This is why I bitch about small children left unattended with horses
Dec 12 2007
This news story is worth of being front page on the blog.
I agree with most of you that horses are great for kids and an early introduction is fine – but you just have to use your brain. Your toddler should be in your arms or being held with both hands on the back of the horse for a picture. He should not be running around in the paddock with loose horses. She should not be sitting on the ground hugging your stallion’s leg. It is a 1,000 pound animal with hooves like rocks and the ability to move far more quickly than you can react. I am sure every single person on this blog knows of a mature, experienced adult who got killed by a horse in a freak accident. I know I do.
Now, I would never recommend that any of us tiptoe through life, avoiding all risk. I love horses and I’m going to work around them forever, but I try to use good judgment and minimize my risk, and that’s all I’m asking those of you who are parents to do. I know many of you have little kids growing up on the farm and you know there’s a big difference between letting them run around with the chickens and letting them run around with horses or cattle. And selling a horse is never a good enough reason to endanger your child like some kind of marketing tool “Look how quiet he is – he lets little Suzy crawl between his back legs!” Seriously, is a couple thousand dollars going to be worth it when your child winds up with brain damage??? Just use a little good judgment – no one likes to read stories like this, and think about someone whose life has been extinguished before it even began, or think about what Christmas is going to be like for these parents.
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…and its not just parents wit children…sometimes its the ‘grownups’ themselves. Two friends of mine were riding on the bridle path with about four feet separating them when a cyclist came up from behind and RODE BETWEEN them shouting for THEM to get off the trails. God Bless all the Saint Horses!
“OK, I just read the story again and it suddenly occurs to me… what MORON let’s an 18 month old child in a horses paddock???????? Seriously, this child was a year and a half old – probably barely walking or talking and it’s in a horses paddock? I’m sure the parents are mourning their loss, however, that does not negate the fact that these parents should possibly be brought up on charges of neglect. Who was watching this child? Was ANYONE watching him? Either way it’s totally irresponsible behavoir on the part of that childs parents!
It’s a terrible story… but a completely preventable one as well! No excuses for that kind of irresponsibility.”
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Which news story did you read? Was it some news article that was different from the one that we got the link to? Because in that tiny article it didn’t say anything about how the child came to be in the paddock. If the parents just let the kid wander around the paddock, that’s bad parenting. But maybe someone was watching the kid and the kid wandered off and got under the rail. Maybe ya’ll have slow kids, but my daughter was walking before 8 months old and she could make it across the yard in just seconds at 18 months. All it takes is some other distraction (like maybe ANOTHER child in need of something??!?) and ::::poof:::: a well loved and generally watched after child is in harm’s way: down the stairs, across the street, behind the car, in the horse paddock. I love this blog but get sick of some of the high and mighty comments when none of us knows the entire story. I read these things and my heart goes out to the parent – - and I’m damn greatful that I never got that unlucky with my children because tragic ACCIDENTS do happen.
Man, some of you people are so judgmental.
I bet it is a rare parent who hasn’t lost sight of a toddler for a few seconds. Whether that kid ends up under a horse or just playing safely with the toybox is entirely in the hands of the gods. They can go so damn fast when they want to, and they always make a beeline for the animals or some other danger. I watched one at a funeral not long ago trying time and again to get to the open grave. It was probably the only thing in sight that was dangerous to the kid, so guess where he wanted to go?
If the parents are guilty of negligence, then so is every parent who lets a toddler out of their sight for a second, and everyone does that no matter how good a parent they are!
As to putting the horse down, well would you want keep him to be reminded of the accident or risk it happening again? Who do you think would buy the horse with that sort of history behind it? People have already posted here how hard it is to keep folks away from biters even with signage etc. Would you truly want to take on that horse, and with it the risk of having this happen to another child? There are lots of perfectly nice horses being killed every day for no reason at all. Sometimes I don’t see much sympathy for them here if they are fugly or unhandled. Why not kill this horse who has *proved* that he has not got the genes to be safe?
“”octopus.gallery said…
did you hear about the toolsheds in Canada that left their toddler alone with the dog they had just given a bone to? Yeah, kid’s missing half a cheek. Brilliant!”"
And to blame the dog. Nice. Morons. ANY dog will do that. My Border Collie is more apt to nip and bite than my moms Am Staff(aka Pit Bull)
Why do some people reproduce?
What so many people don’t realize is that babies and toddlers do not smell like humans to animals. They don’t sound, move or act like older children or adults. Animals do not necessarily consider them HUMAN. What is not human often brings out the prey drive in many animals, animals that normally are fine with people. They also cannot realize that animals esp. stallions are very territorial. Protecting their territory is what they are hard wired to DO! That doesn’t make them vicious, it makes them stallions!
They do make leashes for small children and I wish more parents would use them!!
I read so many stories of children wandering outside and drowning, freezing, getting eaten or run over, whatever. A simple hook and eye or sliding bolt on the doors (and locked windows) would keep any wandering toddler or 5 year old inside but be easy to break down by any adult in an emergency. They cost what $4 at most hardware stores?
lea_owens said…
” I don’t think this parent is negligent – it really is a tragic accident. “
Sorry, but yes. This parent WAS negligent. All those other things.. parents negligent.
There is NO EXCUSE for not knowing at ALL TIMES where your child is. You lock doors. You put up safety gates. You fence in the yard. You fence in the pool. You take pool ladders out. You lock windows. Etc etc etc.
Gods nothing pisses me off more than hearing the excuses that come after something like this happens!
Leaving a baby/toddler/child in a car on a hot day. “I forgot” ah ha. Irresponsible. Shouldnt have a gold fish.
