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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

about DD's accident?

52 replies

Mermaidspam · 16/02/2010 11:57

More of a WWYD I suppose...

DD (7) was at a horse riding party on Sunday here.

There were 10 children, with 5 horses. One of the pair would ride the horse while the other was leading/running beside it. DD was doing this when the horse decided it had an itch (DD's words) and kicked her hand quite hard. There were a couple of the parent supervising (along with the person in charge of the horse rides) and the rest of us parents were in the pub having a cuppa. When dd came in she told me what had happened, her hand was quite swollen so another parent went to the bar and got some ice in a napkin told hold on it.

The children then had a small meal (DD was up and down from the table to me and DH, complaining how much her hand was hurting). She can be quite a "milker" so I was just saying don't worry, it'll be fine, eat your meal, etc.

Afterwards we went to my parent's house for our tea. All the way there she was complaining about it. I asked her wh\t the lady teaching them had said and DD said that when she told the lady, she said "just hold it down by your side and it'll be fine"

When we got there I had another look and it had swollen more. My Mum supplied more ice and suggested we get her looked at by A&E, so off we went.

After 3 hours at the hospital it turned out that her hand was broken.

Anyway, AIBU to contact the place it happened as she was not seen by a first aider and it is highly unlikely to have been put into an accident book as the leader didn't even know dd's name? (Am not after compo, btw , just a bit concerned)

WWYD?

OP posts:
thehillsarealive · 16/02/2010 12:02

I would contact them and make your concerns known. It sounds like there werent enough adult supervising the children to me.

hope your daughter is ok soon.

Morloth · 16/02/2010 12:03

Let them know, but horses/riding is dangerous so accidents are to be expected.

kinnies · 16/02/2010 12:03

I would complain to them.
Bloody bad IMO.

Runoutofideas · 16/02/2010 12:04

I would let them know. It is not acceptable for them to ignore an injury and leave a child with a broken hand. Having said that, accidents happen and clearly a horse riding party had the potential to be a bit risky. I guess I would let them know but not be too harsh in the process...

sofia99 · 16/02/2010 12:05

dreadful. Not relalvent that horse riding is dangerous, it was dealt with appallingly. I would be furious, it could have been her head that was kicked!

Blondeshavemorefun · 16/02/2010 12:08

you were there (but in the pub) so if you wanted her to be seen by a first aider then you should have said something at the time - you cant really blame the party

saying that, i think it is very unresponsible for the party to let 7yrs lead a hosre on their own

my dc 7 goes riding every week and even she isnt allowed to lead a horse with another child on it,let alone prob complete novices doing it

i would write and lodge a complaint, if for no other reason that the same accident doesnt happen again

the horses need to be led by adults

hope dd hand is ok

OhYouBadBadKitten · 16/02/2010 12:09

My thoughts are:
children (esp inexperienced children) should not be at the rear end of ponies. dds riding school is very strict about that and in a party ponies do get excited. It was a preventable accident.

secondly and most importantly, it should have been recorded and first aid administered. Accidents at stables, no matter how small should go down in the accident book. (dds name is in her schools for a few falls, none of which resulted in more than a bruised bum)

I would make a fuss and I don't often make fusses!

claw3 · 16/02/2010 12:10

Children should not have been leading horses while others were riding for starters. Not good practise.

Complain.

hobbgoblin · 16/02/2010 12:11

I think that if you take this any further than a quiet word it sould open a HUGE can of worms. Perhaps rightly so.

Inexperienced, non-qulaified or trained CHILDREN leading horses??!

I am an experienced rider and know what a minefield it is getting insurance to cover anything like this and I seriosuly doubt that any insurer covers children leading ponies that are mounted by other children. Especially 5 all at once with 10 children and only one instructor who possibly has no first aid experience or knowledge of health and safety legislation and systems.

God. Lots of riding places are like this - a real shambles and they can be the best places to learn in many (very wrong) ways but if you are running parties for the uninitiated then I think it cannot be this way.

Hope the hand is better soon.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 16/02/2010 12:12

I see they are bhs registered. I would take it up with them.

diddl · 16/02/2010 12:15

Yes I think you have to tell her that your daughters hand was broken & that the advice she gave was cräp.
She should at least have been offering ice.

