Sorry - a small moan and a sort of question.

Meowy Catkin

Meowy Catkin

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I know that it has been mentioned before by other people...

Why do people that you don't even know, think that (once they find out that you have horses) that they can bring their pony mad child over whenever they like. You will, of course supervise the child and let them groom, ride etc... and at the end of it all, they have somehow helped you out?

Now I'm not against letting a pony mad child that I know (know the parents) coming to see the neds and grooming the grey for a short while is not a problem as she loves it. But I don't actually have a horse suitable for a novice to ride, I'm not a RS and I'm not offering free babysitting.
 
I know the feeling! I have a few people that do this, but the frustrating thing is Anakin is only 4 and can be quite unpredictable, has a tendancy to wallop a kick out at a fly on his flanks for example, regardless of who is in the vicinity! I am therefore very wary of anyone just hanging around him, especially kids, but the parents say 'oh well they will soon learn not to go behind him if he kicks them'....well not if they don't live to tell the tale they wont!!! Rant over! lol.
 
My sister is like that. I take my niece up who is 2 and she loves it. My sister then expects me to take all of her friends too!

I dont mind my niece at all, my pony is her pony, but not a load of complete strangers snotty kids!
 
I'm so glad that I'm not alone in this.

Springtime - I can't believe the cheek of some people!

SpottyF - your pony sounds like a star with your niece.

B&A -
'oh well they will soon learn not to go behind him if he kicks them'
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Shocking.
 
I can sympathise, had a small "helper" for a while, but it got out of hand, she wanted to come up all the time. One weekend we were away, and came home to find over 20 missed calls from her - that's just ridiculous! I'm VERY wary about inviting friends' kids to see the horses now :-)
 
So, how do you tactfully put people off?

I've always said that 'I'm sorry but I don't have anything suitable for you/child to ride'. The problem is that the word has got out that the grey is fab and I've even found out 2nd hand that one girl (who I sort of know) fully expected to have the ride once she's properly broken. Now, I've never spoken to the girl about her riding the grey let alone loaning her.

Would 'sorry but my insurance wouldn't cover it' be a better line?
 
I've used the insurance line.......its a bit more polite than ''piss off and leave me to enjoy my horses in peace''.:D

Its does annoy me greatly....my horses are my pleasure.....they take up a lot of money- its the equivalent of inviting yourself on someone elses holiday :p
 
You could try: "I'm sorry but I'm not a riding school and my horses aren't suitable for giving lessons. Besides that I'm not insured to have any one under 16 on the yard without supervision. Here is the phone number of XXXX riding school, where I know XXX will have a lovely time learning to ride." If they push it and say, but you'd be there to supervise, tell them that you can't guarantee to be with the child at all times and you're not prepared to take the risk. It would take a pretty brazen parent to push it after that.

Failing that "piss off and leave me to enjoy my horses in peace"...
 
I love just ignoring them :D

It amuses me to see how many ways they try and get me to say "Hell yeah! Ride my horse m'duck! No, you go ahead, please, be my guest, ride my horse that I spend thousands of pounds a year to keep, you really will be doing me a favour :cool:"

I've tried the insurance one - "Oh don't worry, we wouldn't go after you if anything happened!". Like hell they wouldn't :rolleyes:

I've tried the my horse is an idiot and not suitable - "Oh but x is a lovely little rider." :eek:. I'm sure x is, but in that case, go and have fun at a RS, which is what they're there for :cool:
 
I would just tell them that you don't have time and wouldnt want their child getting hurt as your horse can be unpredictable.
 
We loaned our 12h pony out to someone. It stayed on our yard and they paid £15/wk for stable, hay, straw, feed, lifts to pony club/shows, occasional free lessons from me and we turned out/brought in for them too. They used to bring the child up and dump her with us for the whole day. Sometimes they would bring friends up and expect them to be able to ride stepson's new pony when he wasn't there. When we were thinking about getting a lorry to carry our three horses, they went mad - "What about our child, where will she go?" Like we were going to do a HGV and buy a bigger box to taxi them around! Eventually we got fed up of being taken for mugs and gave them a month's notice. They took umbridge at us "letting their child down" and never spoke to us again - still don't even if they bump into us at pc etc (the child does, she is the most mature of the family!).

Faracat, just tell them how you had a dreadful day the other day when your horse flattened a child, and you're worried that it has taken a great dislike to kids...
 
Oh my goodness, tell me about it!!

Let me paint a picture of my experience for you here...

My previous horse, Diamond, was bought off a big name showjumper for me to compete. He was 6 years old and 17.2hh of pure muscle. He was also completely mental, he would be a lamb one day and the next day he'd try and trample you, strike out, kick, bite, buck, rear, spin, nap, you name he's done it. And none of it was provoked, he was just incredibly highly strung, riggy and unpredictable.
Now I trained him for dressage and won three dressage championships on him, so as well as spending a lot of money I also spent a lot of time and effort with him. Anyway basically he was big, flashy, expensive and completely neurotic.

So, imagine my horror one day when some young teenager who helped out at the yard (riding school and livery yard combined so lots of kids!!) came running over with about 5 friends saying how she couldn't wait to ride my horse. WHAT!?
Turns out my Grandad had told her that she could ride him, saying that I'd lead her round on him. Needless to say he didn't half get an earful!!! As if my competition horse is a RS pony, my biggest problem is that he could be so dangerous to handle as well as ride so anything could have happened!!

