What age…

[Winters100]

I would rather say something than do nothing and then live with consequences of doing nothing. Would you say the same for a child with a gun ?

But a child's pony is not a gun, so it is an irrelevant question.

I would not be worried to see an 11 year old riding a bicycle, but I would be worried to see them driving a car. It is the same comparison.

If we are all going to spend our lives reporting every instance where a child could get into danger to social services, then we, and social services, will be very busy indeed.

 

[blitznbobs]

But a child's pony is not a gun, so it is an irrelevant question.

I would not be worried to see an 11 year old riding a bicycle, but I would be worried to see them driving a car. It is the same comparison.

If we are all going to spend our lives reporting every instance where a child could get into danger to social services, then we, and social services, will be very busy indeed.

I see a lot more children hurt by bikes and ponies than loaded guns … and ponies are more unpredictable than a gun tbh … i dont let anyone ride on my yard alone and certainly wouldnt want an unsupervised minor of any age there … the risks are too high. As i say id rather say something than regret not later

 

[Winters100]

I see a lot more children hurt by bikes and ponies than loaded guns … and ponies are more unpredictable than a gun tbh … i dont let anyone ride on my yard alone and certainly wouldnt want an unsupervised minor of any age there … the risks are too high. As i say id rather say something than regret not later

Clearly the reason that more children are hurt by bikes and ponies than loaded guns is that more are allowed to play with bikes and ponies than have access to loaded guns, not that loaded guns are less dangerous.

You don't let anyone ride alone at your yard, fine. Your yard, your rules. I personally cannot imagine as an adult not being allowed to ride alone, so clearly I would not be at your yard, but I suppose some don't mind it. At the yard in question however the YO does allow it, as do the parents of the child, and I am not sure what exactly you would expect social services to do about this. I would imagine that the chances of a serious accident to a child riding a suitable pony in the arena are probably roughly similar to that of riding a bicycle on a public road. Should all children who cycle to school also be reported to social services?

Clearly you are very risk averse, which is fine, but you cannot expect others to be the same.

 

[paddy555]

… i dont let anyone ride on my yard alone and certainly wouldnt want an unsupervised minor of any age there … the risks are too high. As i say id rather say something than regret not later

what about someone (adult) hacking out? Can they not ride alone. I always ride alone so don't get this.

 

[Loveponies]

I know times have changed but i went to the yard from age 10 to care and ride my pony ( hacked out as no school on site) with no adult supervision. There were sometimes people about and sometimes I was totally alone. Had non horsey parents!

 

[FlyingCircus]

This thread is putting into perspective my years of child labour at various riding schools in the early 2000s! I started when I was about 8...!

 

[LadyGascoyne]

This thread is putting into perspective my years of child labour at various riding schools in the early 2000s! I started when I was about 8...!

Me too!

I started on ponies at 2 and by 7 or 8 I was spending all day at the stables on the weekends with my little friends. There were lots of adults because it was a busy riding school and livery yard were around but we pretty much did our own thing. We brought in ponies, groomed, cleaned tack, and did chores for free rides. It was great.

By 11 I had moved to a private yard so would be on my own with my pony frequently. I’d hack out alone, ride to my lessons or to meet friends, tack up, ride in the school. I had a fab pony but he was a fizzy welsh x arab but I was perfectly capable.

If a child is well behaved, quiet and responsible and their parent is happy with where they are, then I’d leave them to it.

 

[fetlock]

I know times have changed but i went to the yard from age 10 to care and ride my pony ( hacked out as no school on site) with no adult supervision. There were sometimes people about and sometimes I was totally alone. Had non horsey parents!

Same here.
Pony kept on a large DIY yard when I was 10-12 years old and I had non horsey parents too. I walked to the yard straight from school every night (including winter) and parent picked me up from the yard later. I mostly hacked out alone, as did most of the others (of all ages) on the yard, as far as I can remember. Nobody got into any trouble and nobody was much bother either.
Times were certainly different back then.

 

[fetlock]

This thread is putting into perspective my years of child labour at various riding schools in the early 2000s! I started when I was about 8...!

You just reminded me of that. No child labour for me but from 7/8 I would spend all day every day on non school days at my local riding school too.

 

[Not_so_brave_anymore]

Most schools have a rule that kids can start coming into school by themselves from year 6 (aged 10/11). I know this doesn't sound as dangerous as helpfully popping into a stable to deal with an 18hh stallion with colic (or some other worst case scenario) but in reality many of these kids are cycling, either down narrow country lanes in the dark, or navigating heavy traffic around town etc.

Now personally, I wouldn't want my 11yo cycling to school in the dark. I also wouldn't let my 11yo deal with the ponies if I weren't around (but he's very inexperienced compared to many kids his age. And the pony is.... "tricky" ?)

