When is it appropriate to speak up? I don't like sticking my nose in other people's business or telling them how to raise their kids, but I am freaking out right now.
My almost no-longer-a-teen is, in my limited opinion, a good rider. Not only is she a good rider, she is also pretty confident around horses. As in, she will tolerate no BS. Once she feels a horse knows what's expected of it, failure to deliver what is expected will be met with..uh...disapproval. So when she is on a horse or handling a horse that gives her grief, she is not at a loss.
New to the neighbourhood is another horsey teen (13) who, like my own, is an only child and very loved (read spoiled). But unlike mine, who I freely admit is spoiled, the other's mother is non-confrontational, mild, not prone to crazy acts aimed at putting the fear of god (mother) into child. But I parented in a very, uh, passionate way. I had RULES and battled hard to enforce them because my number one goal was not to have my kid die doing something stupid that I could prevent. Safety first!
I used to allow, on the very rare occassion, my daughter and her friend to ride horses into town to the ice cream joint and get a cone at the drive through window. This did NOT require that they cross a highway. THey were on small town streets. I also NEVER allowed this during high traffic times like long weekends. As a BC tourist town, summer traffic gets terrible. Both the girls were good riders and both the horse were seasoned pros with traffic. I had seen both girls riding the trails up here for years and it was not until I was firmly confident in their abilities and the behaviour of the horses that I let my daughter mix her horse with traffic. Even at that, highway traffic was a no-go.
New neighbour horse kid has taken many lessons on lesson ponies and is a good rider. Good hands, good seat, good legs. BUT...she does not know what to do when faced with a horse that gives her any stink, or gets stupid or panics. She rides the road with another local young girl who has NO EXPERIENCE AT ALL and has no confidence and is able to do nothing with a horse other than sit on it. The two horses are...not owned by people who make them behave. They are pushy, hard mouthed and prone to bullying their riders. Neither rider is remotely able to deal with the bad behaviour of these horses. Potential disaster is bad enough on the trails...but it goes up 100 times when these two girls get on those two horses to go ride through the very busy downtown streets (My kid never rode into the downtown core, ever. Ice cream joint is reached without entering the main downtown area, heavy traffic is skirted. Today these girls want to go downtown, not for ice cream).
That is their plan today. Those two girls on horses they cannot control, with only one of them being able to ride, are going to ride through downtown. They called my Horsey Teen to join them. Horsey teen, when she learned of their plan, declined the offer. Her words, "No way am I getting into the middle of that train wreck! Her mom needs to keep that kid OUT of town on those horses. This is the parent's problem and I'm not touching it with a 10 foot pole." I am shocked to say this, but my daughter is right. Some parent is setting thiese kids to be in a traffic wreck involving horses! Neither those girls nor those horses are traffic/town worthy and this is going to go so wrong! I am freaking out.
Simply being able to stay on a horse DOES NOT make you a rider! I am aghast that these two kids might actually do this with the blessing of parents who obviously have NO CLUE how it goes. I have seen the two riding when the one horse with the non-rider acts up. She literally begins to panic, cry and starts yanking wildly on the horse's face while kicking it. This creates a chain reaction in which the horse does NOT behave better but instead becomes confused and starts backing up quickly or spinning, while the rider crying. THIS IS HOW KIDS END UP IN THE HOSPITAL! Picture this in a busy, downtown area! HELLO! WHAT KIND OF DRUGS ARE YOU ON TO NOT KNOW HOW STUPID THIS IS!
So...how do you tactfull say, uh..this is perhaps not such a good idea? How do you tell a parent that their kid is NOT a road worthy rider and should only ride in a field or where traffic isn't going to compound the problem? I don't want to step on any toes. Nor do I want to see dead horses, dead kids or dead drivers. All of which are potential when stupid kids ride bad horses where they have no damn business being. And yet some parent has said yes or is not smart enough to know this is beyond their kid's capabilities to do safely.
So..I pace and wonder if I should speak up I spoje up once when same kids were, 3 on the quad, driving around here at HIGH speeds without a helmet in sight! Fine, drive your quad, but wear a helmet, it's the least you can do.I called over that. Road rash is one thing. Smashed heads is another. Mom was , "Oh, dear, I didn't know. I thought she was wearing a helmet.." Uh, no. Three on the quad at once, no helmets. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
What would YOU do? I feel bad but wonder if I should say anything since I already have ratted the kids out over the helmet thing. These kids on these horses are NOT safe in downtown, summer traffic. They just aren't that good on horses yet.
