kids playing football at yard!

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el_Snowflakes

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I dont know how many times i have told kids at the yard not to play football/bounce ball repeatedly off wall when there are horses around. Today was no exeption ( i am not talking about kids who have ponies, im talking aboout bored kids who are hanging around waiting for parents to muck there own horses) I think its totally unacceptable to be playing football inside when there are horses around. If its not football its throwing rocks or running around weaving in and out of horses which are tied up. It really spoils my concentration/enjoyment when i am schooling in the arena and there are little boys running around screaming at the top of there voices and being a general nuisance!! I can feel my nerves on edge just thinking about it- particularly when we have tractors etc going around the yard too :o what do you all think? Am i being unreasonable? what would you do?:D
 
I'd just tell the parents and if that didn't work the yo. My daughter plays football with her pony & rides her bike, scooter etc round ours, but only ours & certainly knows its not the general way to behave round them or on other peoples yards.
 
what does the yard manager think about this?

We recently had the situation where someone had a new part loaner for their horse. Said loaner had some kids that ran wild. Tolerated to the point where it got dangerous and ruining everyone elses enjoyment. Complaints were made to the YM who then flat out banned them.

Loaner now struggles to come up, but my sympathies only stretch so far.

YARDS ARE NOT PLAYGROUNDS!!!!
 
I don't think you're being unreasonable at all. I have my own yard and yes my boys sometimes play football in whichever field is empty, but it's never near the ponies and if I'm doing work with them then they stop kicking the ball. Common sense should tell the parents that as horses are unpredictable it's not a good idea to be running around near them making loud noises. :mad:
 
One of the most bombproof young ponies I know grew up on a farm with farm traffic and a football mad child. He doesnt even notice the football going between his legs or the farm goings on.
 
I'm a bit the opposite - I'm quite happy to have kids/dogs/tractors/etc around, because that way my horse is used to that sort of thing and doesn't bat an eyelid out hacking or at shows.
 
dafthoss said:
One of the most bombproof young ponies I know grew up on a farm with farm traffic and a football mad child. He doesnt even notice the football going between his legs or the farm goings on.
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Darach's the same - if it's not the dog's football (DT's not Wolf's) being lobbed at him, it's a horseball ;) Obvs F&J are the same too because of horseball :D
 
Thanks guys :)

I wouldnt leave the yard as im happy in every other way. Its really 1 or 2 parents who dont see the dangers. Having known someone who lost a child in a yard accident I dont even think i need to explain how dangerous yards can be for kids :( There were complaints about this sort of thing b4....same kids leaving scooters lying around as well as toy cars etc. totally unacceptable in my book!! i wouldnt speak to the parents as if they dont see the dangers already then i doubt i can reason with them. (they are the kind of parents who let the kids rummage through you stuff right in front of you and its YOU who has to tell them to stop it!!!) Idont want any confrontation but if it comes from the YO they will have to take it seriously.
 
depurple1 said:
I'm a bit the opposite - I'm quite happy to have kids/dogs/tractors/etc around, because that way my horse is used to that sort of thing and doesn't bat an eyelid out hacking or at shows.
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Maybe so but what if you're about to take a jump and a football comes shooting in front of you? or you're bent over picking out a back hoof and a child comes hurtling round the corner? Both things could cause even the most calm horse to react and someone to end up hurt. Desensitising is fine as long as everyone involved is aware and prepared.
 
Spiritedly said:
Maybe so but what if you're about to take a jump and a football comes shooting in front of you? or you're bent over picking out a back hoof and a child comes hurtling round the corner? Both things could cause even the most calm horse to react and someone to end up hurt. Desensitising is fine as long as everyone involved is aware and prepared.
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agree 100%
 
as a parent of two boys aged 2 and 7, i can sympathise with parents with horses, i think non parents can be a bit hard on parents as it is such hard work to do what you need to do and keep the kids entertained. i often worry that my kids annoy others but they generally play in the car or only a few feet from me. they do have toys to keep them busy but they keep out the way of the horses and certainly wouldnt play football near horses! if they get a bit noisy, i try to get them to help me or tell them off for being noisey! i do not let them touch anyone elses stuff , its hard to keep them under such strict control and very boring for them too and i imagine that some parents save themselves the headache by letting the kids play football! i would be too embarrassed if that were me though!
 
whilst I do empathise that kids throwing stones or getting in the way of people is annoyng I have no issues at all with children playing with balls etc in a safe manner in a yard...... I think its excellent preparationfor "life"....... for going to shows, for hacking out where children ( and adults) do not creep around or even be respectful.

I actually encouraged ball play around our herd and the neds pay no attention at all to balls flying around. I was ever so glad of that one day when out hacking through a village and a young boy deliberatly threw his ball directly at us :eek:. We have also been sat relaxed at pubs when on pub rides with no fear of horses being upset by games in the pub grounds ...... we can't expect others to stop their reasonable enjoyment just to accomodate us.

Same with garden toys .....even trampolines....... we encourage this play. Then we are not in th e situation I found myself on another hack with a neighbour when her horse having a fit because a child was playing in its own garden on a toy tractor and her horse would not go past the gate. Rider was yelling at child to stop ..... why should he ?????


Could a compromise be made OP ........ a discussion with YO /YM and the parents of said children. Perhaps areas and types of play said kids could engage on which does not involve areas people working with horses...... and or / an area where they play where those wanting to habituate horses to such things can do do....... maybe actively encourage set times when the kids can be involved in proper habituation sessions. I bet they would love to be enthusiastic "crowds" or be making things for such sessions and they could learn / be educated about the things that concern you and how to behave around horses that are not as habituated to high energy stuff.