We are on a busy side street. I have a front porch that goes to a set of stairs then to the sidewalk to the street. I knew that eventually my daughter would grow up and be able to open the front door without help. She’s a smart little bugger. That came at around age 2. Not even the dead bolt stopped her. Thinking ahead my husband and I installed a special security gate that even adults have a hard time unlocking. So just in case she leaves the house. She is on the porch and no further.
It’ calls good parenting.
why do most parents have a hard time with this?
Ozfugly said:
I bet it is a rare parent who hasn’t lost sight of a toddler for a few seconds. Whether that kid ends up under a horse or just playing safely with the toybox is entirely in the hands of the gods.
Well, sure, but it’s one thing to loose sight of a toddler at a playground, or home, or neighbors house. But when you are loosing sight around inherently dangerous things, then you are not watching close enough. My mother left me in our backyard (no well) when I was little several times. But you can be damned certain that she didn’t when we were at the farm. It’s the nature of toddlers and if people don’t know that, then shit happens. People don’t research owning pets or horses, so why children? Books have so much information, it’s a shame folks don’t read much anymore.
Speaking of letting children play around dogs who are eating…
When I worked on the Ranch the kids’ counselor was in charge of taking care of not only the guest’s children but also the owner’s grandchildren, which I didn’t think was right but that is another story. Well she was a royal idiot. One day she and her charges came across a ranch dog, blue healer (read crazy as hell, no discipline) who was licking some paper that bacon had been wrapped in. She, the counselor, told the ranch owners granddaughter to take it way from him. Well I am sure that you guessed it. The five year tried and failed and got bit for her efforts. No the dog was not shot, though I think that was considered until the whole storey came out at which time the counselor was a prime target. When I found out about the situation I went up to her and told her next time she thinks that dog doesn’t need to be eating sometime she better damn well take it away from him herself. I told her “I have no qualms about you getting yourself bit, if you’re going to be idiot enough to try”. Her response was that all of her dogs had always been trained to drop something when asked, I asked her how many of those dogs where working ranch dogs who had also been abused as puppies. Needless to say this wasn’t the only time I had to tell her off about something.
Horrible thing to happen. Unfortunately, given my line of work, the first thing that came to mind was whether there was a full investigation done in this case. While I don’t doubt that this could have happened, I am cynical because of what I have seen and the explanations (subsequently proven to be lies) given as to the circumstances in certain cases. I have worked cases where traumatic injury was inflicted on a child by the parents/caregiver, and then explained away as “the child fell off the bed/cabinet/shopping cart, the dog did it, the horse did it. Not saying this is the case here, but….
When one of my geldings was younger, I leased him for a while to a therapeudic riding center. While there, he developed an intense dislike for little children. I was unaware of this until I got him back, and one day he was eating some grain out of a bucket in front of his paddock. A little girl about 8 walked up to him, and he dove at her eyes blazing. From then on, I saw him make really nasty faces at all small children but was able to catch him before he caught them! You just never know what they may be thinking at the time, and have to be watching, watching, watching.
A few weeks ago, while at the vet with my barn cat, there was a pair of unsupervised children (from different people) who were running around, playing with some random ladies yorkie, playing with the boy’s father’s dog, etc. I was calmly reading a magazine, while my cat stayed in his cage behind my feet. He’s used to life outside, and not really used to the indoors anymore. He got the vet really good one day, when being put back in his cage – so I wasn’t taking any chances, and kept him under the chair, behind my legs. I figured it would keep him away from anything.
Well… the boy’s father went into the room with the dog, and the boy followed at first. Then the kid slips back out and starts playing with the other girl. He left her for a minute and wanted to check out my cat. I told him “He bites, stay away from him.” Well, what does the kid do? Moves my foot to try and stick his hand in the cage! I quickly moved my foot back in front of him and told him to stay away, that my cat was scared and could bite him. It was really possible the kid would get whapped pretty good – he’s done it before. The kid finally left and went to go play with his friend.
Turns out, as my mom and I were sitting in the vets office waiting for him to come diagnose his problem, my mom told me the kid had stuck his hand in another cat’s cage and the cat had bitten or scratched him, since he hit the cage and said “no, bad kitty!”. What if it hadn’t been a cat? What if it had been some big (or small) dog who wasn’t used to new places? It wasn’t big, but it made me mad. The parent was nowhere to be seen, and when you are in a vets office lots of different dogs come. Some people let their kids run rampant, some may lose them for a second. This was definitely the former. The dad was under the impression he’d learn through experience, I guess. Just glad it didn’t turn out worse.
I do feel bad for the parents of that toddler, and have to think – instead of euthanizing the horse, gelding would be a better option!
Found the youtube clip – go in about 25 seconds to see the incident. I want to get that fathers head kicked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?=VOvcV93u6L0
the commerical says it all. you may have seen it on TV for Verizon…more people should watch this before thinking about buying little suzy-i-love-my-little-ponies a christmas pony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-prMb6BdNs
I was in my friend’s arena one day with a very quite nice horse. A family was there with their daughter on a POA and another small daughter, she was probably only 4 or so. She ran up to my horse, and grabbed his back leg before I could react. Luckily, he’s a great horse, and just stood there quietly. I grabbed her, pulled her off the horse and told her that she cannot go up to a horse like that…she could be hurt very badly. Her mom was only 20 feet away and did NOTHING at all. She acted like it was no big deal…I was so pissed at her. What an IDIOT. That little girl is an accident waiting to happen.
You know, this is one of the really awesome things about living in New Jersey.
I’m not sure whether this has been tested in court, but…hmm, I’d say about ten years back they enacted some legislation protecting horse owners from idiots. Fences are long, and you cannot protect your horse from idiots at all times. Hell, you should be able to assume your horse is safe on your property.
And so, this.
