Kids looking for loan horses

Mari said:
Can’t believe how many young riders, 11 - 16 yr olds, are posting on FB looking for loan horses. They all say how much experience they have but don’t say where. The photos / videos they share are very telling.
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They are kids!
Didn’t have FB when I was that age but I went through a spell of phoning up sales ads from back of H&H asking if they would loan.
It actually worked once and I got a really nice little jumper for a year!
 
Mari said:
Can’t believe how many young riders, 11 - 16 yr olds, are posting on FB looking for loan horses. They all say how much experience they have but don’t say where. The photos / videos they share are very telling.
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I don’t think it’s fair to be too critical of them; there’s plenty of us who were once pony mad teenagers without the funds for our own who took every chance we could get to spend more time in the saddle.

Yes, in an ideal world the parents are involved and support their children’s hobby as much as they can. But not everyone has that opportunity and we all have to start somewhere.
 
Meh let kids dream and if one gets lucky then all the good for them.

Kids can’t win , they get criticised for sitting in their rooms staring at screens or not taking action themselves and getting parents to do stuff for them and they also get criticised for proactively going after what they want.


It’s not an issue it’s not as if you
1) have to read the post or
2) loan them your horse.
 
Let them crack on.

Before I got my first pony aged 13, I placed a multi-coloured printed advertisement in the local tack shop window (which sadly no longer exists).

I ended up part-loaning a complete gent of an (enormous) RID - I’ll never forget cantering him around the perimeter of next doors’ land.

It’s easy to be judgemental, but try and think back to when you were just a kid desperate to get what exposure you could to horses.
 
I sometimes worry about them - younger ones sharing stuff on public groups, the apparent lack of any parental support, the responses they get...

It's rubbish to be a kid and desperately want to do something - especially something as expensive and all consuming as horses - and not have the autonomy to pursue it. And for non-horsey family kids, more than most sports, you're stuck playing catch up in an RS, second best to all the kids who have been on ponies and competing since they were tiny.
 
Cloball said:
Sometimes I regret not taking one gentleman up on his offer to clean my boots though.
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Oh has your locale got one of these as well? I always said we should let the sanctuary say yes to him and make him useful. I'm sure there would be a pair of boots lying somewhere as a wee treat for him after he's done some stables.
JFTDWS said:
I sometimes worry about them - younger ones sharing stuff on public groups, the apparent lack of any parental support, the responses they get...

It's rubbish to be a kid and desperately want to do something - especially something as expensive and all consuming as horses - and not have the autonomy to pursue it. And for non-horsey family kids, more than most sports, you're stuck playing catch up in an RS, second best to all the kids who have been on ponies and competing since they were tiny.
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It is rubbish but that's just how these things go. As a former RS catch-up kid I can tell you I appreciate every day with my pony and she is never taken for granted, which is very valuable. A bit of struggle is good for you. Sometimes.

I worry about them too though. I know a good few very capable 11-16yo riders but they are still babies in so many ways. Not every "just want some pony time" situation is safe from a riding perspective, a H&S one, or a child protection one.
 
JFTDWS said:
I sometimes worry about them - younger ones sharing stuff on public groups, the apparent lack of any parental support, the responses they get...

It's rubbish to be a kid and desperately want to do something - especially something as expensive and all consuming as horses - and not have the autonomy to pursue it. And for non-horsey family kids, more than most sports, you're stuck playing catch up in an RS, second best to all the kids who have been on ponies and competing since they were tiny.
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It is rubbish but it is also an incentive to work hard. I worked as hard as I could at school, towards a career that would pay for a horse. I just wanted a horse/pony to love of my own, and that goal motivated me all through school and university.
 
maya2008 said:
It is rubbish but it is also an incentive to work hard. I worked as hard as I could at school, towards a career that would pay for a horse. I just wanted a horse/pony to love of my own, and that goal motivated me all through school and university.
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For some kids, sure. For others, there will be other barriers to their success.

It’s life, it’s not fair - but you can still have sympathy for the kids you see in that situation.

(FTR: I had a pony as a teenager, and also worked hard in school. There are a lot of factors in the ability of any child to succeed in school, not just having a motivator like wanting to afford horses in future.)
 
JFTDWS said:
For some kids, sure. For others, there will be other barriers to their success.

It’s life, it’s not fair - but you can still have sympathy for the kids you see in that situation.

