What do you do worth your 6 month old baby when riding?

sam-b

sam-b

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My mother in law usually head my daughter whilst I ride. She doesn't really sleep in the day and I'm loathe to leave her in the car! What do other people do?
 
Am embarrassed to say, if my mother could not look after mine at her house or the yard (mother rode too) then I would ensure baby was firmly harnessed into a pram & left in middle of a paddock whilst I rode round her!** :o
I went to a jumble sale & got a good solid coachbuilt pram to leave at the yard & this was used for baby right up to about 14 months or so as it was big enough for her to sleep in if needed.

Even worse, when she was toddling & I was busy with the ponies in the yard, she would be again into baby harness & tied ** with a lunge-line to a gate for short periods, or occasionally dropped over a stable door to play in a straw bed to be out of harms way.....

She did decide it was more pleasant to ride out with me on a leadrein than do yard chores as she got older tho :D

** I did not do this often :o :p and sprog is still alive to this day :)
 
I have never had any help looking after my children, and when they were babies I too used to put them in their pram and park them up whilst I rode in the field!
 
Unfortunately I had the version that does not sleep during the day and also would not sit in a pram and watch me ride. Riding has been restricted to when Daddy is home to babysit or the grandparents could have him. Not what you want to hear I know.
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
Am embarrassed to say, if my mother could not look after mine at her house or the yard (mother rode too) then I would ensure baby was firmly harnessed into a pram & left in middle of a paddock whilst I rode round her!** :o
I went to a jumble sale & got a good solid coachbuilt pram to leave at the yard & this was used for baby right up to about 14 months or so as it was big enough for her to sleep in if needed.

Even worse, when she was toddling & I was busy with the ponies in the yard, she would be again into baby harness & tied ** with a lunge-line to a gate for short periods, or occasionally dropped over a stable door to play in a straw bed to be out of harms way.....

She did decide it was more pleasant to ride out with me on a leadrein than do yard chores as she got older tho :D

** I did not do this often :o :p and sprog is still alive to this day :)
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Brilliant. This is exactly what I plan on doing when and if I have kids. Glad to hear I'm not the only one that thinks if you can tie a dog up or leave it in the stable, you can do exactly the same with a toddler!
 
Lol at fuzzy furry!! Some good ideas and I will def do that when/if I have a sprog! Either that or il close it in the next stable *only joking!*
 
Some interesting views on here.:rolleyes:

Personally dont think yards are the place for babies/toddlers, and as for putting a baby in a pram while you ride around it, thats a joke right ??

Leave baby with OH or baby sitter at home while you do your horse. Failing that wait until baby grows up.
 
googol said:
Lol at fuzzy furry!! Some good ideas and I will def do that when/if I have a sprog! Either that or il close it in the next stable *only joking!*
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I didn't type that as a suggestion tho! :D
She loved being able to crawl about on a mat of an old jute rug (note to parents of toddlers - keep old broken turnout/indoor rugs as they are great child playmats at the yard, when washed & clean ;) ) its also easier to keep it as the 'stay on the mat please' routine too :)

Asha, everyone has to start somewhere and some do not always have cover for child care (especially if you have your own yard) and you do have to work round what you have. Its good training for horse/pony too - if working in arena with pram close by I always had headcollar on with leadrope round neck (for equine, not child! ) so any drama's with baby could be safely resolved by tying animal up etc if need be.
Personally its hell for me if I have to endure visiting children or babies to my yard these days, but I had to accommodate my own :)
 
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I have plenty friends who have done the rode around the park thing. Also have a friend who would hire indoor school and have baby in car seat in gallery and would ride and chart to baby. Same child often went to lessons in push chair and sat happily for 40 min sessions.

Child is now 6 and loves coming to lessons and watching and offering her input!
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
Asha, everyone has to start somewhere and some do not always have cover for child care (especially if you have your own yard) and you do have to work round what you have. Its good training for horse/pony too - if working in arena with pram close by I always had headcollar on with leadrope round neck (for equine, not child! ) so any drama's with baby could be safely resolved by tying animal up etc if need be.
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I'm with you fuzzy furry!
 
Asha said:
Some interesting views on here.:rolleyes:

Personally dont think yards are the place for babies/toddlers, and as for putting a baby in a pram while you ride around it, thats a joke right ??

Leave baby with OH or baby sitter at home while you do your horse. Failing that wait until baby grows up.
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I doubt this user has children...
 
Asha said:
Some interesting views on here.:rolleyes:

Personally dont think yards are the place for babies/toddlers, and as for putting a baby in a pram while you ride around it, thats a joke right ??

