to wonder where the parents are?

[TheQueenOfDiamonds]

When i was a kid, We weren't allowed on the internet unsupervised. When we got to about 13/14 we would be allowed to use the computer in the living room, with light supervision but parental controls etc set (My mum is pretty computer savvy so had good settings and security programmes).

Browsing through adverts online looking at things i can't have and i regularly come across adverts that make me think 'Do your parents know you've posted that?!'.

One of the most worrying ones was an advert posted by a young girl, detailing her whereabouts at certain times of day etc. She put so much information in this advert [That her parents blatantly knew nothing about, and she had no intention of telling them about] that i was able to phone the riding school she attended and give her name and lesson time (I rang them as a few of us were concerned about her personal safety over the internet, and the instructor said she would have a chat with her about it).

Tonight i've come across a wanted ad 'Wanting a gypsy cob around 17hh because i'm 13 and tall for my age' along with two other wanted adverts wanting a saddle for this cob she is looking to get, and a field for '"£200 a month or week whichever"

I remember what it was like being a child wanting a pony. But i have to wonder, where the hell are her parents? My mum would never have let me place an unrealistic advert, or respond to an unsuitable one - Ive known people who've let their kids ring up about riding extremely green/young/difficult horses after 3 lessons.

I feel sorry for the child who will end up sorely disappointed and i think the parents are solely to blame - The poor child obviously doesn't know anything about horses, So why are the parents not researching and looking into something suitable for her? Why is she using the internet in this way? Where the hell are they?

Current law is 12 but most places require a parent/guardian as well.

I know that most places would insist, but if it was in law then perhaps it would be safer, I don't know. If private sellers knew they could legally get into trouble without a signed agreement from a parent.

The mum of the 13 year old had probably gave her permission to post it, they are probably looking for a cob for her

Harriet - we are the same. I found my 5,6 and 9 year olds the other day discussing the 'best' bits of Scream 4. I laughed and said what are you talking about, you've never seen it! - their response was, "yes we have, we've watched all of them on you tube" . My 5 yr old now also does a wicked impression of Chucky (the childsplay doll), whatever happened to In The Night Garden?
However, my 9 yr old knows not to post up personal information - he is very savvy. I can't imagine anyone would waste their time bothering to reply to an ad that was clearly written by a child - especially for something like a horse. I mean, it's not like turning up at home with a rat in your pocket from the pet shop (my BF did that when we were 10 - it would never happen nowadays)!!!

Oh god conors I can imagine my dd doing that, she is rat obsessed. Tbh my dd has taken the proverbial on the internet a few times, including paying for a subscription with my guessed paypal details grrrr. She may only be almost 9, but is very articulate and could easily get away with adult appearing posts if she was determined enough.

Thankfully she only seems to be interested in reporting people on animal jam and viewing random youtube videos atm.

Silly girls responding to ads and trying to acquire pets beyond their capacity is nothing new. If you think of it half the pony books from the 1970s revolve around that particular scenario (and it somehow miraculously working out in the end ) and that was before anyone had ever thought of the Internet.

My cousin kept a secret hamster in her drawer. That would have been in the early 60s. Where was her mother? Well, possibly not in her underwear drawer.

People don't really change.

DD has a laptop, its not allowed in her room and it has been set up to switch off her profile at 8pm to avoid middle of the night wanderings lol (she is very much like me) it also has been parental controlled with a list of allowed sites

She is at the delightful stage where she will agree with us then go sod it i know best

This kind of thing really scares me since I read about a film mentioned on here a few times - Megan is missing. I realise the context in this op is completely different to the film and my dd is still only a baby so I don't have much idea about parental controls on the internet yet but yanbu and this would worry me too. The internet can be a dangerous place for young teens.

Although the law is 12, my local pet shop won't allow anyone under 16 to buy an animal, so i think that anyone who sells a horse, to an under 16 (unless it is in their culture to), would be the type to abandon it anyway, if they want rid.

That aside, how do you know that the girl would be going alone? She may be plecing ads, but someone attends with her, otherwise she would need to be given £200 and be able to transport the animal home.

The parents may have told her that she can get a horse and let her place an ad for one that doesn't exist, as a way to placate her.

Some parents are 'hands off' from to young an age and that will never change.

OP I really sympathise but as you say I think it's a horsey thing. When I have advertised a pony for loan or looking for sharers I have been innundated with replies from children who seem to have no adult supervision whatsoever. I turned them all down (some of them repeatedly) but it would have been so easy for someone else to gain access to a child this way. Some children are absolutely desperate for a pony/horse (can't blame them I was one of them back in the medieval times when we didn't even have computers to distract us!) and they don't stop to think of the consequences of what they are doing.