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Children at the barn

Around The Farm
#1

Looking for options.

What age age do you allow a child to be at the barn by themselves (no parents)

Do you allow children to ride borders horses alone? (No parents, owner and sometimes no one at farm?)

Do you allow children to go into other boarders stalls and clean them alone? (Child rides horse, feels the need to “take care of it” even know employees have taken care of the horse already, again no parent, owner or sometimes no one at the farm)

Child to be at farm all hours of the night by themselves handling horses?

I would just just like to know what people would do in this situation. Personally I feel it’s a liability issue. I was told to “not care” "if she gets hurt it’s not your problem "

#2

I have barn rules that state children under 14 must be accompanied by a parent or responsible adult when at the barn.

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#3

For liability alone, no minor s/b doing anything you mention w/o adult supervision.

If child in question is BOs, then probably MYOB.
Sad if kid gets hurt, but not anything you can do to change the situation.

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#4

My current barn help is 14 -I have no problem with her going into stalls and handling horses. No one, except me, rides alone on my place. It’s pretty remote and no one would find the fallen rider for quite some time --I’m supposed to text my husband when I get on, and text him when I get off --but I don’t always do that. I should. I do ride in a helmet and safety vest though.

Why would a child be riding a boarder’ horse? Why would any one except the owner?

And FYI, in our state, parents cannot sign away a child’s right to sue. Should said kid be injured by your horse or on your property. when kid turns 18 he can come after you for whatever amount he wants to. That his parents signed a release doesn’t take away the child’s right to sue you --only the parents. Kid in my town sued and won against a sweet old lady who hit him with her car when he was on his bike —9 years later. And won. He had a back injury that continued to require treatment. His parents had been compensated by the woman’s insurance at the time (medical bills, all that) but the child filed his own claim when he was 18.

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#5
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#6

So child is 13. Currently her two horses are injured, so she rides borders horses who let her, fine! But I feel like the owner of the horse or her parents should be there?! She is there from usually 3pm to atleast 10pm, staff leaves at 6. So that means unless a boarder comes to ride she is there by herself. She has asked workers and borders to stay while she walks her one horse cuz she’s scared. … then you need to have an adult present who will be responsible for you

We recently had had an employee get kicked while turning horses out (25 years in horses and an fei rider) so I feel like our safety concerns are legit.

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#7

I would not let a 13 year old be at the barn without some kind of supervision- if I was the BO. As a fellow boarder, I guess there isn’t much you can do but bring it to the attention of the BO. Legit concerns and thanks for elaborating.

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#8

Thank you for your input!

#9
  • an accident waiting to happen *
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#10

I think you already know what you want to hear from us. I apologize for not falling obediently into line.

But I read this as a kid trying hard, and I think there could be some solutions to the risk issues.

Yeah, kid shows up at 3 pm because school. It sounds like she rides first and hand walks her own two, second. If she has the sense to be scared to do this with no one on the property, good for her! I’m 5’1" and 50 years old. But the kid is no more or less vulnerable than I am to getting hurt in a horse accident. And you’d not have me not hand walk my horse because I worked until 5, would you?

Seems to me that either of us could do the old “I’ll call you when I take the horse out and call you when I put him back. If you don’t hear from me in 2 hours, come find me.” And that worked for me as a 15 year old kid when I rode out and before cell phones existed.

Your even-more-qualified-than-me employee got kicked, so I don’t see how the kid being a kid is a special problem.

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#11

Some of the stuff you ask about in your first post doesn’t deserve mention. My horse is on full board. Barn staff clean his stall. But, if I’m there in the evening and see fresh manure in the stall, I pick it out. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s a good thing.

However, a thirteen year old alone in the barn after hours or riding when no one is around is a flat out no. Nope, not happening at my facility. I would tell the parents that a parent or another responsible adult needs to arrive at the barn by 6 pm when the staff leaves and either take their daughter home at that time or stay with her at the barn until she’s done.

And I would make it a hard and fast rule that she is absolutely not allowed to ride unless someone else is there. Heck, the last place I boarded expressed a very strong preference that adults not ride unless someone else was around, and I think it makes good sense.

