I couldn't help myself....

[henryhorn]

We were at a show yesterdayand had just arrived, and were sitting still in the box cab watching the showjumping.
A girl of about 14 came out furious with her pony, who had a fence down, due we reckoned to her pushing and holding hard her fizzy grey pony.
As she walked back to her box she jabbed ths pony numerous times in the mouth, really hard jerks making us wince.
She reached the box next but one still in our view and jumped off and administered a full strength whack along it's neck with her whip.
I'm afraid I don't know what came over me but I whizzed my door open and shouted really loudly at her "Hey, stop that at once, there's no need for that!"
She stopped, threw the reins at her parents' and ran inside the box to hide.
I went over and apologised to her Mum explaining I had in the past had to take my own kids to task for getting cross, and to my amazement she said Thankyou..
The kid stood in the horse part of the box for an hour with her arms leaning on the partition attempting to show how upset she was but the parents' ignored her and eventually she finished her next phase.
I suppose I could have got thumped thinking about it afterwards, but you know what, I bet she never EVER does that again at a show....!

 

[Prudence]

Bloody good on you HH!!! Not sure if I'd have done the same, for the very reason you put at the bottom of your post!! Wish more people would say things like that at the right time!! Maybe I should let go a little more often....

 

[ernikins]

Well done - the amount of times I have wanted to do the same! One time a girl fell off her pony in the jump off because she yanked it in the mouth in an attempt to turn it and when it jumped from a stand still and jumped her off she actually smacked it around the neck with her whip - what shocked me was that noone said anything - she should have been whacked herself!!!!

 

[icestationzebra]

Well done you! Lets hope parents keep a closer eye on her from now on. They sound as though they were quite embarrassed by the 'little angel'. Perhaps their comeuppance for spoiling her.

 

[Weezy]

*CLAPS*

Thank you for doing that HH, far too few people do express their concerns to the brats that do this type of thing - instead they just post about it

 

[airedale]

hope the pony has the last laugh and has 2 down next time - or bucks the brat off.

 

[eahotson]

Three Cheers Henryhorn!!

 

[sojeph]

Makes me fume that sort of thing. Well done you!
If I caught my daughter doing such a thing she wouldn't have been able to finish the next phase!

 

[Ginn]

Well done HH! Wish more people would stand up for these ponies like that.

 

[Iestyn]

It is hard sometimes to keep your mouth shut - I think I may have done the same thing. Over the holidays I was asked to run a SJ arena for the local PC (I have never been a member of a PC and don't have any kids - just thought I'd do my part). Anyways a child came out who was eliminated and proceeded to hit her pony with a whip and kick it with spurs on - I loudly (in my teacher voice, but politely) told her that if I saw her hit her pony one more time that I would be speaking to her DC. Mum stood there opened mouthed - I walked across, toled her there was no need for it and told her to come with me back to the warm up arena. I talked her through jumping her pony over a practise fence, told her to pat it and go and put him away. I was stared at and glared at quite a bit that day - but I was thanked for my time and told that they'd had numerous reports on how impressed they were with my arena!!! Sometimes there's no harm in teaching children right from wrong if done in the right way - there are a lot of unhorsey parents out there and they do sometimes appreciate more experienced people giving their children a reminder. Next time it may backfire, but your conscience will be clear.

 

[monica123]

wow!!! well done you!!!!!!

 

[Vey]

Well done you! I have to say I really do not think mine would have done such a thing - but there is always one spoilt brat ,,,,

 

[Oaksflight]

Well done! Remember at local show last summer, girl smacked her pony for no reason in show jumping. Well known sj round here who teaches (and obviously teaches her) had such a go at her, said if she ever saw her smack her pony like that again she'd make sure she never rode again, etc. Her Mum stood there agreeing. If only more people stood up like that!

 

[whispersltd]

i am for ever stomping over to kids and there mums and having a word about there lack of respect for there ponys in the show ring! drives me insane to see these kids hitting these little ponys that are trying so hard and kicking in there sides with mothers shouting "kick him harder" grrrrr good on you HH

 

[Sooty]

Good for you! I wish more people would take a stand when they see abuse, whether of animals or people. It takes more courage than I've got...

 

[KJJ]

Good for you HH... we need more people acting like you and hopefully these poor horses/ponies won't have their riders anger taken out on them....

It really does upset me when you see people taking their frustrations out on the horse they seem to forget the other 8 or so jumps that the horse/pony has cleared beautifully ... but they always remember the knock downs.... grrrr!!!!

Well done you!!!

 

[riotgirl]

Well done HH, her mother was probably mortified by her behaviour!

 

[baybeejay01]

Good for you! I fenced judged at a local HT last year and had the misfortune to witness a young boy of approx 10 hit his pony over the head with his flat hand on the approach to my jump and swear at the poor thing (it was only looking at the jump!). The pony went clear which I duly recorded and in the comments box I wrote "hit pony over the head with his hand and was verbally abusive to pony" - don't know what the outcome was but if I know the organiser he was probably b*ll*cked good and hard!

 

[Gingernags]

Have done the same when fence judging, handy thing those comments sections! They were over the fence and away before I could shout anything but I made sure the comments went down and this was a PC event too so they should have got a good b*llocking!

But a definite well done for speaking up!

 

[Tharg]

Well done you, many would have turned a blind eye.