Help.. younger liveries won't leave me alone!

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rockashangkid

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Hi everybody,
I share a pony. On average, he is my responsibility three times a week and I am paying to do this. I have been the youngest on a small yard that was mainly adults and older teenagers until recently and I was happily left to look after and ride my shared pony myself.

A few weeks ago, the yard owners niece and a few of her friends moved in and they haven't left me alone since- with her being the worst one! She is eight I think and her friends are around the same age. They all have their own ponies but their mothers see to them in the daytime. So the yard owners niece won't leave me alone when I am at the yard- she follows me around, hanging onto my arm, plaguing me for rides on my wheelbarrow and constantly asking if she can feed my shared pony or put him in his stable when I am paying to do this and I enjoy looking after him. Sometimes she even takes my mucking out tools and won't let me muck out- I am in a hurry on the weekdays as it is already:(

This is a bit of rant post but I'm also asking for advice- if you've got this far, thankyou! What would be my most effective way of getting her to leave me alone? She is really beginning to annoy me.
 
That's kids for you i'm afraid!! Either tell them firmly to leave you alone or go to their parents politely about it.
 
You've got yourself a fan club! Bad luck.

I'm guessing you are still pretty young yourself? It sounds like the youngsters are looking up to you and enjoy the attention you give them. Even negative attention is better than being ignored.

The easiest option is to be so horrid that they finally go away, but that's not necessarily the best option. Could you strike a deal that if they leave you alone when you want them to then you give them some attention later on?
 
If it was me I would ask for their 'help' and then give them lots of jobs to do, preferably ones that don't need doing near to me such as scrubbing buckets, poo picking, cleaning tack. They'll either love helping you out therefore saving you from doing all the dull jobs and giving you more time with your pony or they'll get fed up of having to help and will leave you alone :p :p
 
3WiseBeasties said:
If it was me I would ask for their 'help' and then give them lots of jobs to do, preferably ones that don't need doing near to me such as scrubbing buckets, poo picking, cleaning tack. They'll either love helping you out therefore saving you from doing all the dull jobs and giving you more time with your pony or they'll get fed up of having to help and will leave you alone :p :p
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Good idea! ^^

You want to put them off without being nasty to them. You probably should say something like 'I've just got to do this .... If you come back at such and such a time, you can help me do this ... ' Rewarding desired behaviour is the best way forward - they leave you alone for a bit, then they get to do something with you (only has to be a little job, or as suggested, something not so nice!). Worth a try!?
 
I had this when first moved to my current yard and one of the other liveries kids latched on to me. Not being overly child friendly I had no clue what to do but soon discovered she was very good at cleaning buckets, brushes and tack :o Her mother didn't mind/care and it gave me time to myself after work to chill and destress a bit :)
 
Ah, I recognise this one, luckily I had the benefit of understanding parents who would occassionally come and tell their kids to get on with looking after their own ponies.

Good advice with giving them jobs to do, but also don't be afraid to be a bit firm. Just tell them you are busy and you want to just spend time with your pony and suggest they do the same with their ponies. I don't think its unfair to lay down some boundarys, after all you are paying to have a horse.
Hope this helps
 
3WiseBeasties said:
If it was me I would ask for their 'help' and then give them lots of jobs to do, preferably ones that don't need doing near to me such as scrubbing buckets, poo picking, cleaning tack. They'll either love helping you out therefore saving you from doing all the dull jobs and giving you more time with your pony or they'll get fed up of having to help and will leave you alone :p :p
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Excellent advice
 
Thankyou everybody for the advice, I really appreciate it!:)

@MagneticSparrow I am 15.
When I see her next I will definitely be telling her firmly. Hopefully then I will be left alone!
 
I'm so glad I don't have to put up with this! Children under 18 are not allowed on our yard thank god! lol

As 3WiseBeasties has said I would give them loads of jobs to do maybe get them to fill haynets for the week, clean tack, etc sounds like an excellent plan! I think they will soon get bored and leave you alone.

Failing that I would speak to the mother and just say in a tactful way that you don't have the time to keep the children entertained. Sounds a bit harsh but really why should you have to baby sit someone elses kids? I really wouldn't have the patience its alright if its on the odd occassion but if they collar you every time your on the yard that would do my head in.

At the end of the day you should enjoy spending time at the yard not dread going up there. Horses are an expensive hobbie you should be enjoying it! Good luck i'm sure you'll get it sorted :)
 
I feel so sorry for you! Fortunately I don't have this problem, although we do have a little 3 and a half year old on the yard but she is actually very helpful! She's good at watching filling water buckets and turning the hose off at appropriate times, sweeping the yard, scrubbing out buckets and as a treat she gets to mix up feeds and take them into the (well behaved) horses stables. She also rides most of the horses to the fields bareback as a treat too (from 14hh to 17hh - she's not picky!). She is actually a real gem, and rarely a PITA - apart from when I'm on a tight timescale but then her mum knows when enough is enough and withdraws her from the situation. I do tend to be quite tough on her as I like things done properly so maybe that puts her off helping me too! - She may only be 3 but I'm not scared of telling her 'no, you need to do it like this' and she knows it!