And, to add insult to injury, the same girl came up asking if she could spend some time with my current (recently broken!!) youngster because, and to quote "Me and all my friends thing that he looks like a princess pony and they will be sooo jealous to find out that I got to have a sit on him and stuff!!"

Err jog on love! And besides, he already has a fanclub of adorable (and well behaved) young girls who fuss him to no end. Good job he's such a tart :rolleyes:

Sadly though in being stabled on a livery yard which is attached to a riding school you do have to deal with lots of children, although thankfully they aren't allowed over our side of the yard! :D
 
I've had this too! Originally it was to come see the horses. Then it was to help and then it became weekends and school holidays! I work fairly long hours and hadn't actually managed to organise a day at that point! In the end I gave them a number of a local riding school and explained I didn't have the time really. I did feel I had let the little girl down but knew realistically it wouldn't work!
 
In the end I gave them a number of a local riding school and explained I didn't have the time really. I did feel I had let the little girl down but knew realistically it wouldn't work!
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This is it exactly - because I remember how it felt to be a pony mad child with no pony or lessons, I do feel bad for wanting to say no, but as you said, it wouldn't work.

LD, does your handsome boy know that he's a 'Princess pony'? :p :D
 
LD, does your handsome boy know that he's a 'Princess pony'?
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Oh goodness me yes, he is forever being followed by little girls! It's a good job that he loves attention!

Also, I am guilty for dressing him in pink accessories and riding in a diamante bridle :o

If he was a bit smarter then he would have been born a mare ;)
 
I'd simply say you never let anyone else ride or handle your horses (however much of a white lie this might be). This is how I feel about my horses, once I owned them only 1 other person got a shot because I'd seen her ride, I liked her riding and I trusted her.
 
My yard doesn't allow under 16s on the premises. Wouldn't help you if they've been up before but is useful to tell people who've never been.

Funnily enough nobody ever asked to come and see my last horse. The one advantage of owning 17hh of attitude!
 
I had this with an event horse i used to share, my family kept telling me i was cruel for not letting my cousin ride. I worked at yard 7 days a week to ride this horse and it was my world. In the end the lady i shared with said that i should say she could if she signed a disclaimer as it was yard policy. She signed and we then had the amusement of watching her fly threw the air in canter not even a naught moment. Very mean but stopped her asking and shut family up (should point out she was 21 at the time not a child). I now make a point of sharing project horses and fb pics of bruises tends to do the trick now.
 
I love this, when people realise that you have horses and wistfully say how they used to love riding when they were a kid, with a hopefuly glint in their eye that you'll invite them over. Well if they like it that much they can start spending money like I have to ffs! :rolleyes:

When we were kids yes, I'd have everyone over to ride my pony, and me and my sisters (from aged 7 upwards) always used to run the school and scout pony rides on our ponies at the fetes etc.

But now?! Hell no! For starters my horse being lame (again!) is beyond precious to me, any ride on him possible I want to have in the future. Plus there's the insurance issue obviously, I don't trust anyone not to sue me. The only people to ride my horse are my sister and my bf. My mum rode him once (getting ideas above her station!) she pretty soon regretted it when he pegged off though lol, he can spot a tense rider a 100 paces ;)
 
I just tell them - I don't do children - don't know how to deal with them they make me feel uncomfortable, and my horses aren't suitable. There are exceptions of course but no one who knows me would expect me to look after their children. Their dog/cat/rabbit - now thats another matter entirely!
 
I think we've been lucky.. but I do also remember what it was like to be a pony mad kid with no access apart from to feed grass to the ponies down the road ;).

We will always stop if we see kids out hacking who look like they are dying to some stroke the horses (and usually make their day!). Our fields are also surrounded by a retired population with visiting grand kids.. who always like to watch us round the fields and normally once during a visit will come and do some brushing/patting under close supervision, Dad's friends children have also visited. Some of them have had a sit on and walk round (mine can be trusted) and walking over poles in the field is the most exciting thing known to man.

I don't do children under normal circumstances but I never forget how lucky I am to have the ponies and to be invited to see someones as a pony mad kid would have made my week let alone day (we used to run to the living room window if any horses came past :o )
 
My sister in law is the worst offender in my life!
She has two young daughters (1 and 6), and wanted to 'bring them over' to see Olly. I had no problem with the older one coming, but she was planning to also bring the little one ON REINS as she had just started walking !. I averted that one, but when she visited with her older daughter, she started saying, 'Oooh I'm going to get a pony for *****, we could keep it at the same livery as you and you could help look after it cos I won't have the time, and you can teach ****** to ride'!!!
She then went on to say her husband's ex girlfriend used to keep a horse, so whenever we were on holiday, he could look after it and give ***** a ride too!
NOT FECKING LIKELY
 
Oh yes Ester, anyone is welcome to pat my horse, he enjoys it. But the amount of time and money I've spent getting him sound, and the time and money I'm about to spend getting him sound again I want every step out of those legs for myself! :) :o
 
Every time I see or of my boyfriends friends he starts dropping hints about how his girlfriend used to ride and how she'd love to start again etc etc. I just say that my horse is a nut case :-) The fact he's a big lad seems to put kids off :-)
 
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