A horse is much much heavier than most kids. All it takes is one accidental step from a Horse to injure a child quite badly. What if the child is too small to be seen and gets kicked or trampled?
I just get worried because a horse can do a lot of damage

It is natural to worry about kids being around horses, and yes horses are dangerous, but that is the same with most animals. Having a well-trained horse who is use to being around children can offer some comfort, but educating the child (if they are old enough to understand) is most important. Teach the child not to walk behind the horse, to not startle them, to not make sudden movements, to speak in a soothing voice. While this will all help, there will still always be an element of danger, but it is up to you to change how large or small that element is.

 

I get very nervous with children and horses and I don’t allow small kids near my mare even though she’s very good with them.

There is no magic bullet to make horses kid-proof. There is always an element of danger.

I have noticed however that children are almost never injured by horses. The only injury I know of is due to a kid falling off. I am not sure if that’s because horses pay special attention to children or due to adults making sure that children are never around more dangerous horses. Maybe a bit of both. Mind you, there are some videos out there of horses yeeting irritating kids so it isn’t a rule that all horses will protect children.

 

There is a element of danger to get out of bed every morning too...
Would I encourage a child to be in close proximity to a horse with no adult supervision..
NO, of course not.
Does a adult understanding how horses "normally" operate and knowing a animal really well need to be on their toes and most aware when children are near large animals such as a horse or for that thought process a small pony....
You need to be on your "A" game and not let the guard down used to keep safe.
The child also needs to know the rules and abide by them or go away, far away and not come back, period!
And, and...the animal needs to be a special minded one to tolerate smaller individuals who may do the unexpected and be steady enough in their own mind they not lash out or do something stupid..
Horses have incredible eyesight, and sense of smell is far above what we humans utilize....hence for me, my horses know when a child is at the barn and being led around by my hand holding theirs....
Not younger than 5 is permitted at my barn in our yard and always escorted, period.
No, no child younger is permitted where my horses go for their safety and my sanity.
I also put much of the onus of safety on the parents/adults when it comes to large animals and small children...
Common-sense must be had and used or you will have issue of injury.
Pair common-sense with some smarts about horses and how they act and react to stimuli and you often have a decent scenario unfold in front of you...

OP you single out horses...
I would have more fear of injury from a smaller mischievous pony or someone's dog or cat.
Small children should be under a watchful gaze when interacting with any animals, no matter the species...ALWAYS.
If the animal has teeth it bites, feet it can kick and all can inflict some serious damage to any who are not watchful of what they are doing, not just a child.
🐴...

 

Children need to be closely supervised by their parents or the adult who is in charge of them when they are around ANY animal. Cats scratch, dogs bite, horses can unwittingly step on people.

It is the adult‘s responsibility to keep the child safe around a horse, much the same as it is the adults responsibility to stop a child from running into traffic so it doesn’t get hit by car. There is zero difference in that level of adult responsibility.

If the adult in charge of the child cannot fulfill that responsibility, they have zero business exposing the child, or allowing it to be exposed, to a horse —- and that especially applies to the Neighbor’s horses on the other side of the fence———-

 

I've been thinking a lot about size relative to horses lately. Relative to a 1200 pound horse, I don't think that the size of a child, unless it's a very small child, is really very relevant. Whether you're 5'6 and 150 pounds, or 4'6 and 80 pounds (or whatever people weigh), relative to a horse it's not a very big difference. What makes a difference IMO is that a lot of children naturally have behaviors that aren't conducive to being around horses safely.

For safety, you need two things:
(1) don't allow children near horses that aren't 100% child-safe, meaning well-behaved and also not prone to spook, and
(2) teaching children how to behave appropriately -- don't run, don't make sudden movements, don't raise your voice, always let the horse know where you are (I talk to my horses if I'm not 100% sure they can see me), don't hand-feed treats, never ever ever get between two horses.

 

Without suggesting generalization, I will say that the Equines I own all just love little people, and I can't imagine them harming one intentionally. It is my personal feeling that our society goes way overboard with "bubble-wrapping" our kids. 'Nuff said about that.
Here is a fun foto a neighbor sent me of George socializing with her little girls. "Mmmm; they smell good enough to eat!" :-D

 

I work at a children's home under their equine therapy program. But most of the kids are older and shy of the horses so it's less micromanaging. However, I've worked with a few really young ones who like to run behind them without looking or paying attention. I had several horses tied in the corral yesterday that I was working with and had to chase one particular visitor's kid out of the pen several times. Most of the horses don't care, but one in particular actually is known to be a little sketchy if you scare her (she was tied away from people in this big pen but the kid ran past her a few times).