Here’s that video of the kid getting kicked that I mentioned earlier…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOvcV93u6L0
I am old, so I have experienced WAY too many of these tragic occurrences…
Old, unsocialized-with-children dog bites toddler on the face because the toddler crawled under the kitchen table where the dog was asleep on master’s feet. (My dog, but not my toddler.)
Dog was euthanized. Accident was ABSOLUTELY my fault, as hubby and I had adopted the dog when we were young-marrieds, both worked full time, and didn’t take the dog around children to properly socialize her. When this bite incident happened, we had a toddler of the same age, and knew our home, in the near future, would be busy with children and their friends. Our old doggie gal had already growled at our toddler — a warning sign we had, prior to the bite incident, chosen to ignore.
Now, 17 years later, I have a rescue dog of the same breed who is not trustworthy with children. Or cats. Or small dogs. Or pretty much anything that moves fast, makes a high-pitched or catlike noise, or is fluffy and small. I no longer have small children in my home. I do have cats. This dog is kept separated from the cats (yes, we tried stepping up her obedience training, socializing her gradually with cats, you name it). She is crated, or muzzled when passing through the house, or on a leash at my side. Period. She is somewhat fat from inactivity, but her only other alternative is euthanasia. Somebody allowed her to be a huge, mean predator for the first 7 years of her life, until she came to me. Now if we have visiting children, this dog gets crated in our bedroom at the far corner of the house, and that door is closed. AND I watch the little ones. Does that suck for the dog? Sure. But nobody gets bitten, and she cuddles with me again when the company has gone home.
She would be happier as an only pet, in a home with a VERY, VERY experienced owner. Will I ever find her that home? (Does that home even exist?…) Nope. So she’s here with me, until it is her time to go to heaven.
Lest someone argue that this is not a nice breed of dog (German shepherd) to have around children, I’d like to point out that in the 17 years between the first dog, and the recent rescue, The Terminator
, I have raised from pups 3 others of this breed who have been exemplary with children. Even small, uncoordinated, physically disabled children, one of whom once fell ON my dog at the park. And this huge, big-headed GSD just looked up at me and said, “Mom? How about pulling this kid off me?” Temperament? Yes. AND SHITLOADS OF TRAINING AND SOCIALIZATION.
I empathize with the commentor who was affronted by unruly kids at the vet’s office. On my first trip to the vet with The Terminator (really, her name is Merit, because her obedience training is very nice, and she’s just gorgeous), I was paying at the desk for Merit’s check-up. She was sitting quietly at my side, wearing her big, black muzzle,(Hello??) and sporting a very stout leash, and Mommy of the Year came out of an exam room with her tot, to whom she was paying no attention.
My radar, as you can imagine, is off the charts, and I anticipated what was coming next. I said, loudly enough for the entire county to hear me clearly, “THIS DOG IS A RESCUE, AND I DON’T KNOW WHETHER SHE IS SAFE WITH CHILDREN,” while looking directly at Mommy Dearest. Who then allowed her child to move a good 10feet in our direction, while I am loudly repeating myself, and hastily moving this dog away. Needless to say, everyone in the waiting room went white, except for Mommy, who looked miffed.
(Are you sure we can’t just bitch slap these morons?)
Small children run up to our horses, to pet and hug them when my girls are out riding. My patient, well-trained daughters stop what they are doing, and instruct the children about safety.
We once boarded at a barn where the BO ran all the horses in for their suppers, at a gallop, and let them gallop as a herd into the barn, and woe betide whomever was standing in the barn aisle when the thunder approached.
Same BO allowed a total asshat to board a very dangerous horse there, in spite of all the other boarders’ protests and safety concerns, and in spite of the number of children who frequented that barn. This horse was 17 hands of 2-yr-old, untrained, abused fury. One had to carry a ball bat into the pasture to collect one’s horse, to keep from being charged by this monster. Sad for the monster? Sure. But a heck of a lot sadder for anyone who got in his way, unarmed, so to speak.
Lastly, I have noticed that a number of the comments reflect the general consensus that children these days are unruly, wild, whatever. It’s the parents, folks. Be patient with the children, take a deep breath and teach them kindly– they will probably listen! You have an animal they want to know about!! And then excoriate the idiot parents. LOUDLY. Other knowing animal people will thank you, and anybody else can just go, well, you know.
Alas, I did fail to express my sympathy to the family in today’s spotlight, whose toddler was killed by a stallion. Of course that child did not deserve that fate, and of course those parents will never get over that loss. So sorry anyone would ever have to lose a child.
One of my two girls was a runner-off when she was tiny. It was very hard to keep up with her! She was, somehow, spared anything more disastrous than chewing some pre-chewed gum from the floor of a department store. But for a full two years, she had, “disaster waiting to happen” written all over her. She is now 15- and- 11/12s, by the grace of God.
Oh that’s awful!!
I’ve never heard of a horse doing that, but apparently donkeys often pick up small dogs and shake them.
Ghesh..
Reading some of these stories reminds me why I have a Carrot Stick. If I had some idiot parent let their child grab MY (*very* calm, bombproof) horse’s tail, I would whip out my Carrot stick and give the tail-swinging child one slap and the parent two.
God.
OK, probably wouldn’t go so far as whacking the child, but I have a darn good dog/child training voice – and they would have heard it right away. And I would be really tempted to whack the adult, at least.
I agree that it is one thing to let a child out of your sight in your home, and a completely different thing to let them roam about in a dangerous place. Children can be taught, even at a very young age, that running around at the barn is not allowed or that entering paddocks and stalls is unacceptable, just as easily as they can be taught not to touch the stove or a knife. It IS possible. Promise.
I agree that a big part of it all is that parents want to be FRIENDS and not PARENTS. But children need leadership as much as horses and dogs do. They NEED to know how to behave if they are ever going to grow up well.
