Young Liveries... Legal or Not!

TopTotty

TopTotty

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I have a small livery yard and have had an enquiry from a mother who has a 14 year old daughter and a 16hh TBx mare. She wants oart livery and has said that the daughter will be the one who comes to look after the horse.
I am concerned about the age of the girl being left and who's responsibility she then becomes.
Has anyone had any experience of this or can any one offer any advice.
Many Thanks
Jeni
 
10years ago I was that 14year old and as far as I was aware there were no legal issues with this (or none that any YO brought to my attention).

I think that aslong as the horse is insured as normal you should be ok.

Maybe worth getting the parents to sign a disclaimer re leaving their child unattended and you take no responsibitly etc.

Good luck making your descion!
 
Speak to your insurance company. I am insured with NFU for my yard and I do not allow anyone under the age of 16 to be alone on the yard. THis has been agreed with NFU. I also do not allow anyone under 12 to ride on their own. You have to remember you are a livery yard not a creche and are insured as such. I have one 15 year old who is very mature but I have another who is extremely immature both have to have parents with them when at the yard. And I do not allow them to drop the kid off on a sat Am and collect in the evening. I am not a nannying service. As she is a minor she is in effect your responsibility. I personally would not agree to this bearing in mind anyone who has a responsibility for children should have a CRB check done and be very wary about the child making 'allegations' about your behaviour or people behaviour on the yard. Potential minefield comes to mind.
 
I always used to be dropped off on the yard, didn't even see YO from one end of the day to another.

There was always quite a few of us, and we just used to spend our days playing ponies, scrubbing water troughs, poo picking etc.

That was quite a few years ago now though, but it would have driven me absolutly wild to have had Dad there all the time. My family is one that encourages independence, so I always did it alone.
 
I always ensured that the livery contract signed outlined all aspects regarding who and when people were aloud on the yard but i did very harshly have a no minors rule on the yard. This is obviously not to everyones liking but it just made sure that my back was covered for any insurance perposes. I would definatly ask the advice of your insurance company. The other thing is it depends how well you feel you can trust them as it might not just include their horse, can you trust they can do simple things like close gates and stables properly and that they are not going to interfear with other horses on the yard.
Its a really dificult one to decide so good luck
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The yard I'm at is really big and has loads of under 16's that look after their own ponies without someone looking after them, there's always someone around to help them though.
I think it's weird to have under 16's needing supervision of adult, maybe under 12's. My best memories are being dropped up the yard at 8am me and my friends spent all day up with our ponies, walked to shop for lunch and had picnics in the horses fields, be a shame not to let kids do this.
 
If you are running a commercial livery yard then you need to ensure that you have a contract with each of your liveries and that it includes a clause that anyone under 16 years of age is accompanied by one of their parents or guardians.

There should be two copies of the contract one for the livery and one for the livery yard both of which are signed and dated by both parties.

The draught contract should be checked over by a solicitor to ensure all is o.k.
 
I don't see a problem with it - as long as the parent knows that the legal responsibility for the animal will always be with them - and if the child doesn't come up to do the horse you will be charging the parent accordingly etc.
 
On my yard we dont allow under 16's to be left alone. No matter how mature they may seem, they are still minors and may not know how to cope with an emergency situation (horse stuck in fence etc).

As a child, yes i was allowed on to all the yards i was stabled at alone but that was then, jeez, we never even had mobiles back then - i actually remember having to run miles up a road once to get to a pay phone to make a call as a horse had jumped out of the premises. (from gate had been locked so no-way i could have just walked around the block with him)

i also dont think any insurance company would be happy with it if they knew. At the end of the day its your yard and your rules but i think you need to think very carefully - if the mum is horsey - could work, if she isnt.... i'd be even more hesitant!
 
It really is such a shame how things change, i also used to be dropped offat the yard and left for the day and we just played ponies all day but now people are so quick to accuse blame and sue that when i had my yard i really couldnt do with the hassle. I think it really is down to personal preferance. Can they provide details of their old yard where the young girl was presumably left to do the horse?
 
If you do end up with under 16's on your yard without a parent, it will be worth getting a letter giving permission for you to authorise emergency medical treatment on the child.

Otherwise if she has an accident the Paramedics\Casualty won't touch them until a parent arrives (unless their condition is life threatening).

Learnt this one the hard way when my mum used to take me and a friend to shows, she fell off and broke her arm. They wouldn't give her any pain meds or transport her in the ambulance until her mother turned up. Took ages too!
 
I also spent my days at the yard unsupervised from the age of 11. We werent allowed ride out the fields alone until we were about 12/13. We could however ride on our own in the arena. I wouldnt have had the chance to ride at all if I had to have my parents there at all times - my parents are very much not horsey. Tbh, I do think it unreasonable to not allow a 14yo to look after her own horse on her own on the yard. I understand you must sort it with your insurance company, but most 14yos are quite mature and competent. Also many of them are far safer and more capable riders than adult liveries.
 
I should add though - we all competed in affiliated competitions so were at least of a good standardand competed ponies for the yard owner.
 
I think it's really sad that a lot of kids aren't allowed to spend time with their ponies unsupervised
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I think under 12 is fair enough, but once they get over that age they should be able to have a bit of freedom, imo.

I think if all yards had a policy where kids under the age of 16 had to be supervised, the number of young riders we have would be drastically reduced. A lot of parents just don't have the time to sit around at the yard while their child mucks out/rides/grooms etc, especially if they have other children, or a life of their own!

I can understand why people feel the need to to this, but I just think it's a shame
frown.gif
 
A lot of teenagers are competent, but an awful lot of them are not, and some lack basic common sense. One of the things I hated while trying to run the yard was the amount of children abandoned by parents from 8am-5pm and it being 'assumed' they were being looked after by us (and we had parents telling us off for not making sure little lucy didn't fall off etc).

I have had to intervene on a number of occassions when well meaning but ultimately ignorant teenagers have done things, like feed sugar beet pellets over the fence to ponies thinking they were pony nuts, taking big handfuls of grass to the 'poor pony who has to be inside on such a nice day' (very sick laminitic pony) or 'making jumps' that are down right lethal and would have landed child in hospital and pony with a bullet in its brain.

As someone who did spend my formative years playin ponies unsupervised, I do agree it is a shame children can't do that, but having been an unsupervised teenager, I know that they really SHOULD be supervised - riding bareback, hatless, back to front, jumping stupidly high jumps, etc etc all things I and many others did, and that we were darn lucky to get away without seriously injuring ourselves and our horses but to a yard owner could destroy their livelihood, and therefore a good reason why unsupervised teens shouldn't be allowed.
 
On my last yard, children were left for the day - unsupervised. I was another livery and in no way associated with these children, but did worry about them.
The stupid things which happened (tying a pony up with a head collar ound its neck and the curbchain snagged on the gate.... the equipment which went 'missing' because it was easier to raid somebody elses belongings than get their own stuff. The broken headcollars, the missing lead ropes, the piles of poo everywhere, the jumps which don't get put away.....

Sadly, we have a society which sues, and Iwould be protecting myself from this. But also, the parents have bought a living thing for their children to look after. The parents are ultimately responsible. By dropping the kids off and leaving them unsupervised, they are avoiding this responsiblity.

As another livery - I hate it when there are unsupervised kids on the yard.
 
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The stupid things which happened (tying a pony up with a head collar ound its neck and the curbchain snagged on the gate....

[/ QUOTE ]

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