Should I Leave Her Be???

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Amys_Babies

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Firstly i don't want any criticism as i am generally posting for advice on what is best for the horse. Ok well here it goes. There is a 11 year old girl on yard who has her own pony who her mum just leaves her with him at weekends. I had a few concern but never really said anything as he isnt my pony at i dont run the yard.

Today though i feel quite angry after some the things i have found out about the pony and also i am angry with the way this pony is treated. I dont know what breed the pony is but surely it cannot be right for ponies who rib cage to be sticking out can it? Also surely there is something wrong when the young girl says she is putting him on a diet because he has gained weight...there is no meat on this pony at all!!!

Today the girl asked me to help her lunge him with tack on so i did. I left her to tack him up as she does this all the time so thought she would know what she was doing plus i needed to feed Buddy. I didnt check the tack as she does this most days with him so didnt think anything would be wrong. So got into school and he was having a bit of a fit screaming for the other horses in field, so i told the girl i would get him going for her. Only to find that he ran forward and managed to get his bridle off and was galloping around the school bucking like crazy. With him bucking he managed to also get his saddle over his shoulders and it was starting to get a little dangerous now and the girl was just standing their laughing at him.

Well i managed to catch him and luckly there was no damage and i asked her about her tack. She said the bridle was too big anyway and she didnt put the saddle on tight as thought it would shock him as hadnt been rode in few weeks because of her being on holiday.
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I then asked where she had got her tack from and she said the YO had sized him up for it and had gave her some. Now really im not trying to be a b*tch or something but how could the YO sell this tack to first time buyers and not even give them the right tack.

I feel like i should say something to the mum though for the girls own safety but i dont know what to say. There is the weight issue and the fact the daughter is riding this horse in tack that could lead to a serious accident as the tack doesnt fit him. Plus i am dissapointed in how bad my YO must be to not even pick up on his.


Rant over...sorry for it being long.
 
HHmmmm tricky one, natural reaction is to say to parent of child - eh look do you realise what is going on but you don't want to leave yourself wide open for YO to eject you from yard or parent to take the hump. I would possibly mention to parent that there was a slight incident in the school and had they had the pony's tack checked and even just a wee chat as to how are they getting on, anything they want to ask give you a shout, you may find they are a bit overwhelmed and could do with someone to ask rather than potentially feeling silly about asking for help - I am presuming here this is a first pony?
 
The kid has been left unsupervised with a pony that could quite inadvertantly kill her. That would be my concern.

Remember that kids are full of it, do you think she was just showing off about the tack and the diet? Goes back to my first point really.
 
Just be nice and say if she wants a bit of help you would be available. Did you manage to alter the tack to get it to fit, I hope you can help her without it being taken the wrong way, good luck
 
Yeah this is her first pony she has had him about a year now. I had to go and save her pony few weeks back as she was in the school with another young girl with her lunging him with lead rope and her mate chasing after him with a stick!!!!
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I got my lunge rope and whip and showed them how to do it right. My concerns are very much with the pony rather than the girl because he puts up with so much from her and i felt terrible with how scared he was in the school. It also annoyed me how she laughed at him though as though it wasnt a big issue about the tack or anything. Plus the fact she did nothing at all to try and get her horse back.

I dont want them to feel like im butting in or anything either though but i dont think she should be left unattented with this horse. She said he sometimes bucks when she puts saddle on and constantly chucks her off when riding. We have a YO who also gives lessons why the bloody hell isnt she doing anything about this? It is the first yard i have been on when the YO wont get up of her backside all day to help out. She sent her youngster off to be schooled only for him to return so she can gallop him in fields like why waste the money if not going to carry on the work.

Im just really angry that no one has picked up on this. Either the pony or the girl or both could end up getting hurt.
 
I dont want to get my head bitten off though...they have been at the yard longer than me.

Surely though it wouldn't be right to ignore this though?
 
For the sake of the animal and child, I would be so tempted to say something too. Its amazing how many parents seem to think leaving the child at the stables is an alternative to professional child care.

You could have a pleasant chat with mum just to sus the situation out and offer to help when required, if you feel up to looking after 3 horses.

Trouble is, at a stables I was at previously, another livery felt it was acceptable to let her children set their dog on my cat. I tolerated it for a few weeks, but it got worse and eventually one day it came to a head. I asked them to stop letting their children set the dog on my cat and they said it wasnt hurting the cat, he cat would always run away and not get caught.