I said "you don't want to run behind these horses because you'll get kicked!" and kicked up the dust at my feet as I said so, startling her. I showed her how to politely walk behind a horse and then sent her back to her mother.

I've had a few that I turn for one second and they're about to try climbing between the horse's legs. This was with my personal old gelding who really wouldn't mind, but again, he could startle at something and spook.

Kids need to be watched, and PARENTS need to wrangle their kids. Just like how kids will come up and pet a dog without asking, kids will run up to your horse without asking. And half the time, parents don't seem to think it's a big deal. Little kids might no know any better. I personally get more frustrated with parents not controlling their kids than the kids just being kids.

 

kids will run up to your horse without asking. And half the time, parents don't seem to think it's a big deal. Little kids might no know any better. I personally get more frustrated with parents not controlling their kids than the kids just being kids.

One time at a parade, I had a parent run up to me and put his toddler on the back of my horse! I didn't know these people from Adam! I told him that my horse wasn't safe for that and to take the child off. My horse was quite safe, but I didn't want some strange kid riding behind me, especially at a parade with drum majorettes, marching bands, fire engine sirens, and who knows what else.

 

Yes, horses can hurt children. They can also hurt adults. It is the responsibility of parents and horse owners to keep everyone safe.

The other day I looked out the backyard where my horses are in a pasture to see a little girl trying to give my horses grass through the fence. She was about 8, and had come with her dad who was talking to my husband. I immediately went outside to talk to the little girl who was full of questions and desperate to go near the horses. I'm glad I did, because she would have been capable of climbing through the fence and was wearing flip flops! Of course, this is a big no-no around horses, regardless of age. She begged for me to let her ride, but I told her she'd have to come back another day for that, and wear close-toed shoes or boots. Our horses are very safe, and are used as lesson horses for kids, but there are a lot of precautions that need to be taken. When a child arrives for their first lesson, they are first taught safety, including how to safely lead a horse so they won't accidentally step on your toes.

Horses are rarely interested in trampling people, if for no other reason than a) they are not a predator species so would rather run away from something scary than run towards it, and b) people are squishy and unstable, and horses aren't really interested in stepping on squishy surfaces that may cause them to lose their balance. Of course they can accidentally step on you, and that's why you wear proper boots around them, and teach children how to behave. I had to be very firm with the little girl that wanted to see my horses, because she was completely fearless and it could have ended badly if she had entered the pasture.

As for the rare horse that is actually showing aggression towards humans, he does not belong anywhere near children.

 

My little sister (the baby of four kids) was an absolute terror growing up, and was enamored with horses as soon as she discovered them. She could climb anything, crawl under anything and get into absolutely anything and she did, on a regular basis. When she was about four, heard a commotion outside and she had crawled under the barbed wire fence to get in the pasture among the four horses. She was walking under them, around behind them, etc. Finally spooked one and they all took off, running over her in the process. Miraculously she was not seriously injured, just bumps and bruises. Didn’t put her off of horses at all. In fact she had a little Shetland that was “hers” and if we couldn’t find my sister, we’d holler for Dumplin’ and she’d come walking up with my sister on her back. My sister would put her foot on Dumplin’s knee, grab hold of the mane and shinny up like a monkey. She’d stay horseback so long that Dumplin’ would finally come and stand on the back porch until Mom would make my sister get off of her. My sister is STILL that way about horses in her 50’s LOL!

I do think horses “know” when it’s a kid. The drill team I’m on is asked to perform for equestrian therapy facilities and also participate in “barnyard buddies” days at rodeos in which special needs kids get the opportunity to love on and pet our horses. Some of the kids are on crutches, some in wheelchairs, some are autistic, etc. I’ve seen our horses consistently lower their heads low enough for a child in a wheelchair to pet them and be quiet as anything when a child approaches. Granted our horses are exposed to a lot, but there’s a special kind of gentleness they exhibit when involved with kids.

When I rode Mounted Patrol, I was part of the “security” for the Children’s Festival and I kid you not, there was over 500 kids who attended that day. We were encouraged to allow kids to pet the horses but only at the shoulder and of course with supervision. I believe every single kid there petted Skip that day and by the end of it, he had backed into one of the corners next to the hedges and shrubs and was like, “Nope, I am on kid overload…no more petting for me today!”

Those moms could have cared less
about letting those kids run behind him, around him, approach him with sandals or flip flops on…obviously, I’ll never forget that day! I needed eyes completely around my head.


