Unsupervised wild Children

_daisy_

_daisy_

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 March 2005
Messages
5,619
Location
South Yorkshire
Visit site
Well to say Chantin and these type of children dont mix is a bit of an understatement.

The latest incident happened last night. I got down to the yard and was about to fetch her in when a friend of one of the children started shouting something about "that big stupid horse" Well knowing full well she was on about Chantin, as shes the only horse on the yard, I went to investigate. Well this child had obviously been told by her mate to shut up as the owner was behind her. So check on Chantin and she was stood quite happily by the gate waiting for me.
2 minutes later everyone is running around shouting for me as I couldnt be found! (was making feeds up in my shed) So i ran round to find out what was going on. Found my mum was trying to fix the electric fence and had managed to untangle Chantin from it.

So caught her and put her in her stable to eat her tea (which she didnt as she was wound up and too stressed so it got flung round the stable - which is usual when shes like this), then went to fix the fencing and find out what had happened.

The kids (maybe about 6/7 of them all between 8 and 11) had been running around shouting and rawping on the bit of grass outside of my field, in front of Chantin and made some jumps for them to play jumping! Well in the midst of this they had been falling over and kicking said jumps around which had startled Chantin and as she got upset she had caught her feet in the electric fence.

So what would you do to help her settle around kids? The kids know they shouldnt upset her as she can get very stressed and then gets unpredictable/dangerous. They know she isnt a fan of children after being wound up and abused by kids in the past (abused maybe a strong word - they used to shout at her in her face, threaten to hit her, run at her when she was stabled with her head over the door, throw things at her etc) and have been advised to stay well clear.

They should hopefully be going out soon onto the summer turnout (well 2wks as the fields were fertilised today and yesterday) but obviously now the weather is getting nicer the kids are coming to the yard. Ive told them to be quiet and stay away but its hard as its not my field/yard and its friends of the YO kids that are doing this.
 
Kids are allowed on the yard
shocked.gif


They weren't on my old one - and certainly are not invited on my friends farm where Amy now is.

Tell their parents to take them to the playground, or better still lock them up!
 
Yards are not playgrounds or kindergartens and free range kids drive me nuts when they are around big potentially dangerous horses. their parents are the same people who would be the same ones howling for the horse to be shot if their offspring ever got hurt.

I couldn't cope with this kind of activity, and fortunately my YO feels the same and will not allow any children (except my son because he behaves) - he has even turned away teenagers as liveries to keep potential friction to a minimum, and I have to say that suits me fine
wink.gif
 
id love to have a ban on children where Chantin is concerned, however the kids in question are the YOs children (well 2 of them are) the owners of the children (sorry mean parents LOL - cant you tell im not a child fan?) dont seem bothered but when my horse does some damage im expected to clear it up and repaid. I dont mind this but when its not my horses fault I feel really peed off with it all.

Why do they do this in front of their ponies? why cant they go home and play? why do they have to do it at the yard when it isnt really safe?
 
Is there an adult yard around you? That may be the best way of sorting this once and for all? Other than that I would speak to YO, explain that a) she is liable should any of these children get hurt on the yard b) that your horse is very unpredictable around children, and in telling her this, you expect her to take action to prevent the children from being anywhere near your horse.

I would also mention the issue with the electric fencing, perhaps suggest that if she cannot control children under her care, then proper fencing might be in order to seperate children from horse, and prevent tangle issues. I would also suggest that if the horse is injured as a result of the children's actions you will be looking to YO as care giver of the children to foot the bill.
 
this what I would like and I think the only place I will be truely happy is a child free yard. I didnt realise till I moved there that it was more of a pony club yard. I would love to move her so she is happy and content but i dont really like any of the other yards around. The quest for finding land for sale continues even harder than before.

I bet Chantin would be kicked off the yard if she did some damage to these kids whatever the reason behind it was
 
well I ranted off at my mum as the children and adult soon vanished when it all happened knowing full well what I wouldve said to them all.
The best thing is that when they dont have their friends around they are really nice with Chantin and try to make friends wth her, are really quiet around her and are very respectful. Its just like they have no control when they have their friends round
 
E_C_W I had the same thing when I moved to my previous yard - it turned out to be a pony club camp and my horse was very unhappy about the kids being around her (in Ireland she got smacked on the nose by kids if she put her head over the stable door).
I sympathise with you. I moved cos I was so fed up with the place but if you can't do that then go out and give them a rollicking!
 