As you said, get them to help you by sweeping / tidying up the tack/ feed room, putting jumps up / down for you, sweeping the yard, filling water buckets, forking up the muck heap, cleaning tack or any other little jobs you don't particularly like doing and reward them every once in a while with a ride bareback to the field (as long as your horse's owner is in agreement). And thats a good point - you could alway's say that only YOU have permission to ride your share pony and you aren't able to give permission for anyone else to).

Good luck
 
CBFan said:
reward them every once in a while with a ride bareback to the field (as long as your horse's owner is in agreement).
Good luck
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I really advise against this - I don't know what your situation is with insurance but the last thing I would suggest is allowing someone else's 8yr old child to ride a pony not even owned by the OP bareback to the field. Recipe for disaster IMO.

Agree with the others who say give them jobs to do!
 
I wouldn't ever give her a ride bareback- other with tack on for that matter! Not just my owner but I don't think she'd dare get on him as she's quite nervous and he's a cantenkerous little beast:D
 
I know what you mean OP, I have 2 of them, a 3yr old and a 5yr old so they get to muck out, clean buckets, brush up........ funnily enough neither of them have been to the yard since the weather has turned a bit :D

Oh and they're my kids :rolleyes::p

Give them jobs to do, poo pick, muck out, clean brushes, sweep up, clean buckets and be firm about what they can and cannot do. Your little fan club might not be so eager after that little lot ;)
 
I agree that giving them jobs to do can help, but I wouldn't be scared to just politely say that you are busy today and can't talk but will chat another day. Then just walk off. Kids are quite robust and can cope with this quite well. My kids love my YO but if she is busy they don't interrupt her. She was quite clear to tell them if tshe was busy, but would offer them jobs to do if it suited her to be helped, or just say, sorry, can't stop to chat today. They still love her, so I think her no nonsense approach is the one you should adopt.
 
Oh god, I know this feeling!
They're always asking me to help tack up ponies, catch ponies, help me tack up Ned (NO!!) help me groom Ned (also NO!!) and even help me get on Ned!!!
They don't seem to understand how big, strong and scary Ned can be. I've only just perfected the "saddle waltz".
I think kids concept of age is funny too :P I once heard some of the younger kids discussing my age, they said "I wonder how old she is...she's so tall she must be like...TWELVE!" No, try 21 XD

Good luck getting rid of your new 'friend', I've not succeeded yet :(
 
rockashangkid said:
Hi everybody,
I share a pony. On average, he is my responsibility three times a week and I am paying to do this. I have been the youngest on a small yard that was mainly adults and older teenagers until recently and I was happily left to look after and ride my shared pony myself.

A few weeks ago, the yard owners niece and a few of her friends moved in and they haven't left me alone since- with her being the worst one! She is eight I think and her friends are around the same age. They all have their own ponies but their mothers see to them in the daytime. So the yard owners niece won't leave me alone when I am at the yard- she follows me around, hanging onto my arm, plaguing me for rides on my wheelbarrow and constantly asking if she can feed my shared pony or put him in his stable when I am paying to do this and I enjoy looking after him. Sometimes she even takes my mucking out tools and won't let me muck out- I am in a hurry on the weekdays as it is already:(

This is a bit of rant post but I'm also asking for advice- if you've got this far, thankyou! What would be my most effective way of getting her to leave me alone? She is really beginning to annoy me.
Click to expand...

Lucky bugger - get them to pooh pick for you when you're there and scrub your wheelbarrow out, also, wear an ipod and tell them you are learning spanish through it for an important exam -then you havent got to see or speak to the blighters.

;)
 
I have a patented "slowly turn head round to face brat, glare, raise eyebrows, GROWL" manoevre which never failed me on yards.

Can't stand kids :D
 
Some of these replies have had me in tears of laughter:D

I told her today that I from now on I am going to be doing things myself because I am paying to do them and I enjoy looking after my shared pony when I'm at the yard. I let her mum know exactly what I'd said to her too.

I'm next up at the yard on Tuesday, so I can let you all know the verdict then! Thankyou for all the replies:D
 
Lmao JFTD & co :D
I am getting more and more intolerant of kids as I get older, not helped by a bad experience with a friend's child at my yard 18 months ago. Said child has 'problems' and mum's answer was to just let her do whatever she liked rather than sort it out. All blew up when she was spotted by someone chasing a friend's 17.2 DWB round his field with a plastic bag tied to the end of a stick!!!!
Mum just said "oh, what is she like! I didn't notice, whoops!" Cue massive kick off from all of us and they moved out. Thank God! We have a 'no under 18's policy' now.
MMother and 'spawn of the devil' child are currently terrorising a local DIY yard :(
 
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