But i guess I'm just saying that parents and Head Teachers up and down the country are OK with 11yos cycling on the roads by themselves, even though it feels pretty dangerous to me!

 

[rabatsa]

Aged 10 I used to ride my bike, complete with tack, along a road with no houses in sight, to a field. Catch my pony, groom, tack up and then go for a ride, alone, on a circular route using a river bank and roads through a village. I could be away from home for up to three hours. I would pass the house where I lived either on the way out or on the way back.

When I changed schools aged 11, I would do this before school in winter and after school in summer. My pony was put in foal when I was 12 so I stopped riding as much.

That same road is now a lot busier with traffic, would I allow my child the same freedom? Possibly not as it is no longer the same place or time.

 

[SheriffTruman]

Don't think she is too young to go to the yard unsupervised. But as a parent (which I, admittedly, am not) I would not allow this unless there were other people at the yard. Adults, or older teens. Not to babysit, but in case of emergency. As an 11 year old, I cycled 15 kms to the yard on my own, and hung out there all day. This was well before the mobile phone era. We went out on the ponies unsupervised from the age of 12. But (!) we were never alone. Busy yard.

As an adult, I once fell from my lease horse, and couldn't get up for some time. No-one around as is was a privately owned yard and owners were out. Luckily I was able to get up and about in the end, but that was a scary moment.

 

[Tarragon]

I have a young girl, with non-horsey parents, riding my older pony. She started when she was about 11 and is now 14. To begin with, I wanted a parent to attend at each visit, as I didn't want to be responsible for pony and child. A year or two later, I am happy to be the adult in charge, as she has a bit more experience, and I am also happy not to be there if she has a parent there. I would not be happy for her to be there on her own as it is my pony, and if it was something that my pony did that caused an accident, I would always feel partly responsible and I would hate to live with that.
The original post was about being the only adult on a yard where there was a young child with a pony, but not their pony and not their child. I think that their responsibility ends as soon as they send a text or message to say they are leaving the yard, just to warn YO/Parent that the child is now on their own, and even that is just a friendly thing to do.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Thanks Red-1.

So I guess it comes to - if I were the only adult and child was bimbling about with her pony, would I be free to leave the yard? A massive part of me thinks not but then that’s getting into me being expected to look after child? And as I usually have things I need to do, what would I do in these circumstances? (This is the point where we might get into the debate on the other thread!)

Yes, of course. If anyone is responsible, it's the YO, who, imho, should have insisted that a parent be present when the child is. I believe that a child of 14 can be responsible for a younger child (baby-sitting),so must be considered responsible enough to be left alone.

 

[splashgirl45]

When I was 11 I used to go out with my dog and be out all day . I walked through Epping forest to the yard which took about 45 mins helped with the work had a sandwich from the tea hut and got the bus home , I was supposed to be home before dark but quite often wasn’t and got a telling off , I never felt any danger. Would I do it now (if I physically could) no..

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

It is the YO that should really speak to her parents I'm surprised they don't have an age policy most yards do, where I worked anyone under 16 had to be with an adult at all times parents were not allowed to just drop there kids off and leave them there.

 

[teddypops]

If the yo is ok with it and the parents are ok with it, don’t worry about it. What I would do though, is say to the kid that you were going, so they know that they are on their own.

 

[spotty_pony]

I used to stay at the yard on my own from aged 12 but the yard was also a riding school so I was helping out with lessons, etc in exchange for free rides. I got my pony when I was 14 and was regularly up there alone - and hacking out alone then too. But I was a very sensible teenager - completely pony mad!

 

[babymare]

Back in the days of my youth like many on here I would go to yard on my own to do my pony. Not a thought given. But sadly we live in an age of blame/sue culture. At my last yard there were many minors dropped off unattended( in particular inexp child/young pony. Inexperience parents). After a couple of incidents I expressed concern because I didn’t want to get sued ( well you were there why didn’t you step in scenario). Rule of minors supervised brought in. It’s sad because I have such wonderful memories of me and my pony but I do think YO‘ need to be very careful because if “where there is blame there’s a claim“ lawyers get involved no saying outcome. A lot of Respossible minors out there but cover your backs

 

[Fluffypiglet]

thank you for everyone’s thoughts. i too used to be left at a yard for hours as a child, no idea how old I was but definitely young and no mobile phones in those days. I hung out at a child friendly RS, ‘working’ for a ride all day every Saturday. As an adult who’s not that keen on kids, it’s my idea of hell, but it was a great experience for me. I know someone who used to be local who did exactly the same, loves kids, always has loads at the yard and lets them play ponies. Unfortunately she’s moved out of the area.

my yard is full of adults who compete and has always been a very adult focussed yard. There are no other children and I have been aware myself as to how ‘on my own’ I have been when riding. I’m an adult, competent (enough) but aware that silly accidents can happen. I just have some concerns about a child’s safety whilst all responsible adults are away from the yard. Nothing more, no judgment on the child’s competency.

and just to confirm re the older lady I stayed to supervise. She was quite grateful because she is the same as me with regard to being aware that if something happened there wouldn’t be anyone to pick us up! She is older and definitely would not bounce if she came off. ? I wasn’t being ageist I promise!