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#12

Without knowing the kid I really can’t say one way or the other. I worked at my trainers barn the summer I turned 13. The only horse I didn’t handle was the stallion. At some point every day I was the only one on the property, and this was before cell phones. The next summer when I worked there (14 years old), I routinely handled the stallion and hacked horses all over the property alone.
I started riding at 7, at 12 I was showing rated small ponies, at 13 I moved up to showing my 5yo horse 2’9", and 14 I showed in the children’s, at 16 I showed my horse in the junior hunters and regularly catch rode for other people. And so on. At 14 I learned how to braid and clip.

If she was a kid like me then she’s probably fine. If she asks people to stay while she walks her horse then I’d say she’s smart.
If she’s only been riding for a year or two and only comes to the barn once a week that’s a whole different scenario.

If you see her doing something that’s actually dangerous then let her know. If a horse is acting up, ask if she needs help. Maybe recommend to her or the BO that she keep her helmet on if no one is around.
IMO age has very little to do with horse sense or experience or the likelihood of getting hurt.

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#13

Is this a public facility? No one was allowed to ride alone at my boarding places, but staff was always somewhere on the property, if not, the barn wasn’t open period. I have boarded at less formal places, but even there the barn was 300 ft from the owners (occupied) house.

#14

Are you the BO or the BM? Then you are in a position to make/enforce the rules. If you are a boarder or employee, I think you can express your concerns but you are not in a position to make rules (but you may be able to help enforce the rules).

I would be concerned about the situation as described, just as you are.

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#15

On my 14th birthday I got my own horse, and did self board at a small backyard place about a mile from home. I was totally responsible for all aspects of horse care riding and training, and there were no intelligent adults in my horse world. This included ordering hay, and calling and dealing with vet and farrier as needed, with no adult input.

I did just fine.

However: it was a small barn, 5 stalls, and all teens. I wasn’t bothering adults.

I had my own horse, and I had picked her out, and made sure I could handle her before I bought her.

There were no arenas on the property, we just saddled out and rode down the road to the trail head.

Riding was a kid’s sport back then like mountain biking or skateboarding today.

I never asked or needed to ask anyone for help handling the horse.

If the kid is in a big facility getting in the way of other riders and is asking for help handling horses that are too hot for her,
she is in over her head.

I had a 13 year old girl riding my current horse one winter. She came down alone, tacker her up and went on the trails after school. No problems.

If this was a skilled mature 13 year old with a horse that she is clearly comfortable with, I would not have problems with the kid being there alone. But the other details suggest she is in over her head, and she is getting in the way of adults.

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#16

It’s inappropriate for a 13 year old to be out at a barn alone unless it is their family’s barn on their family’s private property. Even then, if it is a professional boarding barn, it is probably still inappropriate–unless there is an adult nearby who is checking in and quickly available. A minor should not be riding or handling horses while they are totally alone. As a client, I would not be comfortable with a minor alone in the barn area. It has nothing to do with how responsible the 13 year old is, that’s just not an appropriate situation to put a 13 year old in. I wouldn’t want a 13 year old to be skateboarding alone at a public park either. It’s very different if there are other responsible kids around who can function as a “buddy system.”

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#17

I also wouldn’t let a 13 year old be in my barn without someone else (at the very least) on the premises.

I have some neighborhood kids who come over and clean stalls and paddocks and do odd jobs around the farm. But they are not allowed on the farm when no one is home, and they’re not allowed to do any chores if an adult isn’t in the barn with them.

Last year a couple of the girls decided to clean my barn out for me while I was down in Thermal. Super sweet of them, but they a) shouldn’t have been there at all, b) shouldn’t have entered the barn given that no one was home and c) definitely shouldn’t have been in the stall/turnout with any of the horses. But they were and one of the girls got kicked and ended up with a ruptured spleen and spent a week in the ICU.

