Little kids on big horses?

Question

what are soem photos/videos of ridiculously small kids on way to big for them horses? what do you think?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE2X8Iu7oIE&feature=related

what do you think of the parents that let thier tiny kids go on big horses that they cant control?

Answer 1

The video appears to be at a saddle club playnight.  When my kids were growing up, our saddle club put them on once a week from May through September.  Usually, the horses, adults, and kids ride every week, everyone knows everyone, and the horses are well seasoned for it. I believe that the horse in this video is ridden by an adult as well as the child, and maybe has been ridden barrels, since it takes off at the last barrel.  But it could be taking off for other reasons...like responding to pulling from the lead. The child is started out to ride independently, so I believe it was the original intent to have her complete the pattern that way.  The mom should have had the horse under more control on the last barrel, but I just don't think she expected what happened.  It could be that the horse is a babysitter type when a child is aboard, and if it hadn't been lead by the mom, it would have taken better care of the small rider.  I'm not as quick to judge on this as some...there's more you would need to know about what usually goes on, etc. before anyone is indicted.

Answer 2

I have mixed feelings on this...

It could of been a one time freak out from the horse who looked fairly gentle up until then.  c**p happens and it just might of been one of those c**p moments...  

However I have seen some leadouts with kids on them only to get the leadrope off as fast as they can while the horse runs a top barrel pattern in pyscho mode and the kid is holding on for dear life.  Those I want to pile drive the parent.  I dont get that at all.

There are some stupid ppl that have no business having kids nor horses, nor putting the 2 together.  How many times have you guys heard "I will get a baby and they can grow up together".. its everything I can do to not reach across and choke the person.

My son is almost 14, looooves to ride mules.  He had 1/2 dead animals that were safe and gave him the confidence to continue.  Now he has more of a gassy, mind of his own mule that matches him perfectly and he loves that mule.  But I have seen way too many kids get hurt by stupid parents that want them to go ride some moronic horse that isn't properly trained in the first place.  

More of a rant I guess haha, but these things drive me insane at times.  Mostly because i have to xray the kids and listen to the parents make excuses for why the horse or the kid had the accident, when it was completely their fault.

Answer 3

I don't think size should matter as much as the horse's training, age, and disposition.  I remember a little girl where I boarded who loved to ride a Belgian mare that was used for trail rides there.  She looked so funny on Zelda, but she loved being on a big horse!  (The mare was small for her breed, but the girl's legs almost seemed to stick out to the sides!)  She just rode that mare in the arena and rode a pony or smaller horse on trail rides.

Answer 4

oh my gosh! wow well i have a 4 year old sister who likes to ride and she has her own pony but I NEVER let her ride byherself lol i hold the lead and they i walk next to her and then i ride he pony to keep him in check

horse are unpredictable at times and that can be dangerous i will never let her go out on a trail ride or anything by herself until she is at least like 10 lol

and when i have my own kids they will start out young i'm sure but i will never turn em loose with horses until they are a double digit

***EDIT

yeah i guess i am kind double sided on this there are some real good horses that take really good care of the rider especially this mare i have her momma instinks kick in with the little kids and when they lose balance she will move under them so they won't lose balance and she's so stiff and walks so slow i'ts hilarious to put kids on her back she like won't even shake her head or anything she's not my mare but my neigbors and she's like a babysitter horse

Answer 5

i saw a video once of a little girl riding this huge horse and she was only like 5 yrs old and she was competing in barrel racing and as the horse gallped around the first barrel it slipped and the little girl mustve got her foot caught in the stirrup because when the horse got up the girl was hanging off the side of the saddle. i think its ridiculous how little children ride such big horses, i mean, im an experienced rider and i dont even ride big horses.the parents should take responsibilty and put helmets on their kids and be aware that the horses are too big for the kids!!!the girl in that video couldnt even rise in the saddle!!

Answer 6

It's a horse....they do things out of the blue. No matter how well trained it is, things can and will go wrong. It doesn't matter if it's a mini or a draft, you are NEVER in complete control. My best lesson horse is 25yrs old. He was showing at the fair and doing really well. He was asked to back up through an "L" in the trail class and reared up and flipped over. He has never done anything like that. The rider was an experienced, talented rider. I have had this horse for 20 years. It just goes to show you that things happen no matter how careful you are. Size does not matter. Some people could definitely use a dose of common sense, but kids on big horses are not the problem. When I was that little girls size, I was riding some wild half broke horses. My parents were not horse people and didn't have a clue. Luckily, I was never seriously injuried. I would not hesitate to put a small child on a 16+hh horse that was well broke.