Leave baby with OH or baby sitter at home while you do your horse. Failing that wait until baby grows up.
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Sorry but I agree with this post ^^^^

I do have an aquaintance who chose to leave her baby in a pram whilst she rode in the field. She had a nasty fall, was knocked unconscious and only discovered 2 1/2 hours later by another livery. The baby was blue with cold and screaming the County down. This is a true story.
I would never leave my child to ride - EVER. Even if I was only in a school 6 feet away.
I understand it is a personal choice and I would not judge others for doing what they deemed is best.
I love my horse, but I love my children so much more. It was my choice to have them and therefore my choice to make many sacrifices and be less selfish. It meant that riding happened only when their Daddy was at home. This was right up until they started pre school at 3
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
I didn't type that as a suggestion tho! :D
She loved being able to crawl about on a mat of an old jute rug (note to parents of toddlers - keep old broken turnout/indoor rugs as they are great child playmats at the yard, when washed & clean ;) ) its also easier to keep it as the 'stay on the mat please' routine too :)

Asha, everyone has to start somewhere and some do not always have cover for child care (especially if you have your own yard) and you do have to work round what you have. Its good training for horse/pony too - if working in arena with pram close by I always had headcollar on with leadrope round neck (for equine, not child! ) so any drama's with baby could be safely resolved by tying animal up etc if need be.
Personally its hell for me if I have to endure visiting children or babies to my yard these days, but I had to accommodate my own :)
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But, what if horse spooks you fall off, then you have a loose horse running around an arena with a baby in the middle

I just dont get it.

I understand people can struggle with childcare arrangements, but whats wrong with either paying for a baby sitter or if you cant afford it just wait until the baby is older.

Is it really worth the risk:confused:
 
I used to take my baby to the yard with me and she'd stay in her pram parked out of the way while I rode, or in the car asleep, parked next to the outdoor school. However, I was at a busy yard with a lot of people so if anything were to have happened, there were people there to take care of both of us. Luckily it never did. When the weather was particularly cold, I'd have to take her to her Grandmas and did this more as she got older and was more mobile. Now she's 6 and we keep the horses at home and she will come out to watch me ride and give me pointers on what I'm doing wrong :)
 
I think some people forget how vulnerable children are and how unpredictable even the best natured horse can be. Of course we can't all get to the yard without the children all of the time but I think it is our duty as mothers to keep them safe if they do need to come with us. In my opinion this does not include riding around them in a field. If there is nowhere safe to park the child (the other side of a fence from the horse and with other people present on the yard) while riding then I think you should not ride. We all think that bad things will not happen to us, but they do happen to somebody, and that somebody may well be you one day. What would you rather have a fit horse or an alive child?
 
A friend of mine/livery used to park baby up next to school abd ride but only ever if there were other people about. Baby and school were always in sight so was never a problem. Or if it was cold i'd clean tack and have him in the tack room with me where it was warmer. Did this most of the time anyway unless i was really busy.

Another friend of mine used to park their little girl up at shows with a dvd player/child laptop/toy and leave them whilst they competed!! And not just the one horse either :O
 
Asha said:
But, what if horse spooks you fall off, then you have a loose horse running around an arena with a baby in the middle

I just dont get it.

I understand people can struggle with childcare arrangements, but whats wrong with either paying for a baby sitter or if you cant afford it just wait until the baby is older.

Is it really worth the risk:confused:
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Sprig said:
I think some people forget how vulnerable children are and how unpredictable even the best natured horse can be. Of course we can't all get to the yard without the children all of the time but I think it is our duty as mothers to keep them safe if they do need to come with us. In my opinion this does not include riding around them in a field. If there is nowhere safe to park the child (the other side of a fence from the horse and with other people present on the yard) while riding then I think you should not ride. We all think that bad things will not happen to us, but they do happen to somebody, and that somebody may well be you one day. What would you rather have a fit horse or an alive child?
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There you go - we all have different opinions on here :)

29 years ago, there were very few who had mobile phones...things were done by promising someone to return by xyz time, which was adhered to otherwise search parties etc were sent out etc

I agree that bad things can happen, but one takes adequate precautions to alleviate them most of the time :) However you will never remove all risks as many on here will tell you of hair-raising tales of things that have happened at yards, home or out and about.

eg: my neighbour where I used to live 3 houses ago, slipped on the stairs one morning around 9.30 (watch broke in accident), knocked herself out and had broken her leg and fractured her spine. It was only a leafelt distributor that acted on hearing the small child screaming around 3pm in the afternoon, that the poor woman got medical help.
She was a single parent, 1 child & no living relatives.........

