to think that if you go to a farm park..

[gallifrey]

you can actually see and stroke some animals?

My dd loves horses and has been constantly saying she wants so see a horsey so this morning we went to a farm park and there were notices everywhere that said do not touch the animals, wash your hands etc...
The bit where the horses are was sectioned off with big chains and notices and we couldn't get anywhere near them at all.

She was so disappointed she cried all the way home and I eventually managed to find some in a field that we looked at from the car. Now she is asking about riding! She's not even 2 yet!!
Ironically I have had horses for 30 years and only gave up just before she was born.

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

Yanbu.....it's crappy when they don't get to touch...but in our farm park the only time they CAN touch is when the lambs are new and they feed them...I don't think we got to touch anything else.

[SirChenjin]

But you could see them - you just couldn't stroke them?

[catgirl1976]

YANBU :( That's rubbish - poor DD

If you are NW she can come and stroke my horses and have a sit on them

Do you have any horsey friends still?

[ENormaSnob]

I'm nw catgirl, can I come too

Yanbu

Could you buy her a pony?

[ladymariner]

The problem is for the farm places that as soon as a child gets nipped/bitten some arse would probably try to sue them and close them down. Thats why they don't let you stroke the horses. It's a shame, I agree, speaking as someone who was brought up on a farm, but they have to protect themselves against liability claims.

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

Wrt touching I would imagine they are being careful about e-coli

The horses may be foaling hence distance viewing only

Poor dd, sorry she was disappointed

[Startail]

Paranoia about Ecoli I assume.

Mind you the pony at our old farm park was the only animal that tried to bite, the goats were great.

You can stop at the bottom of our road, the horse there are quite happy to let passing walkers pat them and give them a handful of grass. I know my girls do.

[gallifrey]

No we couldn't even see them, they were in barn type stabling with the sliding doors at the front only open a little bit, the horses were either not even in there or not looking out of their stables. We saw some chickens and rabbits on the way in but it just wasn't the same!
We needed to see horsies!!

[SirChenjin]

There was probably a reason that the horses were away from public view - did you ask?

[gallifrey]

I do have some horsey friends but they have competition horses and are all too highly strung to cope with small children patting them!

[Pandemoniaa]

I live next door to an extremely popular pay an exorbitant price to pat the lamb farm. Over the years (and especially after the eColi outbreak at the farm in Surrey) they've had to get ever more cautious about direct contact with the animals. It only takes one very minor incident for a media shitstorm to be launched so they are correspondingly careful. To be honest, you'd get a far better experience of animals by driving out into the country and seeing them in their natural habitat though.

[catgirl1976]

Enorma - of course you can

Would a local riding school let her stroke and pat if you went to "see about lessons" (Even if you don't end up booking any just now?)

[gallifrey]

I have just remembered that one of my friends has a little pony she could go and see :) :)

[catgirl1976]

Yaay!! :)

You do know your DD is really going to want a pony now though

[AmandinePoulain]

Where are you? I know of two lovely farm parks where you are allowed to touch this one is near Portsmouth, we had a lovely day there on the recommendation of a mumsnetter, we went on a cart ride and some piglets nibbled dd's shoes :) and this one is near Tenby, it's a zoo too, there is loads there and I think it's really good value :)

[gallifrey]

catgirl yes I know she will!
funny how my eldest daughter really doesn't like horses and has no interest in them at all and yet she has been around them since she was born!

[Sirzy]

A farm near us used to have goats roaming around and then after the e-coli outbreak at another farm at the other end of the country they were told they had to stop that.

Quite often at those places animals have a "quiet" area they can move to which makes it harder for people to see them but I would guess that is to do with animal welfare

[BinarySolo]

You can stroke all the animals at our local farm park. It's a working farm too. There are hand wash stations all round. It was lovely for my ds and I'm quite taken with the idea of having a Pygmy goat now as they were so sweet natured and loved the attention. Had to eat my words about how goat were evil. (The ones we had at primary school were big aggressive beasts!)

How old do children need to be before they can start riding lessons? My ds is horse mad too.

[mmmuffins]

YANBU, I would be disappointed if I couldn't touch any of the animals.

I used to volunteer at a farm park, and the public could touch the animals when the animals stood close to the edge of their paddocks. The public are kept out of touching distance from lambing ewes and kidding goats though, due to risk of e-coli, toxo, etc. And there are quite obsessive hand washing reminders.

[tiggerishtom]

My DH's boss took his grandchildren to our local farm park, one of them got pecked by a chicken.... They created the bigest fuss, threatening to sew the farm park.

It is people like this, who ruin it for the rest of us!

[tiggerishtom]

"sue" sorry!

[maninawomansworld]

They've probably had some arsehole who's little brats little cherub has been nipped or pecked probably after pulling some poor animals ears or poking it in the eye and they've threated to sue or something and have concluded that it's safer to just let people look and not touch.

[50BalesOfHay]

If you get your dd a pony you'll have to have one as well. I'd call that a result!

[Maggie111]

Go to a different farm!! I went to a lovely one in the North West where you could stroke everything!

[Sirzy]

Which one Maggie?