How old should a kid be to ride out alone

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Cc088

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Just after people's advice. I don't allow my daughter to ride out alone, there is always another rider with her or I walk along with her. Her pony is really safe but I am aware that anything could happen even with the safest of horses and she thinks I'm being mean not just letting her go off on her own. Other kids at the yard (13 year old novice riders) are allowed to just go off alone by their parents. Am I right to refuse or is there an age that they reach when you say off you go?
 
She is almost 11 and is a confident rider. Her pony is an absolute star. There is no road work involved but I still feel she is too young - different if she had another kid with her. I might just follow her from a distance so I'm still there if anything happens. I've tried explaining that if a dog came running out or something then the horse might spook but she just replys with "she is used to dogs" today was a classic example that anything could happen - her girth wasn't done up properly and the saddle slipped resulting in her falling off - I tried using this but she still thinks I'm being unreasonable.
 
At eleven, where else does she go on her own? If she can catch a bus on her own, or travel to the nearest town to shop, then I would think that solo off road hacking on a safe pony would be acceptable. Where would you allow her to ride a bike, and would that be allowed solo? I understand that parents worry, but I also think that you have to trust that your daughter knows what she is doing. Tbh I think she would be safer on her own than with a friend of the same age, as they tend to up the ante for each other!
 
Think my daughter was about 11, no roads involved and pony as safe as any can be. I was glad she had some of the freedom I had as a child, I worried less about her hacking than I did about walking to school with the massive increase in traffic nowadays.
 
millikins said:
Think my daughter was about 11, no roads involved and pony as safe as any can be. I was glad she had some of the freedom I had as a child, I worried less about her hacking than I did about walking to school with the massive increase in traffic nowadays.
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Arghh you are all making her argument so much stronger - might let her do the short hack route and see how she gets on.
 
YorksG said:
At eleven, where else does she go on her own? If she can catch a bus on her own, or travel to the nearest town to shop, then I would think that solo off road hacking on a safe pony would be acceptable. Where would you allow her to ride a bike, and would that be allowed solo? I understand that parents worry, but I also think that you have to trust that your daughter knows what she is doing. Tbh I think she would be safer on her own than with a friend of the same age, as they tend to up the ante for each other!
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Problem is she doesn't go anywhere on her own. She has never caught a bus on her own - her friends come and call on her and for some reason they all congregate in our street! She used to walk to school alone but it is only 200 m away but now walks with me because I need to take my 5 year old up. She is very mature for her age so maybe I should let her ride on her own to teach her some independance
 
Just a thought - with all the hi-tech phones around (I don't have one!) do you both have ones with the apps where you can see exactly where she is at all times? It would give you peace of mind if you could see the route she was riding on.
 
How close is she to 12? She can take her BHS Riding and Road Safety exam at 12 (our daughter passed it 2 days after her 12th birthday). You could also use the "not until you have passed the exam" reasoning. We did!

The "Track my friend" type app is worthwhile - if you have a reasonable mobile signal. Its free and there is an android and iphone version. But it does require a signal. There is also a paid for app - the android version is called "rescue me" but there are others which phones a specified number if the phone is jolted and then stops moving - so if a rider falls. That uses the emergency network so you don't need a signal from your own phone provider.
 
When I was 11 my mum would walk with me along the road, wave goodbye at the end of the bridle path, and then meet me at the gate to the road at the other end. Neither of us owned a phone, but she knew how long the route should take and I was warned on pain of death not to deviate from it. Then again, there are some 11 year olds and young teenagers that I wouldn't allow out alone past their garden gate.

I think 'not until you've passed the exam' is a great idea.
 
I used to go out as a group of kids on my 12.2 at like 8/9 & she was a little terror ! There were older teenagers that came with us though, 13/14 so wasnt so bad.

When I moved yards with my next pony I was 11 & I hacked alone then or with a group of friends about the same age :) sometimes my parents would walk the dog with me

This a good time ago now mind not sure I would feel so safe now, having said that if she is off road i dont see the problem :)
 
I did since I was around 10 I think. I did ride on the road but then there was a big forest to get to. I remember going to a new yard when I was 12 and going for a long hack to explore the area and the yo was horrifyed and phoning my mum up! my mum had to explain that I always do that lol I think people were judgy about it but I am 27 now and that was one of the things I loved about my childhood- the freedom I had. However the forest in particular was subject to weirdos of a pervy nature which is why my one rule was not to ride there when it was getting late.
There are dodgy people everywhere and always have been. Both my parents had different unpleasant experiences with strange adults as children so I don't buy this 'in the good old days it was safe' notion that some older people have. But my parents never restricted me just made me aware of the dangers I am very grateful for that. The thing that IS different though is a lot more traffic. Depends where you are riding
 
huskydamage said:
I did since I was around 10 I think. I did ride on the road but then there was a big forest to get to. I remember going to a new yard when I was 12 and going for a long hack to explore the area and the yo was horrifyed and phoning my mum up! my mum had to explain that I always do that lol I think people were judgy about it but I am 27 now and that was one of the things I loved about my childhood- the freedom I had. However the forest in particular was subject to weirdos of a pervy nature which is why my one rule was not to ride there when it was getting late.
There are dodgy people everywhere and always have been. Both my parents had different unpleasant experiences with strange adults as children so I don't buy this 'in the good old days it was safe' notion that some older people have. But my parents never restricted me just made me aware of the dangers I am very grateful for that. The thing that IS different though is a lot more traffic. Depends where you are riding
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^^ this is the childhood i recognise too, and like you I am thankful for it. I was out and about on my own on my pony from the age of 10. If I wanted to cross the road to go into some other woodland then we were only allowed to do that in company or with an adult. I knew the boundaries, and within those I was allowed a good level of freedom :)
 
