MotherOfChickens
MotherDucker
I've never understood why parents can't/won't stick small kids in large dog crates and older ones in stables with top doors shut.
Is that a normal occurrence then I have no idea??
Yes she pushed her out onto the course in the pram and we all did the fences in the area nearby and then moved elsewhere with the buggy so it was never out of sight!
I've never understood why parents can't/won't stick small kids in large dog crates and older ones in stables with top doors shut.
At least little 'un was within sight, but it's not something that I would ever had done. What if someone fell off and a loose horse was charging around near the pram?
A former neighbour used to leave her firstborn home alone in his cot when she went out exercising her hunters.
Asking the comp secretary to babysit while you compete??? (I know what I'd have told her ...)
On a more serious note, and speaking as a mum who ran a livery yard/taught/competed all through their younger years, and made damned sure they were properly looked after, I am really shocked at some of the examples of how people "manage" their young children while doing horses.
Leading three "quiet" horses in and out of the field while pushing a buggy????
Going XC schooling with your baby in a pram???
Asking the comp secretary to babysit while you compete??? (I know what I'd have told her ...)
Aside from anything else, if something happens to you while you are riding/competing/turning your horse out, who the heck is going to look after your baby??
This thread is an eye opener for sure.
That poster said she was taking a risk but it was a calculated one? I can't believe I read that.
Wow, I think it's a good job that some of the non-breeders on here haven't bred as the lack of good manners of some is astounding!
I can see why you might be shocked, but surely all of life is a calculated risk? Leaving a baby sleeping on its own in a cot overnight is a calculated risk. It's just a question of where you personally draw the line, and that's going to be different for everyone isn't it? Personally I probably wouldn't bring in horses with a baby in a pram, but judging those who do is surely somewhere on a slippery slope? I agree that inflicting the care of your children on other unwilling adults is unacceptable (and totally agree that YOs are probably rightly worried about accidents) but I'm a bit uncomfortable with the general tone of judging parents for their parenting choices.
Edited to say, I didn't mean that to read as "I'm offended by your thoughts and am going to retreat to my safe space"! You are of course entitled to hold your opinion!
I don't know why mums would find the thread upsetting though. Yes there's the odd comment that is a bit over the top - but let's be honest, you get that on most threads with a contentious subject.
The vast majority of people on here have said that they don't mind children on yards if they are well behaved. I'm not sure why that should upset anyone. Yards that have banned children have likely done it because the YO / staff / clients have had a bad experience - you can't criticise them for that. Criticise the parents who didn't look after their kids properly and ruined it for everyone else maybe, but not the yards.
Is that a normal occurrence then I have no idea??
Yes she pushed her out onto the course in the pram and we all did the fences in the area nearby and then moved elsewhere with the buggy so it was never out of sight! That was just one of many examples, I was just stating that she was quite determined to manage her child and horses and made it very public and received huge support, perhaps that's another reason and experience I had that made the whole situation and lack of acceptance a surprise.
The eventer in question did not have help at all competitions and certainly not always at the yard (she would have done at be events), I met her to go xc schooling once and she had bought her baby in the pram and nobody to help, at a particular local venue she asked the secretary to watch one of them while she did a round I recall.
We were hacking at the weekend and a small child had a large branch and tried to hit our horses - his mum told him not to and he asked why not - charming child! Anyway that was off topic but having read this I'm glad I have my own place and don't have to put up with other mardy adults/children/dogs.
The arrogance of that is breath taking. A secretary at any event is not there as an unpaid baby sitter.
Ermm as she is no longer here to clarify herself I do feel that it is worth pointing out that from her posts I thought that HotToTrot did know the secretary at Norton Heath quite well, and she did babysit on more than one occasion (and knowing lots of show secretaries they would not have been shy in saying no if they were not ok with it!)
Ermm as she is no longer here to clarify herself I do feel that it is worth pointing out that from her posts I thought that HotToTrot did know the secretary at Norton Heath quite well, and she did babysit on more than one occasion (and knowing lots of show secretaries they would not have been shy in saying no if they were not ok with it!)
Lucky she agreed. I've had them reluctant if I want to leave a high viz tabard with them when I've hacked to a show and taken it off to compete.The arrogance of that is breath taking. A secretary at any event is not there as an unpaid baby sitter.
this is the thing though, the minute anyone expresses an opinion about anything these days we are classed as judgemental. If you follow your thoughts through then its judgemental to say that its madness to push a pram whilst leading a horse. It might end up with a pram underneath a horse (unless the owner is the one person in the whole world who can say for sure that her horses will never ever behave in an unexpected way no matter what the circumstances are) but thats a risk worth taking? And whos risk is it to take anyways? Chances are its not going to be the mother who gets hurt if it all went wrong.
Yes, fair point. That's why I like this forum - because at its best, what you are getting is peoples' (relatively) unfiltered views, which makes quite a nice change from "real life" where you so often have to keep your mouth shut for fear of being told that your opinion is not valid because it is unkind/judgmental/excessively privileged etc etc. Personally I think it would be judgmental to say that ever pushing a pram whilst leading a horse makes you a bad parent, but that's different to expressing the opinion that pushing a pram whilst leading a horse is a mad thing to do. Anyway it's a fine line I suppose, and perhaps difficult to explain in a forum post. I will keep quiet now I think as I didn't mean to derail the conversation - sorry!