All I can say is what I did with a tiny one 28/29 years ago was on random occasions but it was my decision to do that to keep my livelihood going, as did a number of others.
Times change.................... :)
 
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I don't have a little one yet but do know that my mum, when she couldn't park me with grams (she was a single parent) used to park me in my pram just outside the ring, and as I got to be a bit older (toddler) put me in a clean stall with some books & toys. Child welfare here in the states would have fits but it worked just fine. How much worse is a stall than a playpen, if properly checked for protrusions/hazards?
 
Well both mine wld never sit still in a pram that wasn't moving plus I couldnt concentrate properly on my schooling on the rare occassion they stayed asleep after I walked them about for a mile or so beforehand. I used to get up at sparrows fart & ride before hubby left for work. Also done mutual babysitting for another riding mum or occ my mother looked after them but didn't want to take advantage here & with 1st child she was working full time so not about anyway. They are precious things & whilst tough & benefitting from an outdoors lifestyle.. i must admit to feeling uncomfortable hearing stories about treating them like dogs & tying or shutting them up!
 
I used to make sure baby was fed and clean then put in car seat and drive car to outside menage, with window open I could keep am eye on baby and get horse used to 'judges' car. Have also put child (toddler age) in clean safe stable, whilst turning out or dealing with horse. Child was taught to muck out at v early age and used to love doing this for anyone else on the yard ! Child also has good sence around horses.
 
Great to hear some pragmatic replies about what people with kids have done - I just need to build myself a school before I ever have kids lol

The best I saw was a huge lorry pull up at a BS comp, they unloaded 4/5 horses and tied them up outside. Erected playpen in the back and put the kids in there - seemed to work pretty well, and it was a nice warm summers day - not something you'd do in winter.
 
I have used a baby sling unger my husbands puffa coat and stewarded at events, if you put bottle in with baby the milk keeps warm as well, NO excuse not to help at events when not riding.
 
I can see the 'What if something happened?' reasoning but surely that goes for all sorts of things? I know lots of women who are home alone with their babies more often than not.

It is true times have changed though. My mother was single before it was common and completely without family support. Some of the things we considered normal practice then would make people call social services now! It would be interesting to see stats on children's injuries etc. I suspect though, rather like with crime, despite our perception that things are worse now, they probably ARE better.
 
MiniBoo was never happy just sitting in the pram at that age, you had to move her around or, on bad days, she needed skin to skin contact so was in a sling. Until 9mo I relied on OH taking her for 30minutes so I could just hop on a horse.

Now (21mo) my groom helps out and between us we do horses, dogs and toddler, but one person is always free to deal with the toddler.

Clearly there are many different views on the risks of having a baby/toddler around horses, but I am very cautious in general and am even more so with MiniBoo. There is no way I would ride around her pram or leave her in a place where a loose horse could run her/her pram over. Nor would I have a horse on one hand and MiniBoo on the other.

Life is risky and accidents will always happen, but some risks are greater than others and I see no reason to take them.

Added: one of THE most foolhardy things I have ever seen was a woman at a competition using her pram (complete with baby in it) to shoo a reluctant horse into the horsebox. Luckily the horse went in but she was so close if the horse had taken a step back he would have sat on the pram!
 
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I fall into the better safe than sorry camp and when A was little rode under lights at 9, 10, 11pm including breaking youngsters at that time rather than have him on the yard while I rode. I wholeheartedly agree that there is no need to give up because a mother has children but it's being flexible enough and finding something safe enough that works in each set of circumstances.
 
Asha said:
Personally dont think yards are the place for babies/toddlers.
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I must say that I totally disagree with this statement! As long as you can keep baby safe, then going to the yard is a very good thing for a baby/toddler. Much healthier for them to get outside in the fresh air than being cossetted at home all the time.

However, I do agree with the concerns about riding in the same field as baby in a pram. I have ridden with baby asleep in a car parked right next to the school fence, so I could see and hear her at all times, but knew that:

a. She couldn't get injured by any horse that happened to get loose.

b. Other people were always around so if I happened to fall off then there were people available to help.
 
Mine has always come up the yard with me since she was a new born - she was/is always safe and where the horses are not ie she'll wait in the car whilst I turn out then we do the chores together, but I would never ride and leave her anywhere - that's just not worth the risk.
Mine gets ridden when hubby is around to babysit. That's still weekends during winter and every evening in summer so don't feel I am missing out.
If I have a massive urge to throw some tack on the horse, then I lead and daughter gets a ride out round the block!
 
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