I was 14 before I was allowed to ride out on my own (just over 10 years ago) but all our hacking involved road work so I understand my parents being cautious. Even then there were certain places they didn't like me to ride alone. At 13 I was allowed to ride out with just a 14 year old friend, but before that we both had to be supervised by adults. I think there is no harm in waiting until your daughter is a bit older, 11 is still very young.
 
I think I was 12 or 13. I started to share quite a sparky little pony. I didn't have a care in the world and loved the freedom. I think 10 - nearly 11 is probably a bit too young IMO. There is more traffic about now and faster roads. What is the hacking like around you?
 
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I rode alone from the age of 10, but I think that the world has changed a bit. Traffic is faster, there is more of it and drivers aren't always sensible, so I wouldn't like a 10 yr old alone on anything but very quiet roads.

We let my stepson ride alone at the age of 12. He had a very sensible pony, we have the option of riding on tracks and lanes with hardly any traffic, and he had done his BHS riding and road safety training and exam.
 
Really and truly - the law states that to be left unsupervised a child has to be a particular age - here in NZ a child of 14 is allowed to be left alone, below that they must be supervised by a person of 14 years or older. There was an article in the paper recently about a couple being seriously targeted for allowing their children to go to the park alone.

Its a very grey area.
 
I had a pony when I was 9-10 and I don't ever remember riding her out alone, kept her on my grandparents farm, I think the closest I may have gotten to riding alone was when my dad was working in a field 3 or 4 fields away. I remember him coming over and racing me on his quad bike or in his truck and my pony just galloped alongside... not sure if my mum would approve of that lol but my dad is an idiot :P
I didn't get another until I was 13 or 14, and that horse was a nervous wreck!!! This is when I first got to ride both on and off road alone. At first my parents drove ahead in the car and kept stopping at intervals, waiting for me to catch up. After a few times I was left to ride out alone, but I just rode down to my house and said hello so my mum knew how I was, then I went back up to the farm :D (it's about 2 miles away). It's a country road though so it's not that busy and there are a lot cyclists so I guess if anything happened there'd be someone around. :)

I'd just take things gradually and make sure you know she's okay handling it. :)
 
I was 9 or 10, but this was 20 years ago now so things have changed a lot.

I would make a rule that she needs to pass the BHS test first, and you follow her on an app. Other than that, I think you have to just let her get on with it, sorry, it must be really hard! (Mini sf will be locked up until she's 30 :p )
 
I was about 14/15 when I was allowed to ride out on my own, and even then my parents didn't like it. I was cheeky and went behind their backs when I was a bit younger than that, but now I look back and totally understand why they didn't want me to ride off with no one else around. I would have been totally screwed if I came off and really hurt myself.

I wouldn't let my children out on their own at 11 - at the end of the day you need to do what YOU'RE comfortable with. Only you will be kicking yourself if something horrible happens. Something could happen to any of us but at that age you don't always think logically (and not to mention are much more vulnerable).

FWIW, I would feel more comfortable knowing someone of that age was riding on the road with people around, than going somewhere in the back of beyond where no one knows where she is if something were to happen.
 
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I think I was about 10 (now 23 and 11 months ;) ). I don't think my parents knew, tbh, but we always had to tell someone on the yard exactly where we were going and how long we were expecting to be if we went out at all until we were about 13, and if we went out alone until about 15-16. Didn't have a phone until I was 12 - it was actually something I kept pointing out to my parents, "What if something happens when I'm riding?" but they didn't listen. Lucky nothing ever did happen!
There was a little roadwork but not much, and the majority of road users knew there was a riding school so were sensible.
I was probably safer then than now, I ride in the New Forest with no signal and not many people around!
 
Tnavas said:
Really and truly - the law states that to be left unsupervised a child has to be a particular age - here in NZ a child of 14 is allowed to be left alone, below that they must be supervised by a person of 14 years or older. There was an article in the paper recently about a couple being seriously targeted for allowing their children to go to the park alone.

Its a very grey area.
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not sure if I have got this right but are you saying that a 13 yo child has to be accompanied on say a half mile walk to catch the school bus?

I find that amazing.