From experience, it is definately the PARENTS who are the problem — not the CHILDREN and not the ANIMALS. I have a very nice GSD/Huskey mutt (neutered) that I use as a therapy dog. We go to nursing homes and hospitals and stuff. To keep sharp, I take him to a lot of public events — parades, pet stores, carnivals, parks, &c. He has a vest that says “therapy dog” on it to (theoretically) keep people from interupting us. Most adults do, but almost ALL children do. And even if a little one doesn’t know to keep away, I hear older brothers/sisters tell them “no, you can’t pet that dog.” Adults slip up WAY more frequently than children do in this case.
So don’t tell me kids can’t learn to stay away.
They can.
I once sold a TWH to a Lady who later called me to say she was going to sue me because the horse had hurt her child. Later I received a call from a friend of that Lady, who told me the real story. Seem Dumbass Mom left a 5 year old child babysitting his 3 year old brother home alone while she went to visit her neighbor (1+ miles away)(OMG). Well 3 year old went outside to play in his favorite place… the stock trailer(they even kept his toys in that trailer). Mom was gone for 2 hours… (must have been a real ‘good’ visit)comes home and Jr is not in the house. She asks 5 year old where Jr. is and is told “outside in his fort”. Mom runs outside to find Jr. in the stock trailer, out cold. See… before Mom left to go visiting… she had put the horse (I had sold her) into the stock trailer (to get him used to being in there”)..WTF??!! The child received a broken femor and a slight concussion,(a whole flock of Guardian Angel) thankfully the horse had not completly freaked out and had frozen in place after kicking/steping on the child once or twice.(you cant overdo the sacking out lessens!) The horse was actually found extreamly “Parked out” over the childs body and covered in sweat. There were actually puddles of sweat around the child where the horse had stood perfectly still and freaked out. When the horse was untied and brought out of the trailer, he could hardly move, he was so stiff.
Unbeleivafrickincrazy!!
CutNJump, that was BRILLIANT! my hat’s off to you!
In response to the “everyone misplaces their child once in a while” remarks, yes, every parent could lose their child, but the responsible ones do not lose their children in a stallion’s paddock.
A responsible parent weighs the situation and realizes that their 25lb toddler stands no chance against a 1,2500lb stallion and a little red flag pops up in their head to keep the child away, or if staying away from the horses is not an option, to at least be hyper-vigilant in watching the child. Like dealing with young horses, you CANNOT turn your back. Real babies are no different.
Same goes for pools, busy streets, strange dogs, cabinets with chemicals, fire places, holes in the ground.
Ignorance is ignorace for “just a second” or all day. It doesn’t matter when the child is in danger.
That was a tragedy.
I had a horse pick me up and throw me one time. But I was about 19 and 100 pounds. She was an extremely jealous mare–did not like me paying attention to any other animal or person when she was around. I was showing her foal to my boyfriend and brother who were standing in the stall door of the double (that’s 24 feet long) stall, she was at the other end munching hay, and watching us out of one eye. I walked over to her, the foal stayed with the guys. She turned her head to me as though she wanted a rub, grabbed me by the side at the ribcage, picked me up and threw me clear across the stall. I landed at the openmouthed guys’ feet. Had on a jacket, so it barely broke the skin, and there was lots of bedding in the stall to cushion my fall, but I carried a bruise (actually several bruises) and her teeth marks for a long time.
She calmly begain munching hay again, and when I got up and walked back to her, all was fine and friendly. She totally ignored my screaming at her.
My brother had raised her from his mare and given her to me when I was twelve and she was four, when I had been riding her for two years already. This was a mare that I would spend hours in the pasture, laying on my stomach along her back with my feet crossed over her neck while she grazed and a book propped on her hips while I read. I had slept in the stall with her, ridden her everywhere immaginable, trusted her totally.
Hi folks, long time lurker first time poster. Love the blog.
An update on this situation. This occurred around the corner from a friend who I visited last night.
Apparently the stallion has been euthanased. The family had owned him for 18 years. The property has no fencing other than a boundary and one dividing fence behind the shed the family is living in. (They are building).
Sorry I have no more information than this, but I will post again when I do.
I have a daughter who rides and we seem to have an overabundance of ponies on our property. My daughter (8) is not allowed into their yards unless I am there to see what she is doing. No other child who visits us is allowed into the yards, and if they want to pat a pony, they pat from outside the fence while I hold the pony (haltered) from inside the yard.
We also make it harder for kids who don’t do as they’re told by having hotwire at a convenient knee level
. The ones that didn’t do as they were told the first time do after they hit the fence.
This incident is unfortunate in the extreem and should never have happened. Poor child, poor horse, poor family.
Just a little thingy about horses and their unpredictability.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEByDMViYqQ&feature=related
You would think if you wanted to use a horse for a photo shoot you would use one who didn’t kick the models in the ass. While very funny, (and yes, I enjoyed watching this model get it) shows that horses are unpredictable, I hope that the person who owned the horse did not know the horse was a kicker, or he is completely stupid and knew the horse was a kicker and still let it be used for a photo shoot. Assuming people have a little tiny bit of common sense I would hope the owner did not know the horse was a kicker, and thought the horse would be safe.
I feel terrible about the toddler. It’s not his fault his parents were idiots.
A while back, a fellow boarder brought her baby to the barn. As we were all greeting the mother and child, a horse in the cross ties freaked out. All we could figure is that this horse (another boarder) had never seen a baby before. But you’d have thought a tiger had walked into the barn.
Over time, I’ve seen other examples of horses who don’t seem to grasp that toddlers or small children are actually humans (well, truthfully, I wonder about that myself on occasion).