 

[timefort]

I think this is a really interesting thread regarding how times have changed. I used to not only ride and do all jobs of my loan pony and YO youngster on private yard at that age, but also had keys to their house /outbuildings etc.

Do you know the child/parents well enough to ask what preventatives they have in place? If this were my child I'd probably tell her that she couldn't ride if yard was empty, or have her download and use one of the safety apps that texts a contact if you stop moving. If she is a grown up competent type it seems a shame that she should have to be curtailed (but I completely understand where you are coming from OP).

 

[Polos Mum]

Another (not yet mentioned) thing the YO may want to consider is whether unrelated adults should be alone with a child.

I helped out at the weekend with a cubs event my son and daughter were at. They put in writing to all the parent helpers that we should take care to never be on our own in the changing room / cafe or other areas of the venue with a child who wasn't our own. Horrible to think about but their rules are really strict on child safeguarding and the need to keep parents safe from accusations too.

 

[Fransurrey]

I'd have no problem with a mature 11 year old being without an adult on a yard, but would definitely not be comfortable leaving them totally alone without messaging the parent. Aside from things going wrong horse-wise, I think criminals of all types are much more mobile than when we were kids, so being rural isn't any safer these days.

If nothing else, sending a message would alert the parent that nobody is with their kid, but if they're still happy to leave the kid alone, they know exactly how long they've been unsupervised for and check up on them periodically.

 

[Arzada]

I find this thread really sad. A competent, sensible child of 11 is not a baby, and much more capable of handling a pony than a novice adult. It's about the right age to start doing things for themselves.

No wonder people are so incapable and risk averse these days. They have had no space to learn and develop.

I completely agree.

At 8 or 9 I was going for long bike rides alone on country lanes.

I was recently watching a film about cycling in Holland and how some Dutch cities transformed from car centric to cycling cities. The thing that really made me realise the effect on children and their increasingly risk averse parents are was a spokesman for one town saying that cycling empowered their children to lead independent lives eg to meet friends, cycle to their sports activities etc without depending on their parents to chauffeur them around. Over here the taxi of Mum and Dad disempowers the children because let's face it the roads are simply not safe for child cyclists.

 

[MagicMelon]

I would leave the kid to it, not your problem. Id perhaps mention your concern to the YO but otherwise Id leave it at that. I used to handle my own ponies completely on my own at age 8, Id spend hours with them and my parents left me to it. Id disappear off on hacks totally on my own again for hours on end off the road, up into the hills, no mobile phone then either! I survived I wouldnt let my 9yo do that now though however... different times I think!

 

[vannersrus]

It certainly isn’t your problem OP. However the YO could be liable if something happened and the insurance company could deny liability to recompense.
For eg any of the things that occupiers liability would normally pay out for , injury to third parties, fire etc would be negated by an 11 year Old being there unsupervised .
Very unwise of YO to put herself in that position I think !

 

[Crugeran Celt]

Am I missing something here, why would the child be anybodies responsibility other than the parents or the YO if the parent had arranged that the child be there without a parent, definitely not the responsibility of another livery. If the parent has not asked you to watch the child in their absence I would speak to the parent and make it clear that you are not prepared to take this on and you will be coming and going when it suits you. If any parent is prepared to allow an 11 year old on the yard on their own without even speaking to other liveries then they are clearly not taking their role as a parent seriously and are taking advantage of other horse owners in the process.

 

[Lois Lame]

I am sure most of us were left alone with horses at under 11. I know liability issues have changed or come to the fore nowadays though.
My son was hacking out with a friend at about 7/8. I never was much of a parent though.

I don't know... I admire parents who don't worry excessively.

 

[Lois Lame]

I find this thread really sad. A competent, sensible child of 11 is not a baby, and much more capable of handling a pony than a novice adult. It's about the right age to start doing things for themselves.

No wonder people are so incapable and risk averse these days. They have had no space to learn and develop.

I tend to agree, scruffy.

Mind you, I was a pathetic worry wort myself and didn't really want my girls to ride. And I think that was somewhat unfair on them. (They had a few lessons in the safety of an arena, but that's not much fun.)

 

[Lois Lame]

It is good for their development and learning responsibility and independence etc absolutely but only up until something goes wrong. Then it's "where were the adults?"

But who are these people who ask, "Where were the adults?" And do they have children? I was just wondering this the other day for some reason.