Furious with local paper over no hat photo. after 4 yr old rider nearly died.

Shysmum

Shysmum

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I'm sorry, but this has got me spitting feathers :mad:

i picked up a copy of the local Teesdale Mercury today, and there splashed all over the front page was an article about a five year old girl, complete with a picture of her sitting on a pony, she wearing no hat, and the pony wearing no tack or headcollar. dad just standing there beside them.

The reason this has made me mad is this - I quote;

" The 4 year old girl was airlifted to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesborough after being kicked in the head by another of the family's pet horses, Spice. The usually well behaved pet had been spooked by wind, and the girl took the full force of the blow. "

It then goes on like this -

Great North Air ambulance arrived and gave life saving first aid. She was then put in an induced coma to help reduce the swelling on her brain, to enable her to be flown to hospital.

8 days later she was out of the coma, and two weeks later went home.

The GNAAS received a lot of donations (fab !) and made her their Air Angels face, to try and raise more money for the GNAAS. So some good has come out of it all.

But there, on the front page, is said little girl, sitting on a family pet horse, without any restraint on said horse, with no bloody hat.

Words totally fail me. Other than I have written to the newspaper. surely both the paper and the family should realise the message they are sending out ???:(

sm x
 
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poor little thing..she is not even old enough to know any better is she :(. hopefully in the future, the adults responsible for her will have a little more sense. she is a very lucky little girl to be still here and I hope the parents realise that..
 
I know, the poor kid. Just makes me so sad that parents can be so irresponsible. If you're going to do it, do it in private, not in an article about how your child's life was saved. Complete with numpty photo. *sigh* :(
 
You are right to rant it angers me , i lost a friend as she fell off with no hat 6 years ago, i hate it when the adults on some yards ride infront of the kids with out a hat and the youngsters think it is cool.

My yard no hat no riding
 
I do think that, as it's not law, peeps have the right to ride without a hat. It just makes me furious that so many people worked to save this kid's life, thru no fault of her own, and then the parents and the paper think it's ok to print the photo. And the parents think it's ok for no hat or tack at all.

If I had been on that callout, or her doctor,I would be really p***** off tbh.

Urgh . Gonna take a few beers to calm down !! :rolleyes:
 
Totally agree!!

I was picking a horse up from a local yard and I witnessed a young dad sticking a child no older that 3 on the back of a 16hh horse. No tack/headcollar whatsoever, wasn't tied up to anything!! In my opinion horses can spook and move very quickly, it is what they are tuned to do.

The dad probably would have argued that he was stood right next to the horse but I'm sure he wouldn't have been able to keep up with said horse to catch his child had it bolted. I had to bite my lip very hard.
 
be very interested to know that one. When we lived in Oz, it was the law for all cyclists to wear helmets - maybe a law for kids to wear hats in the uk is in place ??? On second thoughts, just looked - it is in parts of the USA.
 
shysmum said:
be very interested to know that one. When we lived in Oz, it was the law for all cyclists to wear helmets - maybe a law for kids to wear hats in the uk is in place ??? On second thoughts, just looked - it is in parts of the USA.
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I just had a quick look too... from what I can gather it is law for under 14s to wear hats on the road.
 
Last I heard I believe, but I may be wrong, it is law for all under 14s to have to wear a hat on the roads and public land, on private land it is down to the rules of the land owner.
 
blimey, this seems to be the talk of the horsey world round here atm. shame the article is titled "back in the saddle " :rolleyes:

I've not had a reply from the reporter, surprise surprise.. sm x
 
I absolutely always wear a crash hat. However when the national press turned up to take a photo of me on my horse (I was involved in a sponsored charity ride across Great Britain) I actually forgot to put my hat on when I mounted the horse for the photo.......!
 
OWLIE185 said:
I absolutely always wear a crash hat. However when the national press turned up to take a photo of me on my horse (I was involved in a sponsored charity ride across Great Britain) I actually forgot to put my hat on when I mounted the horse for the photo.......!
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We have all done it - however the issue here is that the article was about the child surviving a horse related accident and the work of the air ambulance. OP I know how you feel, a few years ago I watched a morning program about ambulance type things and there was a story about a girl who had her head stroved in when her pony rammed into a gate (gate hit her on the head). They went back when she was better for the ambulance crew to see the girl now she is better. The idiots had her riding on the said pony, she was rugged ready to go out, inside the barn where the stables were, so presumably on a concrete floor - with no hat - pleeeeeease, her head is not indestructible now it has metal plates!
 
Totally agree with nativeponies about the sterilisation thing! Not a day goes by when I see or hear about at least a dozen cases where it would have been appropriate action to take!
 
Hubs was even collared by the lady in the papershop this morning, so she could have a rant about it (she knows we're horsey) !!

Please don't get me wrong, I have no problem if peeps don't want to wear hats ( tho I don't agree at all) unless they are children. But in this instance, as said above, this was an article applauding the GNAAS and how it saved this girl's life. It's an insult to their work that the parents have not learnt anything about kids and horses. :(

Ah well, rant over ! sm x
 
What a horrible thing to happen to such a young little girl. Do you know when this happened to her? Perhaps she may not have a hat on because of her recovering head wounds and injuries.
 
jaypeebee said:
What a horrible thing to happen to such a young little girl. Do you know when this happened to her? Perhaps she may not have a hat on because of her recovering head wounds and injuries.
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if that was the case...I would like to think that most parents woulnt be putting a child with head injuries that are still healing..back on until they know that all injuries reresolved, let alone without a hat.
 
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