It always seemed a bit odd to me that horses would be bothered by small children but not adults. Then I took my horse to a show where she encountered what must have been her first foal. Good grief, my normally placid horse was a full blown drama queen in all out panic mode. She thought the little baby horsie was going to break out of the paddock and kill her painfully.
It finally dawned on me then (hey, I’m slow but I learn) that horses just don’t think like us. If they haven’t seen it, don’t trust them with it. They may be fine with adult humans and adult horses–but young ‘uns may seem like entirely different species to them.
Trini said…
My aunt is going to kill me if she ever finds this blog, but I just have to share this story…
When my cousin was a toddler 30 something years ago, my aunt used to work outside in her garden. My cousin the toddler, would be on the other side of the garden, over the fence and in the road in a flash. My aunt got so fed up one day that she dragged all his toys, sippy cup and a blanket outside, picked up a big old leash and tied him to a tree while she worked. Kid was happy, mum was happy and kid was SAFE. It amazes me that we keep our dogs on a leash, but we don’t do this for our kids. If your toddler is one of the 99% that can escape in an instant, for gods sake put a leash on him. It’s not inhumane, it’s not cruel, and it may save your kids life!!
December 12, 2007 12:31 PM
——————————–
I must have hated my mother as a child because I was always escaping! She finally made a leash for me to keep me close by!
I remember when I was 3 that I took off out of the house got into the pasture and started to brush the belly of her Pinto mare, Reno. I took off into an open field one time too and she didn’t find me for a long long time. I took off at the LA Zoo when I was 5
and scared the crap out of them.
After that is was house arrest for many yrs, LOL. When I got my first horse, at 11, I wasn’t allowed out of the pasture without her there.
At 18 I took off away from her and have only been back 5 times in 22 yrs. That speaks volumes about her child rearing doesn’t it!
I have 4 kids and not once did they ever get out of my site, especially when they were toddlers!
My husband use to drive long haul. When you do that for so many yrs you get to see some real nasty things.
Two yrs ago he was traveling down some interstate when a car passed him with a small child hanging out of the rear passenger window. Just a few miles after this bitch passed her child fell out of the window onto the interstate. The car following her ran her child over and my hubby came upon it a couple of minutes after it happen.
He has been sick about it ever since. Can you imagine what the EMTs, Police officers, and firemen have to go through because of idiots like that woman and the woman featured today! I can, I was married to a fireman who worked for Santa Barbara City Fire in the 80s. Those poor guys have a horrible time getting over the stupidity of humans.
Another time he was traveling down Lincoln Pass in WY during the winter and watched a Toyota 4×4 slide and flip over. He did what he could to avoid them but the idiots, who had seen him coming, decided to grab their child and jump out in front of him. They could have gone to the guard rail but no, they had tempt fate. Thank god he is a great driver and avoided hitting them and loosing control of his own truck.
People are just plain ass stupid. There is no such thing as common sense anymore. The brains have been bred out of the majority of our population and the rest of us have to pay out the ass for their stupidity!
One of my most vivid memories is of grooming my mare while a much younger girl (probably about
was showing off the horse she was riding to her family. Both my mare and the school horse were in the crossties. I look up from what I’m doing and see that a very small child, probably 2 years old, has broken off from the group and is now sitting directly behind the school horse’s hind feet.
I nearly dropped the brush. “Hey, get your kid! He’s going to get kicked!”
Mom looked up, saw the kid and collected him. I went back to grooming, shaking my head at their carelessness.
Two minutes later I looked back up, and guess where the toddler was?
I was selling a mini mare this summer. A couple and their 2 year old daughter came over to look at her. Told them repeatedly that this mare while a quiet mare had never been around small children before. They have the mare on a lead and then just give the lead to their 2 year old daughter. Mare starts to walk off, daughter unable to stop her. I’m the one who runs after the mare & child. Parents still standing there like the mare is a cartoon animal or something. The mare didn’t do anything wrong, but the possiblity was there and these folks didn’t even realize it!! Same people, same day….2 year old daughter kept putting her hands/arms through the gate where another mini mare was hanging out. Normally this is the sweetest mare in the world, but this toddler kept putting her arms in and out. The mare got annoyed and nipped the child on the arm!! Didn’t break the skin, but it still hurt. Was really glad when these folks didn’t buy my mare!! OH….but they have a 1.5 old mini stud colt at home that the child leads around all the time!!!
>>We also make it harder for kids who don’t do as they’re told by having hotwire at a convenient knee level
. < <
We have the same thing. It is a REALLY good idea. Keeps out kids AND free range dogs owned by morons who see no need to train or restrain them.
Crazy storeis about stupid people, I have a few more to add:
I worked at a half ass barn over the summer (thankfully they had just hired a new manager who knew what she was doing and was trying to fix the place), anyway, I was 18 at the time, and I was there alone mucking. The manager was out giving a trail ride, and one of the “instructors” had a lesson at 1, she was not there when the grandparents arrived with their child. Their solution, leave the child there, pretty much unattended since I was the only one there and I was working, and then come back in an hour to pick him up. Well, I’m not stupid, I know if something happens and I’m teh only one there, well, guess who would get teh blame, so I said no way and they left pretty pissed.