My almost no-longer-a-teen is, in my limited opinion, a good rider. Not only is she a good rider, she is also pretty confident around horses. As in, she will tolerate no BS. Once she feels a horse knows what's expected of it, failure to deliver what is expected will be met with..uh...disapproval. So when she is on a horse or handling a horse that gives her grief, she is not at a loss.
New to the neighbourhood is another horsey teen (13) who, like my own, is an only child and very loved (read spoiled). But unlike mine, who I freely admit is spoiled, the other's mother is non-confrontational, mild, not prone to crazy acts aimed at putting the fear of god (mother) into child. But I parented in a very, uh, passionate way. I had RULES and battled hard to enforce them because my number one goal was not to have my kid die doing something stupid that I could prevent. Safety first!
I used to allow, on the very rare occassion, my daughter and her friend to ride horses into town to the ice cream joint and get a cone at the drive through window. This did NOT require that they cross a highway. THey were on small town streets. I also NEVER allowed this during high traffic times like long weekends. As a BC tourist town, summer traffic gets terrible. Both the girls were good riders and both the horse were seasoned pros with traffic. I had seen both girls riding the trails up here for years and it was not until I was firmly confident in their abilities and the behaviour of the horses that I let my daughter mix her horse with traffic. Even at that, highway traffic was a no-go.
New neighbour horse kid has taken many lessons on lesson ponies and is a good rider. Good hands, good seat, good legs. BUT...she does not know what to do when faced with a horse that gives her any stink, or gets stupid or panics. She rides the road with another local young girl who has NO EXPERIENCE AT ALL and has no confidence and is able to do nothing with a horse other than sit on it. The two horses are...not owned by people who make them behave. They are pushy, hard mouthed and prone to bullying their riders. Neither rider is remotely able to deal with the bad behaviour of these horses. Potential disaster is bad enough on the trails...but it goes up 100 times when these two girls get on those two horses to go ride through the very busy downtown streets (My kid never rode into the downtown core, ever. Ice cream joint is reached without entering the main downtown area, heavy traffic is skirted. Today these girls want to go downtown, not for ice cream).
That is their plan today. Those two girls on horses they cannot control, with only one of them being able to ride, are going to ride through downtown. They called my Horsey Teen to join them. Horsey teen, when she learned of their plan, declined the offer. Her words, "No way am I getting into the middle of that train wreck! Her mom needs to keep that kid OUT of town on those horses. This is the parent's problem and I'm not touching it with a 10 foot pole." I am shocked to say this, but my daughter is right. Some parent is setting thiese kids to be in a traffic wreck involving horses! Neither those girls nor those horses are traffic/town worthy and this is going to go so wrong! I am freaking out.
Simply being able to stay on a horse DOES NOT make you a rider! I am aghast that these two kids might actually do this with the blessing of parents who obviously have NO CLUE how it goes. I have seen the two riding when the one horse with the non-rider acts up. She literally begins to panic, cry and starts yanking wildly on the horse's face while kicking it. This creates a chain reaction in which the horse does NOT behave better but instead becomes confused and starts backing up quickly or spinning, while the rider crying. THIS IS HOW KIDS END UP IN THE HOSPITAL! Picture this in a busy, downtown area! HELLO! WHAT KIND OF DRUGS ARE YOU ON TO NOT KNOW HOW STUPID THIS IS!
So...how do you tactfull say, uh..this is perhaps not such a good idea? How do you tell a parent that their kid is NOT a road worthy rider and should only ride in a field or where traffic isn't going to compound the problem? I don't want to step on any toes. Nor do I want to see dead horses, dead kids or dead drivers. All of which are potential when stupid kids ride bad horses where they have no damn business being. And yet some parent has said yes or is not smart enough to know this is beyond their kid's capabilities to do safely.
So..I pace and wonder if I should speak up I spoje up once when same kids were, 3 on the quad, driving around here at HIGH speeds without a helmet in sight! Fine, drive your quad, but wear a helmet, it's the least you can do.I called over that. Road rash is one thing. Smashed heads is another. Mom was , "Oh, dear, I didn't know. I thought she was wearing a helmet.." Uh, no. Three on the quad at once, no helmets. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
What would YOU do? I feel bad but wonder if I should say anything since I already have ratted the kids out over the helmet thing. These kids on these horses are NOT safe in downtown, summer traffic. They just aren't that good on horses yet.
