Riding schools, who's Responsible for looking after the little helpers

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Riding schools, who's responsible for looking after the little helpers!
Like making sure the little helpers wear hats, if bring in the ponies/horse's in from the field, tacking up, mucking out. The welfare of your child, when your said child is there helping them out (a saturday girl) on a busy R.school. Most of us have all worked for nothing at a stable yard, when we were younger, i no I did, and I loved and learnt every min of it. But i was made to wear a hat and it was safety safety safety, but i'm not so sure all stables are like this now!!! What to do if you saw some thing that was putting a child/children at risk...
 
I think you'll find they are as the insurance is so high. Most riding schools have riding aht zones and when you're in these zones where there are ponies you must wear hats.
As for who's looking after the little helpers? That's easy, the older helpers!
 
I can't ever remember being told to wear a hat when leading etc (though this was a fair few years ago now). I know insurance wise things are a lot sticter now and I would have thought that from a legal point of view it would be the YO. In any other work place the employer would be ulimately responsible for any H&S issues.
 
I think that on lots of riding school yards now.. the helpers, little or otherwise, are so restricted in what they are allowed to do that it would be hard to learn anything
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The government have put in place so many rules about wearing gloves for grooming and masks for mucking out (or something like that) that its no fun anymore
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But, yes, it will be the big helpers who look after the little helpers
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Well today, i went to the r.school "early" to pick my child up and could'nt belieave what i saw.... my 10 yr old child leading 2 horse's in from the top field without a hat on in very windy conditions., opening the gate herself then had to close the gate with 2 other loose horse's in the field along with a 15 yr old girl holding another 2 horse's with a Y.manager down from the field getting ready to ride her horse, i run to help my daughter with the 2 horse's and asking the y.manager "why is said children not wearing hats and holding two horse's each in these windy conditions and "you" not helping them!!! y.manager reply's "It's my day off" nothing to do with me, so i say, but they are children wether it's your day off or not... you can't stand there and wait for an accident to happend, I no i could'nt. so i ask who is here incharge today, and the 15 yr old girl is!!! of a riding school!!!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
I think that on lots of riding school yards now.. the helpers, little or otherwise, are so restricted in what they are allowed to do that it would be hard to learn anything
frown.gif


The government have put in place so many rules about wearing gloves for grooming and masks for mucking out (or something like that) that its no fun anymore
mad.gif


But, yes, it will be the big helpers who look after the little helpers
frown.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

At this r.school i have seen NOTHING like this in place. and there should be, ticking time bomb if you ask me?????
 
Doesn't suprise me one bit if i'm honest. I used to be left practically in charge all the the time when i was 14/15.
That explains her not wearing her hat is as the 15 year old will probably be rebelling and not wearing one so therefore your daughter wouldn't wear one as the girl wasn't.
Riding schools are funny places and i look back at my riding school days and i can't believe some of the things i put up with! If you're truely concerned about your daughters safety i'd say is there anywhere else you can take her for lessons?
 
Yes plan to take her some where else now, as all animals are unpredictable, and anything could have happened. and with two horses in tow a 10yr old girl would'nt have stood a chance.
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A local riding school to me charges the children £25 a year to join a club they have set up for helpers... this covers their insurance. if they are not part of the club they're not allowed to stay and help!
 
We have helpers in our riding school. They MUST be 13 yrs old and over. Like the above poster they join a club to be helpers and we provide them with uniform and training for their BHS stages which includes practical and theory stable management plus a riding lesson each week.
They are given a contract when joining the scheme which includes a risk assessment statement that they must read, digest and understand as must their parents.
With regards to who is looking after them on each day there is an allocated staff member that supervises them throug the day. They are not allowed on the yard or to deal with the horses without a staff member.
Hard hats and gloves are worn all day, from the minute they arrive to the minute they go home.
 
Sounds like a great idea, hopefully more RS's will start schemes like this. Although they may then starting trying to rip children off with rediculous charges for such clubs. However the £25 a year one sounds very reasonable.
 
Riding schools are more health and safety aware these days we never had to wear hats or gloves to bring in or lead in lessons when i was a helper but they all have to now.

We had YM who orginised who did what jobs and us older or more experineced ones got put in charge of overseeing what the kids were doing.
Like i lived at the RS as the YO took me in so i could be trusted to orginise jobs for them to do as i worked ont hat yard 7 days a week and knew the daily running inside out.

There was always staff around too there would be YM teaching and at least 2 other members of staff on duty too.
 
If they are properly licensed, then it is part of the H&S and license conditions that the yard/stables will not be left in the sole charge of any person under 18. This also applies to the insurance.

Providing they have all that
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I would be inclined to put this in writing to the owner as well the local authority which licenses them if you are unhappy (which I would be)
 
I work at a local riding school, we have the little helpers you talk about. I am in charge of them a lot of the time. (I am 19 years old, and no one is allowed to be in charge till age 18) The kids all have to wear hats to catch and changeover horses in the lessons. I am expected to ensure they stick to this. As well as make sure that people are sensible, for instance the very small kids shoudn't even attempt to take some of the horses we have on box rest for the walk in hand they are supposed to have as they all get very strong, despite this, they still seem to think they can handle it! just this saturday had to grab a pony before he ended up at the field, they were leading him around in a headcollar! (pony has been in for 2 months!)


All the kids that help at the yard have BHS insurance which will cover them (all been checked by insurers)
 
I appreciate that from an H&S Insurance point of view, RS have to do this ... but .... this explains SO much!
The RS darlings known to my pony owning daughters are SO up themselves, they really think they know FAR more than a child who merely owns, mucks out, grooms, rides and cares for their own pony 24/7. Some of them are just unbearable.
Now I know why. They think we don't understand that we must wear hats and gloves all day and that everything in life is Very Dangerous.
 
I would suggest that you contact the owner of the yard and determine that the yard concerned has appropriate insurance in place in the event of an accident.

If the riding school/livery yard is properly run then they will have rules in place to ensure that riding hats of a correct size and to an approved standard are worn by all staff and helpers when mounting, riding a horse, leading a horse or lunging a horse etc.

This is because of the Health and Safety Legislation and also because of the code of conduct of BHS and BRS approved riding schools /livery yards.

It is interesting to note that the insurance premiums for approved yards have started to go down because underwriters have found that their claims record has gone down.
 
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