Despite saying we let kids do loads stuff we still actually have quite strict rules about when / where etc a d any transegressions earn a stern talking to ;)
 
If its causing an issue I would have a quiet word with the parents, I would point out the safety implication, and explain that if any of the children were injured by my horse when they ran up behind it I wouldn't be held responsible.
Saying that one of the reasons I left my old yard, was the YM deciding that when my then partner was clipping his horse was a good time to chase rats out of her metal feed bins about 10ft away, yes we are talking some serious crashing going on. Previously perfect to clip horse is now not so good! Adults can be idiots too.
 
dafthoss said:
One of the most bombproof young ponies I know grew up on a farm with farm traffic and a football mad child. He doesnt even notice the football going between his legs or the farm goings on.
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I really do sympathise, have experienced similar, however, dafthoss and other posters are right, it is so good for a horse to be around this in the long term
 
Kids unsupervised on a yard behaving like this are an accident waiting to happen.
Everyone goes on about how good it is to have it happen around the horses as it desensitises them, but when the kid gets there head kicked in by the horse, i guarentee it will be a different story.
Id imagine the yo would be liable for allowing the behaviour in the first place.
Becaiuse whether we like it or not, whose liable is likely to be the first question asked
 
I think that kids running around between horses and playing football, throwing rocks etc is unacceptable.
If it happened at my yard I wouldn't be happy. My horse doesn't care about balls flying about (I play football with her in the field) but I think having lots of children running around is the potential for disaster.
OP speak to your yard manager.
 
elsazzo said:
I dont know how many times i have told kids at the yard not to play football/bounce ball repeatedly off wall when there are horses around. Today was no exeption ( i am not talking about kids who have ponies, im talking aboout bored kids who are hanging around waiting for parents to muck there own horses) I think its totally unacceptable to be playing football inside when there are horses around. If its not football its throwing rocks or running around weaving in and out of horses which are tied up. It really spoils my concentration/enjoyment when i am schooling in the arena and there are little boys running around screaming at the top of there voices and being a general nuisance!! I can feel my nerves on edge just thinking about it- particularly when we have tractors etc going around the yard too :o what do you all think? Am i being unreasonable? what would you do?:D
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Agree there's a Health & Safety issue here and YO/YM should be laying down the law, BUT on the plus side (;)) just think how bombproof your horses are becoming!!! With mine we used to have to hack through a place where people were playing football and he just hated it: ditto kids playing and screaming, so whilst you may consider it annoying I'd personally consider it a bit of a bonus TBH coz if you do encounter similar out hacking at least you'll know the horses have had to deal with it at home.
 
I don't really mind kids playing as long as they aren't completely out of hand or rude. Last yard was next to a primary school playground and sometimes upwards of a dozen footballs would come whizzing over the 3' fence at breaktime. Even vets and farriers were asked to retrieve lost balls for little gangs of 'best friends'.
Never minded a bit, my young filly soon learnt a stray ball landing on her bum was no big deal. Impromptu make shift tents flapping on windy days did us all a favour in bombproofing.
Its all part of life and its nice to hear children having fun.
 
The kids on our yard play football, ride bikes, all sorts off games to keep them happy and we have good horses which are all use to it. Even the youngsters on the yard end up being bombproff and use to kids,dogs,footballs,bikes,scooters,etc. See no harm in it and good for the horses to get use to it
 
Oh also just to add, my 2 yr old is now great with kids,dogs,will walk pass kids playing football, even kicked the ball himself which the kids though was great, the ball has been kicked in his stable which they did get told off for but the 2yr old didn't move. Will walk pass a trampoline with kids bouncing. It's done him the world off good and perfer that than being use to nothing and having probs latter in life. We also have shooting down the rd ( on our doorstep really) and will walk pass no problems. Some times a quiet yard is not always best
 
I'm not really a big fan of children but I understand how hard it can be for parents to juggle everything so I am not really bothered if they bring them to the yard and they play footie or stuff like that as long as they're not in the way.

The only time it really did annoy me was when we once had a woman with kids at the farm. We think she was trying to squeeze us out, her kids were loud, rude, mean to the cats, she made tyre swings in the tack area of the stable, they pulled all our rug racks over, they had those electric mini 4x4 things that chavs like to buy their children, it was awful and I was so glad when she finally left.
 
Tbh most off the yards in our area are kid friendly, if you don't like kids out playing etc our area wouldn't suit u at all but on the plus side even the ex racers brought in , current racers which a owner trains on the yard and all the youngster etc are brill. No trouble with any off them on the roads at all. And with quite a lot off people not liking hacking out could it be to do with lack off simulation on the horses part? Just a thought. The racers will walk pass all the above mentioned and sets them up for the road work in our area.
 
I wouldn't have an issue with kids playing footie at the yard - I quite often suggest to my OH's son he brings a ball along to have a kick around!! I don't think it does the horses any harm to get used to that sort of thing. My mare is a nervy type and I want her to be exposed to as much as possible.

Obviously, if I felt it was putting the child or any horse in danger then I would stop it - and my OH's children know exactly how to behave near the horses. They don't go anywhere near the back ends, they don't go anywhere near them at all unless I am with them and stood between the horse and them. They don't go in any stable, or open any doors, or go in any fields unless I am with them and they are right beside me.
 
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