Teach Kids To Be Safe Around Horses
A seven-year-old girl was killed the other day after being drug by a horse. And it was an unbearable tragedy that could have been avoided.
According to the article in the Roxboro Courier Times, Melanie was feeding horses in a pen near her grandparent’s house. She had tied a lead line around her waist. The horse at the other end spooked, and I’m sure you don’t want to imagine the rest.
What was this little girl doing around these horses on her own? I can only assume that she was by herself, as no adult in their right mind would allow a kid to tie a lead rope around them. We used to get yelled at for having a loop in the leadline that could tighten on our hands.
I thought it was bad enough that people keep horses and don’t know how to care for them properly. It’s another thing all together to have horses and not ensure the safety of the children who are around them. The first things you teach kids around horses are to approach horses slowly from the side, don’t run or yell around horses, and never walk behind them. The first thing you teach them when leading a horse is not to wrap a leadline around you in any way.
Unfortunately, this is a horrible accident that never should have happened. It was completely avoidable if an adult had been paying attention. I know that Melanie’s grandparents and parents feel beyond awful about this, and there is no replacing this little girl in their lives. I just hope it can be a lesson to other adults that they need to be so much more careful where kids and horses are concerned.
It’s like having a swimming pool or lake in your backyard. I know parents are always super careful about keeping kids away from water with pool covers or fences or plain old supervision to make sure they don’t accidentally drown. And we need to treat nearby horses with the same degree of healthy respect. Whether they’re yours or a neighbor’s, you need to keep an eye on kids so they don’t do anything dangerous. They may be the nicest horses in the world who would never intentionally hurt a fly (well, maybe a fly), but–like in this case–all it takes is one loud noise to spook them.
Horse are sweet, compassionate, loving animals who usually know to be careful around kids. They are also 20 times the size of a young child and are prone to do something dangerous even if they don’t mean to. Please, if you have horses and young neighbor children, teach them to love horses but to also respect them and to always be careful and always always use their heads.
[...] a less somber note following my most recent post (see Teach Kids To Be Safe Around Horses) I just had to share this link to a Parody on a Jumping Clinic With George Morris. The writer [...]
This is tragic, and could have been avoided, I never allow children, especially my grandchild any where near a horse except with adult supervision. There was a little girl who wanted to take a shortcut through our farm with her pony and we had to say no, since at times we are not there to supervise. I was concerned in case her pony spooked or one of my horses spooked and could set her pony off, there are too many things that can happen. Again adult supervision at all times is a must.
Hi, I need some advice pertaining to horse safety with kids. A friend of mine and myself run a non profit rescue. We have taken in, cared for, and rehabilitated abused horses and ponies which we keep in a public stable/barn. We have a number of kids that volunteer in the caring of these horses. The other day, during a snow storm, a group of these underage volunteers decided to get a ride to the stable/barn after being told no, they could not. Us adults had already left for the day. We found out later that they were dropped off by an adult relative and the adult did not confirm if any other adults were present in the barn. The kids proceeded to saddle up a few of the ponies & horses and had a grand time riding unsupervised in the indoor arena. We have banned these same kids from taking any of our horses out EVER unless we are there to supervise. We have locked up our tack & feed room since then. The problem is.. a few of these kids own horses of their own with their parents in the same barn. All of the parents were notified and informed as to what happened and we let them know that none of OUR horses under any circumstances were to be ridden or exercised without us present. Im just worried because these kids manipulated their way and are only upset because they were caught. I cant seem to get thru to them the danger that they were in or what could have happened. They could have been injured as well as the horses & ponies they were riding. Ive been looking for videos on horse safety that will stress the seriousness of this situation but so far have not found much. Any help would be appreciated.
The points you have touched here are really important. Thanks for this information. Really helpful!