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I’ve known of a couple kids who were lost, do to mistakes with a horse. Those kids were kicked. I also know some who were pretty damaged. The horse I trick rode on broke my cousin’s jaw before we owned him. Lots of horses who will kick a dog will kick a small child, which is one of many reasons we will not tolerate a dog biting a horse.

I thought about your question, and how I felt about it when my children were tiny. It was one of few things I would spank for. I know many disagree with that, but I was crystal clear about the rules around horses, and when they were broken I would discipline them. I figure, it is truly a life or death situation. I also spanked my daughter when she ran out of the school and into traffic. Rarely did I spank, but if you will die from your choice, then yes, that was my line.

Once, even with my oldest when she was just a baby teenager, I kept telling her not to walk under a lead rope that was tied, and she kept doing it and acting like I was being dumb and I spanked my teenager. Nope. You cannot do things that will get you killed. She was more embarrassed and shocked than anything, but I’ve never seen her do it again.

I think that is how ranch kids have to grow up. A kids horse could kick just the same as a colt, but they have constant access to horse corrals, and they are around a lot of dangerous things.

One time I thought my daughter was going to face her end for a stupid mistake. I was riding Bones, who was only two at the time, and a pretty hot horse. She was bringing in the coats from the truck, and she came around a corner right behind him and spooked that colt. He picked up his leg and went to kick her, and somehow he thought fast enough to stop his leg mid kick. It was one of the first moments I realized how kind hearted he was, and I thanked the Lord and him many times for it. I didn’t have to discipline the girl, because she knew she was dead in that moment too. I think she was 10, and she should have been aware of what she was doing.

 

Interesting thread. My boys take lessons, the oldest is 7 and has been in riding classes since 4, he’s quite savvy now but still a small kid who forgets the rules and gets excited and/or distracted. my other one just started now at 3 and I’m in the class with him and his Shetland to supervise. I take them to the barn in our free time too and while I let the teachers do their job during the lessons, in our free time I drill into them how to behave around horses. But I am a parent and a rider, I think most trouble comes from parents who are themselves not familiar with horse rules.

 

I guess I'm back from the day where parents got their kids a horse, and the kids learned to ride on their own. Back then, no one took lessons. They gave the kid a bridle, and they rode bareback. My first horse had a good set of shark withers, so riding bareback was never my desire.
As to the horse, each horse is an individual. I have seen plenty of mares that in no way would I allow a child around them. And I've seen stallions that were great kids horses. They babysat those kids like you would not believe.

Yep, its story time again.

Back ages ago, my inlaws had a dispersal sale. But they made the common mistake of keeping one stallion and a handful of mares, so they were off and going again. But, that's another topic.
Anyway, they had this big palomino gelding in the sale. He had been a rather large handful to get started and make a working horse of him. He was a bit on the cold backed side, meaning, he had to blow up and buck something off before he went to work. And from what I hear, he could put in a good day's work, and blow up on the way back to the truck! He was just one that you had to keep an eye on.
Anyway, the couple that bought him had 4 small kids. At a sale, you can't hand pick what horse you think would fit well, and they bought that horse. They loaded him into a pickup box (back then they were small, much smaller than todays trucks), there he stood, a foot in each corner. They had him saddled up, and 2 ropes criss crossing over the saddle and tied in the corners! I guess that horse's eyes were bulging out of his head!
They sent Christmas cards every year for years. There stood the horse, got a kid hanging on to each leg. Apparently he adored those kids! They said he was the best babysitter they could have every hoped for! You just never know about horses.

 

My grandfather owned a couple of racehorses in training with one of his vaguely related cousins. He used to take me to the yard with him from a really early age - I was three when I was sat and walked around the yard on one that had won its first race the day before.

I had all the ‘be safe’ stuff drummed into my head and disobeying wasn't something I ever thought of doing.

I was never left to my own devices.

My own children were always around our horses, they were trained the same way and treated the same way.

None of them ever had accidents caused by parental negligence.

Ive seen so much irresponsible parenting around horses, it gives horse ownership a bad name.
Same with dogs.

 

Ive seen so much irresponsible parenting around horses, it gives horse ownership a bad name.
Same with dogs.