At this same barn they ahd this mare who was sweet almost all of the time, but one day a girl was untacking, I was in teh stall next to her mucking, and the mare gave her a good kick, I heard the thud adn then her yell “Holly”, she was fine, but still a horse who kicks you have to be safe around. So, I had this horse on teh cross ties in the wash stall with her butt facing the stakl on another day adn this know it all kid comes around, yes, you know these kids, the ones who really don;t know shit but walk around and try and tell people how to do stuff, well she is leading a few kids around and she goes “this is Holly, she is really nice” and starts walking around her, well, I told her that Holly had kicked a girl the other day and this kid starts making excuses as to why Holly must have kicked. Well, I told her adn the kids not to go behind her just in case and teh kid walked off in a huff. The stupidity that went on at this barn was ridiculous. I’de need a 20 page book to tell all of the stupid I saw this summer. People coming to ride in skirts, high heels, bringing their kids into the barn with sandals on, the main instructor was the cause, she was just as dumb as the people who came in. So people, stop breeding stupid, it’s amzing we havn’t gone extinct yet with all of the dumbasses running around
Equusite.com is notorious for showing pictures of toddlers in dangerous positions with horses.
Go and look at today’s pictures. “Precious Par Dun” is a death waiting to happen. Just look at the expression on the horse’s face.
I’ve done my fair share of stupid things an seen more then my fair share of stupid..
I have absolutely no sympathy for the family. They made a colossal mistake an now they are paying for it. Thats what stupid gets you…
Regarding dogs an food – no dog should bite or growl or even think of it when human aproaches food. Humans top dog , bottom dog backs away when you ‘want” what they have at least thats the way it is here…
Amen to Fugly, well said. Agree totaly w/ today’s blog post.
I have four kids 13, 10, 6, and 4 and they NEVER go out in the pasture w/o an adult and the two little ones HAVE to stay in my arms or w/i arms reach at all times. There is no excuse for this to happen. I’m sorry for what those parents must be going through, but this was preventable.
Email that I sent to Equusite about that picture:
I am writing to you in regards to a photo put up today on your Pics
of the Day. It is “Precious Par Dun” and it is a dangerous pose.
All through out your site you stress safety and wearing protection
when riding then up pops, not just this picture but there have been
many pictures like it, a very dangerous situation. There is a
toddler standing in front of a horse. This horse just has to make
one move and that poor child could die.
Maybe you could do a feature on the safety of children around
horses. Do statistics on how many get injured when parents do
stupid things. All you would really have to do is go and read Fugly
Horse of the Day, http://fuglyhorseoftheday.blogspot.com/, on her
blog at 9:43 am on Dec 12th to see how many ppl have witnessed
horrible things happening to small children around horses because
the adults don’t think.
Thank you for your time.
Concerned Mother of 4.
This is the idiot’s reply:
Thank you for your opinion. Parents do and say stupid things, I agree.
My guess is the parent of the child is within reach of the child. I
like the picture.
Informed Father of 3
———————————–
What an idiot. It doesn’t matter if the child is within reach of the parent because the horse is much faster than the parent. Talk about promoting ignorance, Equusite needs a huge wake up call!
Just wanted to comment (late) that horses are not the same as dogs. One’s a large prey animal whose thought process is radically different than ours; the other is a much smaller predator with a much more similar mind to our own (apart from the whole rolling in unmentionables thing, of course). Dogs can be expected to restrain themselves from ripping a toddler’s face off. A horse can not be expected to learn to never spook. Just wanted to interject, as there was some drift into the whole argument that dumb parents cause dog bites.
Some years ago at a neighbouring yard, the owners returned from a show one day with their YTS groom (it means youth training scheme and was used in the UK to give youngsters work experience),
they turned the horses out and gave them their feeds in the field.
Everyone went back to the yard, owners said goodbye to groom.
Later that night owners had a call from grooms parents, she still hadn’t returned home.
Owners went outside to check and finding her belongings started a search, they eventually found her unconsious in the field in the dark, one eye missing and the other hanging down her cheek…. she’d forgotten to remove a tail bandage from one horse, went back out to take it off, walked up behind the eating horse without speaking and was double barreled in the face.
The horse probably thought it was another horse sneaking up on it’s feed. It had never kicked or bitten anyone in it’s life.
I was talking with my friend about this subject (I’m the one that posted the article).
They own a property and run tourist accomodation. Their uncle’s old standardbred mare lives on the property. One day a little girl saw the mare and ran straight up to her and started brushing her belly with her doll brush! 0_0 Thankfully the mare just stood, but goodness. Some people present saw nothing untoward, while my friend etc were ready to panic! If the mare had only moved a leg because the brushing tickled…!
Horses are unpredicatable.
Just thinking of my mare, Bobbie. Only reason we bought her is because she’s never ‘marey’. Well I’d owned her a couple of months and she was chummy with my gelding Lincoln. Housesitting for a friend with Bobbie and Lincoln, my friend and I rode them to where she kept a pony she was leasing from me, whom Lincoln had know for years, but Bobbie had never met. Lincoln and Scrat were overjoyed to see each other again, and it’s the one and only time I’ve ever seen Bobbie try to kick something – she was incredibly jealous and furious at Scrat, tried to double barrel him through the fence.
She’d never shown agression before, nor since.
The role of a stallion is entirely different than the roles of geldings and mares. The stallion is the protector, the keeper of vigilance, even the attacker under certain circumstances. Dominant geldings can assume these traits when pastured with a herd as well. Just how seriously they take their jobs as herd boss will be relected in their level of aggression toward interlopers. And really when you think about it unemotionally, a toddler crawling around on the ground looks and probably sounds an awful lot like a predatory cat.
I feel terrible for that family. They have an unbelievable burden of guilt to bare now. They will never be the same.
Thanks for that info lea_owens.
I was wondering what the exact story was. I wasn’t even sure if it was a stallion or not.
———
I know one woman who allows her kids to play with their ponies and do whatever they like with them.
Another woman doesn’t allow her children near unless she is holding them. If a horse comes near she instructs the kids to “quick, get out the way, hurry! the horse is coming!”
The first woman’s children give me heart attacks at shows, they’ll walk or run right past strange horses since they are so used to their own being quiet.