I explained that it was an elderly cat, it was his home and he didnt need this sort of stress.

I had also previously seen the YO and explained the situation and asked for the dog to be kept on a lead.

The next day the father appeared and threated me, my horse and my cat and called me a cheeky wee b..ch. The following week I left.

So be very careful. Unfortunately, no matter how well meaning you are, things can be taken the wrong way and can get nasty.

I would keep an eye on the situation and if the horse got any thinner, I would speak to the YO.

I hope this helps.

x
 
It's a tough one but if handled correctly it could improve things for both of the.

With regards to the weight issue - that's something close to my heart having had people comment on my HW cob being skinny just because you can see his ribs when he is perfectly fine and healthy so maybe get some more info on what she is feeding and why and then provide some constructive advise as opposed to just flagging that he is skinny.

The tack is definatley a problem that needs flagged - again perhaps flagging the consequences of ill fitting tack?

I thought that for insurance purpose children had to be supervised around horses or am I getting confused?
 
Tbh she was right not to do the girth up tight especaily if the pony had not had one on for few weeks! Sum horses go nuts if they hav tight girth on straight away! as a responsible adult you shuld of checked it!
 
How about approaching the YO and telling her what happened with the tack etc, pretend you don't realise that she gave the girl the tack, say how worried you are especially as the pony bucks when she puts it on and rides, say how awful it would be if the girl had an accident and how badly it could reflect on the YO as people may think she has an obligation to the welfare of the pony etc. You could also say that you wonder if the tack is so ill fitting because of weight loss - Don't you think that the pony is looking a bit poor....?

Hopefully this would 'plant the seed' in YO mind and she may act on it.
Failing that, you could tell the parent about the incident and say it worried you that it could happen again and cause an injury and if you hadn't said anything you would feel terribly guilty.
Then if they still don't care, try to put it out your mind - least you tried!

Good Luck x
 
I would have thought to be honest that you would have seen how loose the bridle was if he was able to get it off so easily, and also the saddle, if so loosely girthed would have been easily spotted..... I would have thought it would have slipped either back or round, but to go over his shoulders it must have been hardly done up at all..... so in a way, yes you should have seen it if you had offered to help
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BUT it isnt your problem and you will regret saying anything if you get your head bitten off. In my opinion its not worth the hassle of a confrontation.

What I would do if I really was that concerned for the pony and childs welfare, would be to write a letter on the pc and print it off, so that no one can trace it to you. Just being factual and not judgemental.... then if they do nothing and the kid gets hurt...... tough luck!!!

So far as the pony being skinny, is it really really skinny or just lean, as the latter is certainly better than fat
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If it gets to the state where it is suffering, then report it to a welfare org.

Good luck, its a crappy situation to be in
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I would stay well out of it, it's not your child and it's not your pony. Imagine if the pony were to hurt the child while you were trying to help, everyone would hold you responsible! Already, in reply to this post, a couple of people have suggested that you should have checked the tack, you were the responsible adult, etc. - best stay out of it all.
 
I am a mum with two boys (3 and 8 yrs), I am always overly cautious both on my yard and in our sand school about the boys safety and they have grown up with my horses and thier pony Rosie a sweet natured Welsh A.

A lady on our small island lets her two daughters get up to all sorts on unsuitable ponies on thier own yard and her kids (9 and 5 years) are always having accidents, a few quite nasty, through basically unsupervision and stupidity. She once let them go out driving a 2 and half year old pony on roads alone (pony not properly broken to drive) and the pony spooked at a quad bike, kids got thrown out of cart, the youngest was then just 3 yrs and was found blood everywhere and poor pony had knees all cut open, she blamed the quad driver grrr.

However no matter what I feel if I said something I know my head would be bitten off, so I just let it go but when the eldest comes to my yard once a week for a jumping lesson from me on her own pony she does it my way or goes home. I have never had any problems with the girl but I have explained my yard and school rules to her clearly!

Sadly I would just leave well alone, I would not talk to the mother, if she actually gave a sod this child would not be left unsupervised, I really do not think she would want to listen.

Perhaps chat with YO regarding the weight issues, explaining that you are concerned as they are novice owners?
 
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