It seems a shame that kids are not allowed out to develop self confidence and independence without being molly coddled.
I can appreciate the problems with busy roads but off road riding on a safe pony and a confident 11yo cannot go alone? If she has a accident she will have to learn what everyone has to learn which is how to cope with it. Life is after all about coping. My parents instilled the dangers of falling off horses into me. All it did was make me nervous that I was going to end up paralysed for life. If only they had instilled confidence about my ability to ride and stopped worrying.

I rode my bike to school, unaccompanied, for 20 mins each way aged 9. I had serious lectures on not going near strange men and on road safety as I had to cross a busy main road. I didn't have a pony but at age 10 I was riding my bike out for hours on end alone and on roads. I know there is more danger from traffic now but I had to learn to be independent and cope. In the evenings I was cycling to the library along a busy road alone. When I was 11 I was walking to the bus stop a 20 minutes walk each way. We didn't get taken everywhere in the car in those days.
Leaving aside more and faster cars why are children thought to be not as capable now as they were 50 years ago?
 
Cc088 said:
today was a classic example that anything could happen - her girth wasn't done up properly and the saddle slipped resulting in her falling off - I tried using this but she still thinks I'm being unreasonable.
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If she is not capable of checking that her pony is properly tacked up, and the girth is tight, then she's definitely not ready to ride out alone.

When you do let her go, insist on knowing the exact route she will take (tbh, ideally, all of us of whatever age should leave details of our intended route). Then at least if the pony comes home alone, you know whereabouts to look for her :eek:.
 
paddy555 said:
not sure if I have got this right but are you saying that a 13 yo child has to be accompanied on say a half mile walk to catch the school bus?

I find that amazing.

It seems a shame that kids are not allowed out to develop self confidence and independence without being molly coddled.
I can appreciate the problems with busy roads but off road riding on a safe pony and a confident 11yo cannot go alone? If she has a accident she will have to learn what everyone has to learn which is how to cope with it. Life is after all about coping. My parents instilled the dangers of falling off horses into me. All it did was make me nervous that I was going to end up paralysed for life. If only they had instilled confidence about my ability to ride and stopped worrying.

I rode my bike to school, unaccompanied, for 20 mins each way aged 9. I had serious lectures on not going near strange men and on road safety as I had to cross a busy main road. I didn't have a pony but at age 10 I was riding my bike out for hours on end alone and on roads. I know there is more danger from traffic now but I had to learn to be independent and cope. In the evenings I was cycling to the library along a busy road alone. When I was 11 I was walking to the bus stop a 20 minutes walk each way. We didn't get taken everywhere in the car in those days.
Leaving aside more and faster cars why are children thought to be not as capable now as they were 50 years ago?
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I feel really sorry for kids today. I'm 50 and grew up in a very rural part of Cornwall. I cycled everywhere or walked the footpaths over the fields, so little did I know that I was actually being watched quite a bit, by the local farmers- and of course, everyone knew everyone back then. I also got the don't speak to strangers bit drummed in to me. Mum taught at the local village primary but I still made my own way there, a mile, either down the lane in the winter, or across the fields in the summer. To this day, I still cross over the road at the same points that were trained into me to make me more visible to oncoming traffic. There weren't really any other kids around and I spent a lot of my time playing out alone, or with the cows. The only rule there was to always carry a stick and be prepared to wack them on the nose if they got a bit pushy. At 9 I could be several miles away from home on my bike, exploring with a local map. I didn't have a pony of my own, but I did regularly ride a friend's from 11 onwards and often hacked out for a couple of hours on my own, including jumping various obstacles. Being a competent cyclist I had pretty good road sense and the pony was good on the road (not in the paddock mind!) I always hacked to local gymkhanas too, more than an hour each way. Wearing my old person's hat ( :) ) I now realise that where there are ponies, there are young girls and consequently, flashers at the very least, especially near suburbia. There is a lot to be said for always carrying a whip. I don't think there are any more "bad" people these days, but the difference is that they are more mobile (not everyone had cars when I was young) and more able to link up with others of a similar persuasion. Where I live now, there has been an absolute outbreak of people in cars trying to attract children to them - one even at the end of my road. They are often two people and are quite happy to strike in broad daylight. Personally, I'm quite happy to tick the box which allows medical experimentation on kiddy fiddlers, but that's going off at a tangent. The biggest threat to safety I think is cars. Drivers seem to have fewer and fewer skills, heavier and heavier right feet and everyone is in such a hurry. Mind you, having said that, I have lost count of the number of times children of all ages have happily strolled off the pavement and crossed in front of me, either not looking up from their phones at all, or blatently challenging me to stop for them because they are so important. Yep, I feel sorry for them.
 
I rode alone from the age of 12, to be fair my riding in company was just me and my also 12 year old best friend. Both our parents weren't horsey so we were always dropped off at the yard and left to our own devices. Soo much fun, I wish I could go back!
 
I'm 25, and my mum knows I hack out alone sometimes but I still can't tell her about it without her worrying - not about me/the horse doing something, but about us being hit by a driver as the roads are pretty busy.

However, my sister and I rode out together (i.e. without an adult) from when we were about 13/14 or so. Mum just wants there to be another person there to witness/call for help!
 
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