The second, her kids aren’t old enough to be moving around like that, but even at home with horses he knows, the young son knows the rules and is careful to avoid them without his parents – even though he loves them and can rattle off their names like there is no tomorrow.
Can’t be too careful =(
Who do you think would buy the horse with that sort of history behind it?
Someone who isn’t a fucking idiot and has a clue about horse behavior?
If you turned a toddler lose in my backyard it would end badly. Very, very badly. My horses will go out of their way to run down any dogs, chickens or goats that wander into their stalls – a kid would not be different.
I have an easy fix – don’t turn any kids loose in my backyard. I don’t even let the dogs back there, and I don’t have goats anymore after the last one was picked up and thrown a good 20′. The chickens are on their own.
I have a friend who is a doctor and a mother. When her son was little (under five years old) he was tiny and he was like greased lightning. You could blink and that kid was gone, just like that.
He hated holding hands for long with adults because it was so uncomfortable for him–he was tiny and most adults can’t walk bent over for very far.
So my friend did the sensible thing. She bought a little chest harness and used leading reins with him. The cloth reins that came with the harness were uncomfortable to hold, so I gave her my oldest, best broken in leather leash. Perfect! Mom and kid were both happy and safe.
We were at the mall one day when another mother stopped my friend and started lecturing her on how wrong it was to treat her child “like a dog” and blah blah blah. Her own child, about the same age, was darting hither, thither and yon during his mother’s unasked for lecture on the human dignity that toddlers deserve (huh?).
A couple hours later, we were leaving. We saw a commotion down at the entrance doors. I’ve known my friend most of our lives and one reason she’s a doctor is that her instinct has always been to run to trouble to see if she can help.
She shoved the leash into my hands and ran to help. I took my honorary nephew to the food court and filled him up with sugary stuff (what else are honorary aunts good for?) while we waited and I kept him distracted from worrying about why Mama had suddenly run away.
The woman who lectured us earlier had been leaving the mall by the entrance that was right by the bus stop. Her child ran out in front of the bus and the wheel went right over his chest.
When my friend put her hands on him, she didn’t feel normal child, she felt a bag filled with fluid. His ribcage had been crushed and he was dead. There was absolutely nothing she could do for him.
My friend has had nightmares and flashbacks for years over that. She actually questioned at one point whether she should be a doctor, even though the autopsy proved there was absolutely nothing anyone could have done for the child.
Worse than that, the mother threatened to sue my friend for not helping her child. Got a lawyer, filed the intention to sue and everything. Fortunately this state has Good Samaritan laws that protect anyone who stops to help someone in need of assistance and the actual suit was never filed.
But my friend still had to get her own lawyer, still had to tell the story to yet more strangers and go through a lot of worry and anxiety at a time when she was barely able to sleep because of the nightmare that woman put her through.
I still think my friend should have countersued but she refused.
It still makes me sick to think that a few mistaken notions about toddlers needing to be treated with “human dignity” (whatever the hell that is) and less than $15 of leading reins could have saved that little boy.
I look at my honorary nephew who is about to graduate from high school and I wonder what her child would have been.
It wasn’t the child’s fault–he was just doing what little children do. It wasn’t the bus driver’s fault, he couldn’t even see the child from his seat and it wasn’t in a pedestrian zone. And even though the mother did her best to make it my friend’s fault, it was most certainly not. There was nothing my friend could possibly have done to help.
I know this. I wish I could be sure my friend knows this.
My daughter (the one who is sure that ALL animals are her friends) was an independent type of child. She was ALWAYS zipping away from me any chance she got. I did get her one of the harnesses & leashes and used it whenever I was anywhere I couldn’t restrain her in a stroller. We went to the state fair one year, and this child spent the entire time walking at a 45 degree angle leaning on her leash, trying to run to see different things. I can guarantee she’d have been long gone if I hadn’t had the leash. I got some strange stares, but the safety of my child certainly comes first.
I never tried tying her up in the yard, but looking back at the things she did, I probably should have. …. like at 18 months climbing 7 feet high up the outside of our barn (2×6′s spaced about 10″ apart). Trying to do the monkey bars on the swing set at 2 years, and stuck hanging…. luckily I caught her before she fell. She’s never had a good self-preservation instinct, and she’s the first one (actually the only child of mine) who LIKES haunted houses, scary rides, roller coasters, etc. She’s 8 now and as much of a daredevil as ever.
I have no doubt she’d be the type to run into a pasture of a horse she didn’t know. As a matter of fact, she was very upset when we got a young horse gelded because she wanted a stallion. She refuses to understand that stallions can be very dangerous.
my old gelding would kick a dogs ass if it ventured into the pasture. since he has passed, Crunch has become a nervous wreck when she sees dogs wandering around (she isn’t afraid of my dogs, just strange ones in teh field) especially after the asshole renters moved off and left their pack of Boxers who thought she looked mighty tasty… she did manage to kick one of those dogs heads in, though.
i have to remain vigilant when she is turned out… i am pretty much her only protection now.
Don’t know if it has been mentioned, but the horse that did this was destroyed. Because it is so obviously the horses fault. *rolls eyes*
I too, must confess to putting a leash on my toddler, and harnessing him to things like strollers and shopping carts. He could get out of strollers in less than 4 seconds without it. I also had a dog that never left my property without a leash. I put the leash on the dog so that I could keep him safe, and prevent accidents such as him being hit by a car. For my son, I was more concerned with undermining his sense of dignity.
Sure enough, he is the one who will dress up in a sparkly pink dress and fishnet tights for a joke, while his brother (unleashed as a child because he was more interested in electrocuting himself than running off) will only wear dark colors in the most conservative styles.
