In the news. Horse bites nine year old girl's thumb off

Poor kid, who amongst us hasnt given a horse a treat without the owners permission at some time in our lives.
 
Mike007 said:
Poor kid, who amongst us hasnt given a horse a treat without the owners permission at some time in our lives.
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I don't feed other peoples horses, and I don't like other people feeding mine.
At one field, we had a young horse who started to bite because people insisted on feeding him over the fence. We did have a sign up but they took no notice. Some idiot even left a very large pile of grass cuttings in the field. When we moved to a different field the feeding stopped, and so did the biting.
 
Poor girl, what was the mother thinking?

I struggle with people feeding my lot as most of my fields have public footpaths running through them and we get a lot of traffic on weekends. I've seen parents holding toddlers over an electric fence so they can feed the nice horsey, while standing next a sign asking them not to feed the horses. Idiots.
 
This incident has been raised several times previously on this forum, which has been met with the same reaction.

Some lessons are hard learned. No, they shouldn't have been treating the horses with food nor interacting with such large beasts with minimal knowledge for their own personal enjoyment.

I personally find it hard to believe that this young lady was correctly treating someone elses animal, otherwise she wouldn't have lost her thumb. It's clear that they've made a habit of 'let's go and feed those horses treats' and it backfired.

Are there times when I'm not as careful as I should be and risk a nasty injury? Yes is the answer to that!

I hope this does raise awareness to non-horsey folk that these beasts can cause serious damage at least and avoid any risk. Unlikely but I am an optimist.
 
Animals are dangerous especially horses. Imagine if this was a dog everyone would want it put down. It is always a risk interacting with animals let alone ones you don't know. I feel bad for the girl it i hope it doesn't put her off animals for life, sounds like a freak accident maybe the horse caught her whilst having a go at the others?
I hope this doesn't turn into some crazy sue/blame claim thing though like these things usually do!
 
For years I struggled to stop randomers feeding my ponies and am so grateful they are now at home and I don't need to worry about it. Horses are not public property and this girl's parent is at fault.
 
Do people go around and randomly feed other pets like cats and dogs? Nope same with horses unless you have asked don't feed. Hard lesson learned but she won't do it again.
 
I have resorted to putting signs up on the field with my shetlands in telling people not to feed them, that the ponies have special dietary needs, any vets bills will be forwarded to them and that there is cctv watching the field. It seems to have deterred most people now thankfully.

I had to resort to this when I found a bunch of teenagers IN the field with them - at the time I had one of my tb's out there who gets very nippy and kicky around food and they were feeding them a big bag of jelly tots! It is very lucky for them that I appeared whilst they still had something to feed Kyle as once the food is gone that's when the nipping started.
 
I have had teens telling me I wasn't feeding mine properly......have had to stop someone with a huge bag of carrots feeding them whole to my ponies-know someone whose neighbour kept throwing lawnmower clippings over the fence to a Shetland pony! People should stop treating other people's animals as a free for all! Makes me mad.
 
rachk89 said:
Do people go around and randomly feed other pets like cats and dogs?
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Actually people feed other peoples cats all the time; although often without realising if the cats are fed in a cat room with access to the outside world. But at the serious end you do get people adopting other peoples cats; often without meaning to and cats, being cats, are not one to pass up a good free meal and attention.

Dogs are much the same, but at the same time they are often much closer to their owners. It's rare for dogs to be wandering larger areas without the owner being around unless they are guard dogs - people don't approach guard dogs who have that guard-dog look to them (ergo its as big or bigger than a labrador and its not a labrador )



As for horses the thing is most people treat horses who are not their own because its a thing people are seen to do. What do you do with a dog? You pet the dog; what do you do with a cat, you give a stroke. What do you do with a horse; you offer treats and a pat (often to the face/cheek).

That the latter part is somewhat if not totally wrong for proper horse etiquette is a result of the fact that most people are not involved in horse society. They have nothing save for a few films and videos (where treats are oft given to horses) to "educate" them and thus its rather like feeding the ducks at the pond. People do it even though its not best advised to do so and can even be harmful -*. Without proper education at school and backup for that in social media/films/etc... people will continue to do as they have done.

A horse that bites might make it into local news; or once in a while national like this. But besides a lot of drama it won't change things much long term. Most will still offer treats to that friendly horse in the paddock. Most will still regard any horse behind a fence as safe, friendly, in need of a pat and atreat and generally not a threat. Of course these same people wouldn't go near a horse without the fence- the fence adds a lot of empowerment to the un-horsey people.



* bread isn't harmful on its own; but some of the more highly processed isn't very healthy. Furthermore ducks love bread but it has little nutritional value for them; thus ducks are very heavily visited ponds can easily bulk up on bread and end up very malnourished.
 
I feel sorry for the kid but at least her mother has now learnt her lesson! I wish the article had mentioned something about how you shouldn't feed random horses though, maybe a short quote from a vet or horse welfare person. Because a lot of people just don't realise that not only is it not particularly good for the horses, it can cause behavioural problems, making horses grabby and a bit aggressive. More to the point, they can't see what is right under their nose, so a horse grabbing for a carrot can't tell if there are little fingers in the way! Mine and my sister's can be a nightmare if given treats together in the field - they don't get aggressive towards people but will scrap with each other for the best position, which can result in lots of kicking out and snapping at each other. We do have a footpath running past out field but fortunately my horse is incredibly antisocial and my sister's horse is very hard to catch and scared of strangers, so they aren't the sort to go up to strangers and ask for fuss and attention.
 
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