Yes! My daughter teaches lessons to kids on our very safe horses. One day her student had the whole family along - like 7 or 8 people! The vast majority were kids and there were only two adults on hand. I thought ok, fine, they can sit outside the ring and watch (electric fence ON!). But these kids were quickly out of control and the parents were doing nothing. One kid had brought along a soccer ball and was playing near our beehives until I put a stop to it. Can you imagine if that ball had knocked over a hive? While someone is riding our horses in the ring? Again, the parents were oblivious or on their phones. A couple of kids were siting ON TOP of our patio table just outside the ring.

Afterwards, they asked if they could come in the barn to see the horses and I agreed, but told them not to run or yell, and kept a close eye on things. Next thing you know, there are kids everywhere and one actually opened the latch of a stall door where we had put Bella, our pony! I caught him just in time before Bella ran out into the aisle of our small barn full of kids. You'd better believe they all got thrown out after that. In fact, this family has stopped coming to lessons. They were trouble from the start and had no understanding of boundaries. I just can't deal with parents like that. They'd be the ones to sue you if someone got hurt too...

 

One thing I should add is that kids behaving like kids (running, yelling, sudden movements) endanger not only themselves but also others. My barn seems to have lots of kids running around on Saturday mornings, siblings to kids who are actually in lessons, and they don't seem to realize that running near a horse that someone is leading can be dangerous to the other person.

In particular, I remember this one girl, she was actually a rider and a pretty good one, who was talking to me while I was sitting on Pony. She kept making these really big sudden gestures, and every time she did he would jump. I don't know if she didn't notice of if she thought it wasn't a big deal. But if he had had a bigger reaction I could have fallen off.

 

@Zimalia22 our best kids horse was just like that. He bucked every single ride until he was 11, when my husband grabbed our 4 or 5 year old, threw her on his back, and said head across the pivot. By herself, none the less, and I was ready to kill him. I’d ridden horses much the same at that age, but I didn’t think my oldest was ready, but we needed a kid horse.

That horse, who had bucked every single ride, to his best ability, squealing and all, took his best care of that girl. He adored her, and he immediately became hers. She rode him everywhere, and did everything without a single issue, until she turned about 14 and he bucked her off. I guess he decided she was too grown up at that point.

We put the younger girl on, and he went back to taking his best care of her. I think to him she is an adult now too, but she doesn’t ride him often anymore. We can put flat beginners on him, and he does the same with them. Just no one handy. Lol

We are debating handing him down to my tiny nieces now. He just adores small children, but we also need him sometimes still and he has earned every bit of retirement from us.

He never was slow by any means, always ambitious, but he does love babysitting. It makes me laugh.

 

@Zimalia22, that’s the way I grew up too. Each of us kids had our own horse,
and our “lessons” consisted of
Dad saying “kick to go, sit back to whoa”…that was it! No formal lessons and no YouTube or internet back then to research anything. Learned how to do barrels and poles by watching your friends at the playdays, and if you got bucked off, you got back on and finished the ride unless physically incapable of doing so. Different times then for sure!


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@Txshecat0423 and @Zimalia22 that was me too. I was always climbing on the two year olds in the corrals. Lol. My parents gave up.

My girls were raised that way too, and everyone out here is still to this day.

 

I totally grew up in the "kick to go, pull back to stop, don't cry when you fall off". I sorta get a laugh when people say they're such a good rider that they've never come off a horse, you just haven't been on long enough to do something stupid or on nice enough horse they let your stupid moment pass. Kids need to know the Rules, period! And be told not following will result in them eventually getting hurt, then eventually they will 'eat dirt' proving to themselves it applies to them. A neighbors daughter is 4 and is an impressive horse woman already, amazing to watch a kid that age use pressure and release to be able to get near their shy pony but she's been around them since the day they brought her home. Which is why most horses & dogs I've owned have put up with being desensitized to stupid patting and flopping everywhere so when a kid does it they just think 'thank goodness this one is smaller'.

That said I used to ride bareback everywhere, once mom caught me in front of the house bareback & barefooted. Lol, we had the shoe rule but I totally explained I kept my slip-on shoes on until after I was on my horse then chucked them in the barn, no way he could step on my foot while I was on top of him. I could almost hear her inner voice thinking well she'll learn when her foot gets smashed, which oddly happened while wearing proper shoes. And I think mom's never stop worrying. At 43 my possible next horse is a shy mustang at a rescue that needs work to still be safe to handle (he's scared but not scary) and my mom is helpfully reminding me horses can hurt people on accident.

 

As long as the children are well educated on horse safety, the horses they are around are calm and gentle, and an adult with horse experience is always watching, go ahead. There is always a risk of a horse spooking or accidentally hurting a child, but isn't that the same risk adults take when they are around horses, too?