The horse who kicked the kid is as kind as can be and one that I trust completely when I’m around him. But these kids think they’re “farm kids” because they have farm animals (not horses). Unfortunately they don’t know how to act around horses and frequently interact with them in a way that spooks them. I’m absolutely positive that one of the girls did something she shouldn’t have and spooked the horse (who I’ve never seen kick at anything or anyone…even when in a herd of horses). It’s a moot point though, because regardless of his temperament, she did get kicked. And then proceeded to go home, not tell anyone she was hurting, and crawled into bed to take a nap.

I have never felt my stomach drop quite like the phone call I received as I was hauling horses home from CA - “the girls were here and one of them was kicked and she was airlifted to the hospital and they don’t know if she’s going to make it.”

Fortunately she made a full recovery.

I’m now much more careful about laying out the rules when kids come over to spend time around the horses. I make sure that it’s super clear to all of them that there is no setting foot on the property if I’m not with them. My rule used to be that “an adult” had to be with them. Now it’s “ME.”

Having been through that, it’s tough to imagine being super cavalier about any young kid hanging out around the horses without supervision.

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#18

The worst part for me is the fact that this kid is alone after everyone else leaves. Almost anything bad could happen in the hours that they’re alone. I also wouldn’t allow just one barn employee to be alone at the barn, especially with an underage child of 13. One person’s word against another person’s word is a recipe for disaster if anything happens, or is claimed to have happen.

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#19

From reading through all of the responses, and your responses, you sound like a concerned boarder, but not really someone who is in the position to enforce or change the rules that apparently the BM/BO has set for this kiddo. That said, to protect yourself, if the horse in a stall, I would put signs on the stall indicating that no one except barn staff are allowed to enter the stall or mess with your horse. In the grand scheme of things, it can’t keep anyone truly out, but it clearing shows that you don’t want people messing with your horse. Bluntly put, the kid really isn’t your problem…unless it involves you/your horse.

On a separate topic, would I allow it if I had such set up? depends on the kid, really. I would say an overall no…until the kid has proved themselves. I grew up on the farm, in the barn, around the horses. I remember going to a friend’s barn when I was younger and her mom wouldn’t let us out of a feed stall because she was afraid we would get hurt…that was a foreign concept to me because our daily chores as kids involved everything cleaning stalls to even vaccinating the horses…so not being allowed to walk down an aisle as a 3rd grader was a crazy concept.

Even as an adult, I don’t like to ride solo. It’s just not a good idea as accidents can happen to anyone. I may allow them to groom horses in a stall, or go do a final clean out of some stalls, of known chill horses, but only if I fully trusted the kid and their ability to read situations that may not be good. But, I would also be very respectful of boarders who didn’t want that to happen.

If I had a kid that needed to stay late, I may try to redirect their enthusiasm with other chores that could always be done…cleaning tack, sweeping aisles, scrubbing buckets that aren’t in use, rolling polo wraps…you know, the fun stuff…haha.

#20

Still getting used to the forum format so bear with me!

some more info, I am an employee, I have worked there for 13 years! I started working there when I was her age (this is a large boarding facility). Yes I sound like I’m contradicting myself by saying I started there at 13, BUT it’s an on the clock job and if I were injured A I was always with other people working (2/3 people all times), I was covered by workman’s comp, and didn’t dare do what I wasn’t asked to.

She should be aloud to clean her two horses stalls like someone mentioned above, that’s fine others do too. But currently she’s riding 3 other horses that she needs to “take care of” aka pick their stalls, tell the workers what blankets to put on etc., while these aren’t her horses nor is she getting paid to do any service. So at night 9+ when all workers are gone she insists she needs to clean 5 stalls. (Her two and the 3 she catch rides). Now I’m dumping 5 frozen muck tubs every morning since it’s not just a pile or two, she’s cleaninf the stall (at 9pm) that consists of 2/3 piles and pulling out any good hay that the horses would eat. So basically she’s going in boarders stalls and wasting our hay and shavings, killing my back in the mean time.

Ideal world:
child rides with the owner or parent there
only picks her two stalls if she thinks they need to be picked.

I really feel that is fair and I may go to the BO with something similar to this post. To me it’s all safety issues.

1 Like

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