Seriously folks, why would I be more concerned with my pet’s safety than with my child’s? After all, I have outlived the dog; the kids are my retirement plan!
We were at the mall one day when another mother stopped my friend and started lecturing her on how wrong it was to treat her child “like a dog” and blah blah blah. Her own child, about the same age, was darting hither, thither and yon during his mother’s unasked for lecture on the human dignity that toddlers deserve (huh?).
My sister in law had a VERY similar thing happen. The whole “How can you put your CHILD on a LEASH?”
She had three kids under the age of two years! A very boisterous young son (who could scramble over kid-proof fences like they were nothing) and twin daughters. She always kept him strapped to her wrist with a leash, so that if the two girls took her attention, he wouldn’t dissapear.
I am SICK TO DEATH of the attitude that you should treat kids like little adults. THEY’RE NOT. People who think if they treat their child like and adult, then the kid will act like an adult – and they wonder why their kid does something “stupid” like running out in front of a bus. It’s because their a kid you should be looking after (whatever way that works best for you and them), not your best friend in a neat, portable package.
“Little girl, stay out of my float while we’re trying to load your mother’s 16.2hh problem loader who is going to a ‘last hope for anyone’ trainer”.
The mother says “Get out of the float! Or you’ll be in trouble!” and the kid ignores them because they know their mother doesn’t have any way to enforce her order. Mum’s not going to smack her or anything, and Daughter doesn’t understand the reasoning “the horse might accidently kill you.”
It shouldn’t be up to me, a teenaged friend, to not only have to get the problem loaders arse onto the float, but also get the daughters arse OFF the float so she doesn’t get squished!
Both problems were caused by the same reason. Neither horse nor daughter had any respect for their Mum’s orders.
I flicked the horse with a long lead rope on the bum a couple of times in warning, told him he had to go on or else he would get a harder smack, and he walked straight up and stood like a dream. In some respects, horses and kids aren’t that different.
I always knew if I mucked up, I’d get a wooden spoon tanning my hide! I’m a great student, academic award winner, lots of prizes and places etc. It didn’t screw me up getting smacked when I deserved it!
Goodness only knows what I’ll learn when I become a parent
I just hope I do a job like my Mum. Maybe with a liiiiiitle bit more sympathy for falls, colds, cuts, bruises, broken bones etc =P
I too, must confess to putting a leash on my toddler, and harnessing him to things like strollers and shopping carts.
Nobody should feel they have to use the word “confess” when they are talking about how they ensure that someone they love stays healthy, happy and safe =)
Scary Story
I have a 16.2hh TB who was a rescue. In the time that I have owned him, he has bitten, kicked, reared and struck at me. My parents, both horse people, wanted him sold or shot. I couldn’t allow people in the yard while he was loose because even when he’d begun to trust me, he would still attack strangers.
He’s a “lifer” because of the progress he has made, amazing horse. Even now though, I could easily imagine him picking up a small child in play – I have seen him carrying my cat in his mouth and chasing pigeons ot of his yard.
We turned him out in a paddock for a break from work. A few weeks later, talking to the agistment lady who was a friend, we asked how he was behaving.
“Oh wonderful”. She says “I send Jessica to lead him back from the paddock.”
Okay, Jessica’s the hired help, right? Wrong. Jessica is her FIVE YEAR OLD DAUGHTER.
=(
http://horsetopia.horse-for-sale.org/classifieds/ad256491
this picture made me think of the absolute stupidity of some parents. In the pic you will see three kids sitting helemtless on the back of a 17.7 hand draft. Ummm, bad idea maybe? It dosen’t matter how quiet or calm the horse seems, if he were to spook at the smallest thing your kids would not do so well when they fall from that height onto hard ground with no helmets. Is a picture really that important that you would endanger your children by doing that? Absurd
http://horsetopia.horse-for-sale.org/classifieds/ad253520
I’m alwasy searching for a really awesome giant horse that I don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting, but I like to window shop, and I have run into another mother of the year, seems to be alot of them. She put her child on a 17.3 hand horse she rated as a 7 out of 10 for temperment, 10 being “spirited” and the horse is BLIND in one eye and needs time to adjust to knew places by sniffing whatever, and she even said he needs an experienced rider because he is a powerful forward mover. Oh. and did I mention the horse is 17.3 and the child had NO helmet on? WHAT, I mean come on people, I have found 2 of these ridiculous pics in like 4 minutes of one another, use some sense, blind in one eye, what if he hears something and it spooks him because he never saw it? Your child is gonna be dumped like yesterdays trash on the ground, and thats a hell of a way to fall with no helmet, great job mom, have fun scraping your child off of the ground.
(I personally really like the horse)
I have seen tons of comments on toddlers riding horses, and playing around them. I have a 2 year old grandson that scares the day lights out of me every time he comes over. He is about as horse crazy as I am. His favorite mount is my 10 year old stallion. This past summer he got to compete in O-Mok-See on Peppy. It was only lead line. NEVER was he permitted to ride alone. And I have to admit Peppy was a jewel. All the other lead line toddlers could beat us. Peppy seemed to grow concrete feet. My problem is not with the horse. My grandson was watching everyone else dismount and thought he should be doing it to. So he grabed the saddle horn and dismounted. Thank the lord we were always right there. Now I am trying to get him to like his New Horse as well as my stallion. Pistol is only 38 inches high and as sweet as they come. At least in a moment of distraction, the lttle guy won’t have so far to fall. Never would I leave him unattended with a horse, any horse, PERIOD.
Sally – I read your post on GSDs and would like to note that our family owned a large GSD-mix for over ten years when I was young. As a toddler, I loved playing with her and would yank on her tail. Not very smart and my parents always watched closely, but she was the sweetest dog and was always very tolerant of me.