(FTR: I had a pony as a teenager, and also worked hard in school. There are a lot of factors in the ability of any child to succeed in school, not just having a motivator like wanting to afford horses in future.)
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Who are we as a society if we do not strive for what we want? If dreams are not motivators and there is no end goal for the daily slog?

Plenty of people from all walks of life have horses. Plenty of jobs require hard work but not qualifications.

I have known kids get weekend yard jobs to pay for a loan/share horse. One bought her own after saving for years. Not all were academically brilliant but they were all determined, hard working kids. My husband brought himself up and pulled his brother up with him. He drives for a living with no qualifications from school - but he earns a decent wage and can pay for his own equine.
 
Lucky Snowball said:
Children from about 10 used to work at riding stables leading ponies on hacks, mucking out, moving hay bales, sweeping etc. Sadly H and S has put a stop to this. In return we rode to and from the field morning and evening.
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It’s partly about child labour laws too, and for businesses the legal need to ensure those under 16 are safe.

The big yard I was at all the weekend teens were paid. It meant a) they were more reliable and b) no hordes of teens hanging around chatting/social media-ing, and generally getting in the way. Also some of the fields were a 15/20min walk away, and were big herds too - no way would we have allowed a 10 year to old to catch in… some experienced adults didn’t particularly enjoy it.
 
My daughter is 10 and helps out at our livery yard in exchange for lessons on her own pony or they take her out in the lorry to events they are already going to etc, she loves it and they are very sensible in what they let her do/cannot do with specific horses. She does everything they do jobs wise, bar the riding of the big horses...she even helps prepare horses for hunting (plaits/washes/tacks up delivers to events etc). Legally I know its not allowed but all parties are aware of the risks etc... she does occasionally also get a bit of pocket money too if it has been a very busy day. Plus I get free childcare ;) Some days I do worry about the what ifs....but her work ethic is amazing when it comes to the horses and she is super keen to do it. Wish I could say the same about her homework!

I don't think there is any substitute for that kind of work really and am delighted she is doing the sorts of things I did as a kid to get experience with horses. I didn't have my own until I was 16, I shared ponies at her sort of age and did much the same that she is doing, she's just lucky she has her own to ride.
 
maya2008 said:
Who are we as a society if we do not strive for what we want? If dreams are not motivators and there is no end goal for the daily slog?

Plenty of people from all walks of life have horses. Plenty of jobs require hard work but not qualifications.

I have known kids get weekend yard jobs to pay for a loan/share horse. One bought her own after saving for years. Not all were academically brilliant but they were all determined, hard working kids. My husband brought himself up and pulled his brother up with him. He drives for a living with no qualifications from school - but he earns a decent wage and can pay for his own equine.
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I didn't say people shouldn't work for things in life - I said that not everyone is capable of achieving the lifestyle they want, and that's not necessarily their fault.

I'm not really sure why you're trying to make this about what you, or people you know have achieved, when my point is that kids don't have the autonomy to change the life they're living at that point, and it seems rather unfair to sneer at them for being average riding school level riders.
 
Mari said:
Can’t believe how many young riders, 11 - 16 yr olds, are posting on FB looking for loan horses. They all say how much experience they have but don’t say where. The photos / videos they share are very telling.
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Nothing has changed in 60 odd years, just these days they post on the internet, back in the day they would have asked at the feed shop or their local riding school to help for rides. I really can't see a problem at all, if those photos and videos are 'so telling' then how the heck do you think they will get any better without either a Mum and Dad with enough money to buy them experience, or someone like me or others on here giving them a break now and then to help them along the way. My best ever young sharer came to me by having the chutzpah to get off her backside and just ask around, they had about 1 years experience of riding for one hour a week in a riding school. She was 13 and everything was Ok'd with her parents.

By the time I moved away when she was 17 she was a damn good rider, could be trusted to take full care of 4 horses while I was away on holidays and soon spot any problems before they become a drama. She also saved enough money to buy her own just before I left, and she earned that money by doing an early morning paper round every day for 4 years whilst studying for her exams and paid for any extra grooming duties she did for me.

Give them a break, we all started somewhere didn't we?
 
maya2008 said:
Who are we as a society if we do not strive for what we want? If dreams are not motivators and there is no end goal for the daily slog?

Plenty of people from all walks of life have horses. Plenty of jobs require hard work but not qualifications.

