no it may not be correct but neither is a kicker. The other pony may not normally kick but it still got the pony.
I'm afraid the most unacceptable part of the OP is that the pony got kicked. The secretary should be made aware that a pony kicked, not that a child sweared, would be hard to prove if he swore at the other pony/child emotions will always run high.
 
ycbm said:
I heard a male child of no more that ten years old today call someone whose pony kicked his pony a 'ducking twit' in very loud voice, if you get my drift.

I swear plenty myself but that's completely unacceptable and no-one said anything to him.

What should I have done? .
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I think swearing coming from a minor is disgusting, it is bad enough out of an adult but out of the mouth of babes!!!! No but then again I am not a fan of minors anyway and feel parents should not allow children to behave like that. There are other words which can be used rather than the *F* word
 
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I'm another one who's on the boys side, I wouldn't have said that but think saying something like that is completely understandable in that situation. I'd hope the girl apologized for her pony's behavior and he'd then have responded politely but even if he hadn't a kick is no joke.
 
Personally I always cringe when I see children swearing, it's just looks and sounds so wrong on all levels.

In these circumstances though I wouldn't do anything about it. If I ever see children swear I always remind them to watch there language but apart from that there's nothing else you can do.

I'm sure he was just shocked that his pony was kicked and with swearing such common language these days (guilty of it myself) he just said what he's most likely heard many a time.
 
I do understand that people only know what limited amount I have told you, I didn't want to write a book :)

I did speak to one person about it and he told me that the boy is customarily foul mouthed and that he gets it from his mother, so not to bother telling his mother.

The child he swore at was part of a 'fun type' ride with a few hounds and one hundred people out. No scent was laid. A quarter of the field were children. Probably a third of the field had never been out with that big a group of riders before and they were gathering in close groups at the checks, not understanding that the only safe way to manage the situation was to be in spaced out small groups.

Both the boy and the offending kicker were in a very big group where it was impossible to move out of the way quickly of any horse got fractious. So although the pony should certainly not have kicked, the boy, who is apparently an experienced hunter, should also not have put himself in a position in the middle of a pack of horses where he was trapped and unable to move away from a reversing horse before it backed into him.

The kicker had behaved perfectly for two hours, but suddenly got overwhelmed, backed into two other horses and kicked the swearing boy's pony, not causing any damage, not one lame step. There was a noticeable gap between the kick and the swearing, it wasn't said immediately in total shock, as far as I could tell. I don't know either child myself.

I also think that when you join a ride like that with a hundred people that you only know a few of, many of them first time in a group that big or on first time horses, or worst case, both, that you have to expect, and protect yourself against, horses throwing tantrums. Horses can behave very unexpectedly in such situations and it is not necessarily the rider's fault. If the boy was not old enough to protect himself that way, then I think an adult should have been with him instead of his mother following on foot.

I'm not shy of a bit of cursing myself, but I don't expect adults to throw either the t word or the c word around in public and I found it really shocking that such a young child would do it, and not one adult who knew him correct him. Perhaps I'm just getting curmudgeonly in my old age :)
 
The Boy was wrong and should have been reprimanded for being arrogant, rude and ungentlemanly. I would not allow my boys to behave in such a manor under any circumstance and they know it. Who's ever child it was should also pay a price for bad parenting and having the temerity to allow the brat out in public. There should have been an immediate apology enforced, if necessary by the adults in the immediate vicinity and the adult in charge of the activity. I have no reservations in correcting antisocial behavior and neither should anyone else regardless of the occasion.
 
Just a simple motherly glare would suffice, no words need be spoken. If he did that in my hunt, the field master would straighten him up!
 
I can't understand why ycbm has got herself greyed out over a silly post about a rude child when her posts are usually well thought out and reasoned even if you don't agree with her. Strange.
 
I have long since come to the conclusion that horsey people swear like absolute troopers. When I was a teenager, the nearest neighbours had horses. Mother was an AI and I certainly wouldn't call them working class! The language those kids used was hair raising and used to come floating across the fields, especially on a calm evening. It didn't help that most of the kids were very deaf so had no idea what the volume they were producing was. I live in suburbia with some pretty poor areas on my doorstep and you regularly hear under 10s calling each other a clucking funt. One time I was meeting my mother at the rural primary school where she worked and over heard a mother shouting at her 6 year old, "don't you *ucking swear at me". There isn't much hope really, is there?
 
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