Unacceptable ridden behavior on a yard... who is responsible??

OrangePepper said:
This poor horse is clearly being abused.
The yard owner is responsible for all welfare issues at the yard.
As the yard owner is not doing anything positive about it or has failed to prevent further instances of this abusive behaviour to the horse then you should contact the Welfare Department of the British Horse Society and discuss the situation with them.
They will then advise you how they can assist in preventing any further abuse of this horse.
Contact details for the BHS Welfare Department are: 02476 840517 or email welfare@bhs.org.uk.
For out-of-hours emergencies call 02476 840570
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The issue with this approach is the risk that OP ends up looking for another home for her horses and this yard suits her.
The YO is trying to deal with it OP has said that the YOer has just been unsuccessful in getting tHe child to mend her ways .
In these situations although welfare organisations do try to protect the indentify of the people who make complaints is often all to easy on a small yard to guess who it was.
If I where the YOer I would be dealing with it in a forthright way directly with the patents and with the child everytime she was seen dealing roughly with the horse.
It will end I think with the poor horse being moved somewhere esle .
The YO could contact the BHS to back up their position that might well have wieght with the parents but I would caution OP to be very sure what the YOers view will be before OP involves a welfare organisation .
 
OrangePepper said:
This poor horse is clearly being abused.
The yard owner is responsible for all welfare issues at the yard.
As the yard owner is not doing anything positive about it or has failed to prevent further instances of this abusive behaviour to the horse then you should contact the Welfare Department of the British Horse Society and discuss the situation with them.
They will then advise you how they can assist in preventing any further abuse of this horse.
Contact details for the BHS Welfare Department are: 02476 840517 or email welfare@bhs.org.uk.
For out-of-hours emergencies call 02476 840570
Click to expand...
This thread makes really depressing reading, a pony is being treated in an abusive way, and everyone who witnesses it is upset, someone has to intervene and help the teenager and her parents understand that what is happening is cruel and totally unacceptable.

I agree a BHS welfare officer is an excellent suggestion, someone removed from the situation but in a position to be respected and listened to. Removing the child from the yard will not improve the ponies life, lessons and the right help might make a difference but someone has to get through to the girl that her way will never work and she needs help.
 
Adopter said:
This thread makes really depressing reading, a pony is being treated in an abusive way, and everyone who witnesses it is upset, someone has to intervene and help the teenager and her parents understand that what is happening is cruel and totally unacceptable.

I agree a BHS welfare officer is an excellent suggestion, someone removed from the situation but in a position to be respected and listened to. Removing the child from the yard will not improve the ponies life, lessons and the right help might make a difference but someone has to get through to the girl that her way will never work and she needs help.
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Great post.
 
I was at a yard where a similar sort of thing happened, YO didn't say anything but a few of the liveries did & they didn't take any notice - I saw the girls parents & mentioned it to them - they weren't interested - the horse was abandoned over winter - lived out with others 24/7 - access to hay that other liveries had paid for - Parents avoided phone calls from YO re horse & unpaid livery - when contact was made YO was allowed to sell horse in return for unpaid livery .
Some people aren't meant to have animals :(
 
Its the yard managers responsibility to deal with yard issues and everyones responsibility to say something if the horse is being abused, even if it is to bring it to the ym attention to see how its dealt with
If i saw anyone beating a horse about the head with a stick theyd be told on no uncertain terms to pack it in and i wouldnt be averse to dragging someone off the horse if it continued. Yes i know its taking a chance but i wont watch wantan abuse of any animal
 
I think the YO needs to take a piece out of her verbally and personally I would pull her to one side and threaten to beat the living day lights out of her head with a crop and reins if she ever abused her pony again!
Some people are just evil and this little ******* sounds like she is evil!:mad:
 
I would not allow that sort of behaviour on my farm I'm afraid. If I saw that happening in my arena I would not hesitate to go over and order the child off the horse immediately. Then I would speak to the girl and tell her this sort of behaviour is not acceptable ever, and definitely not on a yard with other members of the public viewing such behaviour. I would be prepared to keep my chat between myself and the teenager providing she proved to have taken notice and mended her ways, otherwise I would speak to the parents. Thankfully none of my clients in all the years I've owned yards have ever treated a horse like that so I've never had to do this, however I have done it at shows when I've seen horses being mistreated.
 
Im sorry but I could not and would not stand by and watch this. I have seen this before that person was pulled of his horse and told next time id take a whip to him. And would allways do this If they want to start a fight start it with someone who will fight back. These people are spineless morons.
 