I have known kids get weekend yard jobs to pay for a loan/share horse. One bought her own after saving for years. Not all were academically brilliant but they were all determined, hard working kids. My husband brought himself up and pulled his brother up with him. He drives for a living with no qualifications from school - but he earns a decent wage and can pay for his own equine.
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Have you seen horse prices and the increase of livery prices it’s not a case of working hard it’s really just getting a job that makes you rich enough to buy horse and afford to keep a horse. Most people who don’t have a lot of money got their horses years ago cheap before horse prices went up massively and are barely affording there horses probably eventually have to sell them or not get another one after retiring them . When a lot of these kids are adults they probably won’t be able to afford a horse in the future it’s going to be impossible to afford one on a normal wage.
 
I simply feel that being pessimistic is a self fulfilling prophecy. On another thread there are complaints that no one wants to work hard and progress these days. I pointed out here that wanting something you cannot currently have can be a motivator to work hard - at whatever you are doing.

Plenty of the people we have bought ponies from and sold outgrown ponies to have been ordinary people working ordinary jobs. Did those ponies always come from/go to fancy yards with facilities? No. Did the ponies mind? Not at all.

For those teenagers advertising now - it is possible to find something. I have part loaned, in exchange for chores or a very small fee, to riding school riders. I do now - one of mine has a riding school beginner sharer. They contribute a tiny amount and my kids have a friend to ride with. We have also let my kids’ friends come and ride once a week if they were keen - for free - for as long as they wanted. Some went on to get their own, some moved away, some are still here. One teen sharer just turned up one horrible winter and asked if I wanted help, just wanting to spend time around the ponies. We let her ride and she was absolutely brilliant to have around, always did more than her share of chores and would help babysit my kids when they were tiny. We took her to shows and she worked her way up the sizes of pony we had until she outgrew them all, then got her own on loan with her adult income. I am most certainly not the only person doing this, as seen on my local Facebook group when teens and adults advertise looking for shares/horse time etc.

As someone who works with young people professionally and has my own children, I spend my life giving realistic hope and help to achieve goals and a better future life through education and training. I cannot believe that everyone should just give up hope and resign themselves to a future just scraping by.

Maybe life nearer London is harder? Maybe those teens who desperately want a horse will choose to move away when they are adults? But here, it’s reasonable to ask, and a kind, helpful, hardworking teen will always find something.
 
My first pony of my own to care for was from a chance conversation in the pub, someone had bought their grandson a pony and he was not interested. I couldn't really ride but I was keen and it cost my parents nothing.When I got far too big for it I persuaded them to sell it.
Ponies were very cheap then, you could buy one for about two weeks wage, giving a child fully responsibility for something now that would cost at the minium a months wage plus costly livery is a real financial risk, never mind if they get injured.
I used to have older children to share and help with our ponies when my kids were small, TBH some of the girls and their parents were really ungrateful. The boys who are now in their forties have thanked me as adults and still ride, I would often end up at local show with an extra child leading in return for a ride or a go on the handy pony.
 
maya2008 said:
As someone who works with young people professionally and has my own children, I spend my life giving realistic hope and help to achieve goals and a better future life through education and training. I cannot believe that everyone should just give up hope and resign themselves to a future just scraping by.
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Literally nobody has said this. You're inventing an argument to rail against here.
 
There's a lot of these adverts about just now and good on them! A wee bit of concerning with surrounding the usual online safety issues, but where else are they going to ask.

Growing up as a horse mad child from age 5, in a non horsey, skint family where proper lessons in the riding school were rare treat. I either arranged days to work at the RS for half hour lesson (which was quite far away).

Getting older I cycled my bike around farms, yards basically anywhere there were horses and asked to help out. Sometimes it was a one off other times a more regular thing and I learned loads! My mum didn't really have anything to do with it all, maybe a landline number of the owner in case of emergency. Surprising there wasn't any, I would/did have get on anything for the chance to ride and learn. I just hope these kids get genuine, responsible replies, best of luck to them!

Didn't get my own till in my 20s, but God that felt good!

ETA- As a keen kid, totally enthusiastic if was writing an FB ad, mine would be one of there's getting slated for riding abilities etc, I wouldn't have really understood how important it was to be honest (& ignore the bitching) like I do now in 30s.
 
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Lucky Snowball said:
Children from about 10 used to work at riding stables leading ponies on hacks, mucking out, moving hay bales, sweeping etc. Sadly H and S has put a stop to this. In return we rode to and from the field morning and evening.
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It still happens occasionally in places that preserve the old ways, and thank god for that! Lucky kids.
 
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