Answer 7

It has absolutely nothing to do with the size of the horse or the rider.  That is NOT the reason that particular accident happened.

Thats like blaming misspelled words on my keyboard.  :eyeroll:

Answer 8

I've got news for you.  If a pony does not want to be controlled by a kid, then the pony can get the kid off.  PERIOD.  Even a  pony is strong enough to pull around afull grown man.  So what hope does a kid have?

Horses are not controlled by strength, they are controlled because of breeding for gentleness (watch this one since not all horses are even the least bit gentle), by training, and by humans tricking the horse into thinking the human is dominant.  Thus we establish a pecking order quite different from what it would normally be considering our size and strength verses theirs.

My little girl (she is 6) rides a 14.3 hand Missouri Fox Trotter.  Last year she was riding a slightly smaller one at 14.2 1/2 hands.  Both horses take very good care of her and I really do not worry much at all.  Of course she has been on horses since she was 7 months and riding with me in a snuggly.  She has something in the neighborhood of 1200 trail miles under her belt.  Of course the horse has about 2500 miles on it and shows no tendency to spook at all.

The problem was not the size of the horse the little girl was riding.  A neighbors little girl fell off a shetland and broke her arm.  The problem was the horse spooked.  And I will never put my daughter on a horse that spooks or take her to a place where the horse is receiving unfamiliar types of input.  That horse should have been to dozens of shows before the girl was put on it and lead around the barrels much more often than that.

BTW in this particular situation the little girl would probably have been safer if she had been controling the horse.  The horse simply would not have gone there or would have walked very slowly.  However when lead by the woman the horse felt trapped which is why it spooked.

Correction after rewatching I agree with the poster that the horse has been ridden barrels and tried to run home like it thought it was supposed to.  Again though the problem was the circumstances and the horse was not trained to take care of the child.

Edit

What do you mean by spook?  If you mean freeze because a turkey or deer flies up with in ten feet of them or trying to walk around an unfamiliar object, giving it a wide birth then yes every horse will spook some.  You are correct that is a fact of horses and horse riding.  If you mean run or try to throw the rider, then you are mistaken.  A properly trained trail horse will not.  Besides which Savannah has been riding long enough that she is a better rider than most teenagers and better than many adults.

Again it is not the size of the horse, the size of the horse has nothing to do with it.  The problem is the training level and the personality of the horse.

Answer 9

its totally the parents choice.

Answer 10

I don't think the size of the horse had anything to do with it...

From watching that video, the horse looked like it had been taught to 'haul booty' home...and that's what it attempted to do.  I think it's wrong to put an inexperienced rider [whether big or small] on ANY horse that has been used for speed events.  

Talk about confusing for the horse.  One rider trains the horse to run, then a beginner gets on and doesn't want to go faster than a jog...then when the horse gets another experienced rider on it...THAT rider wants to go fast.  The horse doesn't know what speed to go.  So...

experienced rider will spur, whip and encourage horse to run

inexperienced will haul on the reins to slow down...

Confuses the horse.

I've seen alot more 'smaller' horses dump riders as opposed to larger ones.  Simply because people have the mistaken idea that smaller is better for beginners.  Not true...depends on the training and disposition of the horse.

Answer 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqf3Srom7...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsyfxhnYg...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q80G3ctk...

these Kids need a smaller pony!! LOL

:) ***

Answer 12

Doesn't matter what size the horse is or how big the person. No one is going to control a 1000lbs + animal by brute strength. The parents need  their rear kicked for not making sure the animal was properly trained to the level of the child's experience.

Answer 13

Horses that they can't control, yes. But the size has nothing to do with it. Bunny and Jeff hit the nail on the head. Also, I'm surprised no one commented on the title fo the movie. My daughter got thrown by a horse. It sounds like she was riding saddle broncs or something! lol.

Answer 14

It was bloody ridiculous, until they have control, whack a helmet on them, sure we have kids on leads at Pony club but  that horse knew exactly what it was supossed to do on the last barrell and that was to open 'er up an head home. Parents didn't think and the child had noooooooo idea !!

Answer 15

it all comes down to control, i meen yes a big horse is alot stronger than a pony but at the same time the ponys are so much smarter! a little girl at pony club had a pony that was taking advantage of the fact that she was so smalland weak so we traded horses for the day because it was getting really quite dangerous for her and she got on my 15.3 thourghbred and was much much safer! this little pony was such a pig that even though my feet were almost dragging on the ground he was able to throw me off. the old saying of gentle giant really does apply to horses, its all down to the nature of the horse rather than the size of it.