I'm shocked that nearly everyone thinks it is someone else's responsibility to deal with this situation. If the YO won't deal with it then I could and would not stand by and continue to ignore it. I have intervened before by talking very nicely to a 17yr old who was neglecting her horse, her parents were unaware since she had passed her driving test and they did not come up as they used to. The initial result was that the parents verbally attacked me which was wholly unpleasant but it did finally result in them talking to a freelance instructor on the yard whom they respected and they took action to remedy the situation. The girl was just upset that someone had pointed it out and eventually her parents were OK with me about it.

I think the BHS Welfare Officer is a great idea if it takes the heat off an individual.
 
It's a shame the YO couldn't just bellow across the yard at her something along the lines of :"NOBODY TREATS A HORSE LIKE THAT ON MY YARD! CHANGE YOUR BEHAVIOUR OR I WILL SERVE YOU NOTICE!!!!"

I hope she listens to somebody, for the ponies' sake.
 
Upto YO.....

however if she was my child she would be yanked off that horse, whacked around the head with a crop and banned from going the yard until she changed her behaviour......



but yes the YO should be sorting this out - and no i wouldnt keep MY mouth shut either - once i did open my gob on someone who thought whipping apony was acceptable.....

im not against punishment to horses when they are being downright dangerous/stupid (i did whack my horse tonight for booting me - quite right?!) but not forceful for no reason and pinning head in - no way!
 
agree to above, for the sake of the animal you have every right to stand up and bellow from the bottom of your stomach for this dreadful person to stop what they are doing immediately and you WILL be reporting her abuse to the RSPCA, whether you do or not is a different matter, and if the YO has any balls she will be behind you and if not, then would you want a YO without any.
 
putasocinit said:
agree to above, for the sake of the animal you have every right to stand up and bellow from the bottom of your stomach for this dreadful person to stop what they are doing immediately and you WILL be reporting her abuse to the RSPCA, whether you do or not is a different matter, and if the YO has any balls she will be behind you and if not, then would you want a YO without any.
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Agree with this. As a YO myself I'm frankly appalled that sweet FA is being done. This is flagrant abuse and basically gives the impression to everyone on the yard that this sort of treatment of a horse is acceptable. YO needs to get off their @rse and do somminck PDQ.
 
Adopter said:
This thread makes really depressing reading, a pony is being treated in an abusive way, and everyone who witnesses it is upset, someone has to intervene and help the teenager and her parents understand that what is happening is cruel and totally unacceptable.
Click to expand...

Thanks a mil for all the comments guys - it does make us feel justified that we are right that the YO should be doing something a bit firmer with her. It wouldnt be fair to say that none of have intervened or done anything, we have all tried at some point - everything from shouting at her to being nice & offering her help. The livery that was in the arena was yelling at her to calm down & trying to help her out but again ignored. I wasnt witness to this exact incident, if I was I would have said something you can be sure.

I really like my yard & my YO but I guess its because everyone else at the yard is sane & normal & she doesnt have to deal with this kinda situation often, so maybe it just that its out of the ordinary so nothing has been done so far... I guess I am being kind here, something should be done.
 
Years ago I took on a SJ pony who used to attack children, literally try & kill them if they went in the field. With me, an adult, she was fine, & I came to adore her. It made sense when I found out her past history. She belonged to a girl, who had everything, kind parents, stable home, all the important things. Unfortunately girl was born with victim mentallity, she was hard done by & it was everyone elses fault. She was talented rider as kid, parents got her a pony & they did very well unaffiliated level. However, whenever pony didn't win class, behind the trucks she took the whip to it. She would literally beat the living daylights out the poor pony.

Very kind, old fashioned lady, family member in all but name saw her do this, she grabbed the whip & hit her once across the back of the legs with it, threatening more if she ever did it again. Kid never whipped pony again. Girl was also paid to feed (her own?!) pony & friends horse (she worked away in the week) mon-fri. Found out she'd been dumping the feed & hay in sight of the horses onto the next property, leaving animals with nothing to eat all week. She was a mean, callous child with no thought for anything else. Last I heard she ran away from home aged 15 after numerous encounters with the police over prostitution & drugs. Very much doubt she lived to 20, have never sought to find out. So this was a hard core abuser of animals, but that one strike across her legs stopped her ever raising a whip to the pony again. Do to others as you would have done to yourself. I don't agree with physical violence as a rule, but have to admit it stopped some of that poor ponys misery. That is why she hated children enough to try & kill them on site, it was self defense.

Girl should be corrected, not only because it is totally unacceptable, but one day horse may have had enough & turn on her.
 