I would have a good moan to the parents and a very angry moan at the kids to stay away from her. If this doesn't sort it out then the yard probably isn't for you and your horse.
 
I have my 2 kids around the yard ( have no other choice) but then again they do have manners ( my eldest anyways, youngest is only 2 ) but he is never out of the car when horses are out .



Tell yo to get a dog cage :P
 
I think your best bet is to find a new yard. It's unfortunate that your horse is unsettled by these children but it sounds like they were just being children, it isn't as if they were in the field or actually doing anything to your horse.
I'll make myself unpopular now and say that I like having children on a yard. They can be annoying but on the whole the ones I meet are lovely and a whole lot more entertaining than the adults. But then once my horse got used to them he really didn't care. In fact if I have a "helper" he'll behave better than for me, lowering his head to their level for the bridle etc. Can see your point!
 
My children play right next to one of my paddocks, screaming and shouting and playying football. I call it my home paddock and put youngsters (ponies) in there to get them use to everyday life. I sometimes kick a ball in the paddock and watch the pony play arround with it. its fun for them. Your horse/pony will only get use to what it sees.
children love to play , scream and shout, you can ask children nicely to mind the horse because it worries it or the horse gets upset.

You were all kids once, so try and understand they have feelings too. ..
 
could you possibly get the electric fence to "accidently" zap the kids more than once
wink.gif


Can you mention it to the YO etc?
 
there were 2 adults aound who had children in this group who were upset my horses. I had words with them last night and it was really like it or lump it the kids can play where they want when they want. Your horse will have to learn to live with stress and chill out with it all!
 
the thing is where does it end? I cant go on every yard in the area to see if she settles because inevitable one of my girls will not like it and as ive got 5 horses most yards dont have that capacity available and i really dont want them seperating. I know where you are coming from but you end up getting a bad rep if you keep moving and a lot of people already ask me where I am cos I keep moving - well no in the 13yrs of having my girls ive moved yards 7 times - 2 times going back to 2 yards, and the only reason I left 2 yards was because they werent appropropriate for Chantin and backing her.

Sometimes I think I wished Id never bought her but shes such a lovely horse when noone stresses her out.
 
Dont get me wrong its not that I dislike the children they are really lovely and very helpful, its just when they bring all of their friends down to the yard.
When they are just there she is happy and content its when the whole job lot of them are around it makes her life awful
 
Jubbily - im not saying i wasnt one of those a while back but I never behaved like that around horses. I was never allowed. A horse yard is not a kids play ground.

What would you do if you allowed your children to do this and my horse hurt one of your kids? Would it be my fault even though aI had asked your kids to play elsewhere or stop the screaming/shouting, knowing full well how she behaves?

(not having a go at you btw)
 
I have done and its not being listened too. Roll on summer when the horses will be away from the yard then the kids can play to their hearts content well away from my mare
 
have tried that! only joking but do like the idea.

Spoke to YO about it and she says the horse will have to get used to being stressed and calm down about it all as this is going to happen on the yard.

Personally I think they want her off the yard and replaced by a pony so there is no horses on the yard at all
 
I agree - my children and a couple of friends spend hours at the yard - which is one of the reasons I have the yard. When I read the title - children running wild, I expected to hear horror stories of children letting horses out and peeing in the pony nuts.
Mine play fooball, cricket, war games & build dens & they have just had their first water fight of the year. I would expect the horses to put up with it - not that much different to pony club camp!

Having said that I appreciate that the posters specific horse is particularly sensitive. Maybe, if these are just normal, high spirited kids you could identify the older ones and have a friendly chat - explain about horses history and ask them to be a bit more aware when they are around her.
 
Cant believe how some of you would treat these kids, ie cattle prods, electric fence. The kids are being normal kids and playying, if you want them on your side have a chat with them, talk to them and be nice to them, ask them to consider the horse as he gets upset.. If you explain it to the kids they will listen to you, ..
Hope you get this one sorted...
 
We used to have some VERY annoying kids around the place at our last farm, but at the same time it wasnt the kids fault, they had parents who couldnt control them and the parents couldnt quite grasp that a yard was not a play-ground and there could be a loose horse charging down the block that could knock her kids flying. The most annoying thing is when the kids disobey their parents and they put them in the car, the little darlings only start beeping the horn!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top