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I once spoke out on yard about a pony neglected in stable. often stood for days with no attention other than water and hay others put in. I warned yo that i would report owner and oh yes owner confronted me. In my face screaming threatening but for once i stayed calm and stood ground(im not one for confrontation) . I said if didnt see improvement i woukd report. improvement made till pony sold. i found that inner strength and by heck i would find it again :)
 
Arizahn said:
You need permission to video or photograph others, especially minors.
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No you don't. You can take photos on your own land of anything you fancy, so long as it's not indecent. You can also take photos in a public place without permission. There is an awful lot of nonsense talked about photographing children. It is illegal to take indecent photographs of children, to publish, or to download such images BUT it is not illegal to take photos of children per se. Many organisations do ask permission of parents before they allow any-one to take photos of children in their care but that is a different matter and is usually for a completely different reason.

OP, it is the YO's responsibility to monitor the behaviour of any kind on her yard. If she had anything about her, she would have sorted it already.
 
Think face book & you tube posts will have most affect on this age as suggested above by Gingerwitch. She should be ashamed of what she is doing, maybe she needs to watch a video of herself & horse left sweaty in stable after to get her to sort her behaviour out.
 
LegOn said:
Thanks a mil for all the comments guys - it does make us feel justified that we are right that the YO should be doing something a bit firmer with her. It wouldnt be fair to say that none of have intervened or done anything, we have all tried at some point - everything from shouting at her to being nice & offering her help. The livery that was in the arena was yelling at her to calm down & trying to help her out but again ignored. I wasnt witness to this exact incident, if I was I would have said something you can be sure.

I really like my yard & my YO but I guess its because everyone else at the yard is sane & normal & she doesnt have to deal with this kinda situation often, so maybe it just that its out of the ordinary so nothing has been done so far... I guess I am being kind here, something should be done.
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When my Mother was chief Instructor for our local pony club branch she would never avoid 'interfering' or tackling either children or parents who were behaving through ignorance or temper badly with their horse or pony. She would not hesitate to either intervene in an incident but more effectively she always followed up with practical help and advice afterwards, and people often did not like it but she was effective in making things better for the ponies.

I think it is difficult for fellow liveries to take on this role, it is the YO who should if not able to influence the child and parents herself to find someone who can.

It is also possible that the girl may have other problems like being bullied herself and her explosions are a symptom of her inability to cope, which is why we can not really judge on a forum and I say that a knowledgeable adult needs to talk to child sand parents away from tensions on yard and see if they can improve the situation.
Also agree along with other action a video of distressed pony after she has gone might help girl see what she is doing,

I remember one child who used to hit her pony round the back of the boxes when she did not go clear, it turned out she was was then thrashed by her Father if she did not get a placing, I have met her since as an adult, a lovely caring woman who loves animals, but who as a child needed help.

Sorry for long reply!
 
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It can be hard to witness this kind of thing and even harder when polite entreaties and offers of advice are ignored and for whatever reason the YO is choosing not stepping up to the mark at the moment. I agree the BHS route might be the best way to get through to her.
 
Adopter said:
When my Mother was chief Instructor for our local pony club branch she would never avoid 'interfering' or tackling either children or parents who were behaving through ignorance or temper badly with their horse or pony. She would not hesitate to either intervene in an incident but more effectively she always followed up with practical help and advice afterwards, and people often did not like it but she was effective in making things better for the ponies.

I think it is difficult for fellow liveries to take on this role, it is the YO who should if not able to influence the child and parents herself to find someone who can.

It is also possible that the girl may have other problems like being bullied herself and her explosions are a symptom of her inability to cope, which is why we can not really judge on a forum and I say that a knowledgeable adult needs to talk to child sand parents away from tensions on yard and see if they can improve the situation.
Also agree along with other action a video of distressed pony after she has gone might help girl see what she is doing,

I remember one child who used to hit her pony round the back of the boxes when she did not go clear, it turned out she was was then thrashed by her Father if she did not get a placing, I have met her since as an adult, a lovely caring woman who loves animals, but who as a child needed help.

Sorry for long reply!
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This exactly ^^

"The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

It may well be that she just needs her eyes opening to the fact that her horse is a living, feeling creature and if she considers how he feels at this treatment it may just be enough...
 
I wonder how much of this problem is down to the parents? Some are awful: threatening to sell the pony if the child doesn't start "doing something" (meaning winning) with it; demanding to know why they're not jumping higher and, on hearing the child's explanation of poor outline/bucking etc, child is told to "get its head in" or "take no nonsense". These sort of parents usually refuse to buy more than one bag of budget pony nuts per month, telling the child their pony is lazy, their riding is rubbish and to give it a good smacking if it won't go forwards.

The children in these situations can feel that not only is everyone getting at them, but that if they don't produce results and soon, then they'll lose the pony. I've even met some who confess, when most upset, that they'd rather have no pony and no pressure but the parents insist they ride/compete! Many do want to own/ride but not under present circumstances. It's a horrible situation.
 
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