But also, from the owners POV, when parents are there, then it is surely up to them how to deal with things once they leave.

girlsyearapart · 16/02/2010 12:16

By the way - don't feel bad about not believing her. My niece broke her collarbone, my nephew broke his arm and my friends dd broke her arm (all on separate occasions!) and none of them were taken to hospital straight away. All of us were doing the 'there there never mind go and play it'll be fine' thing so you're not the only one!

nickelbabe · 16/02/2010 12:17

regardless of who should be supervising, any accident, no matter how small or insignificant should be recorded in the accident book.
If the supervisors didn't do it, then as a parent made aware of the situation you should have insisted.

this regulation is put in place so that repurcussions can be avoided. it means that if the injury was worse than it looked, or was to start with (holding the hand down at her side is the worst thing she can do when she's been kicked in the hand!), then it can be shown that the accident was dealt with when it happened and that it really did happen in that place.

LIZS · 16/02/2010 12:17

I would ring and ask that it be recorded in the accident book. As to the first aid , I guess you can't know for sure that your dd didn't turn down any offer of help at the time, maybe so she could continue to participate, but agree with Blondes that you could have insisted once you became aware of it. Personally I wouldn't be happy having kids led by such young children, dd would n't have known what to do, and would probably have hung around.

Fluffyone · 16/02/2010 12:20

Could you have a word with the owner of the school before going to the BHS? I know this wasn't ideal, but give them a chance to explain and put things right in the future. Children shouldn't be leading other children, so see if you can get assurance it won't happen again.
When I think of the fun I had with ponies as a child, so much of what we did in those old days isn't allowed now. Children go to riding schools and, because of worries that they might get hurt, they don't learn about the ponies they ride. They don't learn how to catch them in the field, or groom, or tack up. In a lot of places they aren't even allowed to ride without stirrups, and heaven forbid they should ride bareback.
My friend's 15 yo daughter has been riding since she was 7, and they came to visit me when she was 15. She was thrilled to be able to lead a pony from the field, groom it, and ride it with no saddle. She had never done that before. Such small pleasures that our children are missing out on.
I wouldn't assume that your daughter was near the rear end of a pony to get kicked by the way. If it stopped for a scratch it may be that it decided to scratch it's ear with it's hind leg.

Original poster
Mermaidspam · 16/02/2010 12:25

Thanks all, the bone has broken through the growth plate so will only take a couple of weeks to heal.

Think I will write to them, if only to inform them that they need to look at their procedures and see what they say.

I am a bit confused by the whole thing as the parents that were watching didn't know it had happened either.

OP posts:
saintlydamemrsturnip · 16/02/2010 12:30

Are you sure there weren't adults leading the ponies as well?

AuntieMaggie · 16/02/2010 12:31

Well if the parents watching didn't know it happened they weren't watching well enough!

OtterInaSkoda · 16/02/2010 12:33

Whenever anyone gets hurt at the riding school ds goes to, they type up a report which you then sign, to say you accept their version of events and that they have given you advice re:trip to a&e or whatever.

I'd be a bit that this school's procedures seem so relaxed in comparison, and also that 7yos are leading other 7yos at a party (which might conceivably be appropriate in a lesson).

Don't feel bad about not getting your dd checked out sooner btw. Dp's mother sent him to school with a broken arm and my friend's mum made her go to school with a fractured jaw

Original poster
Mermaidspam · 16/02/2010 12:35

Saintly - There was one woman from the riding school and the 10 children in the party ranging between age 7-10. The kids were put in pairs, one leading the horse, one riding it.

OP posts:
OtterInaSkoda · 16/02/2010 12:37

Actually no, 7yos shouldn't be leading 7yos.

AuntieMaggie - blink and you miss this kind of thing. One time ds came off a horse in a lesson, not a single one of us parents waiting and watching actually saw what happened.

itsmeolord · 16/02/2010 12:46

I would write to them, detail the facts as you have heard/know them to be and ask them to comment on those. Confirm or deny what happened.

I would ask them to confirm if it is normal practice for them to allow inexperienced children to lead ponies without one-one adult supervision and I would then ask them to name;

  1. Their first aider and to describe the treatment your dd received.
  2. Where their accident book is kept and ask why you were not informed of the accident and shown the entry in the book.

Give them 14 days to reply, then write again but this time copy in the BHS and see what reply you get.

That is seriously crap planning and supervision on their aprt, they appear to have contravened all sorts of HandS regs just going by your posts here.

I would be really cross about this, not because an accident had occurred, but because it was an accident that a; was wholly preventable if there had been proper supervision and b; the risks of it recurring with others is very high if this is normal practice.

saintlydamemrsturnip · 16/02/2010 12:54

7 year olds leading is pretty dangerous imo.

I think broken bones etc happen when you horse ride (as I do), it is a risky activity. But a 7 year old should not be leading a 7 year old. I find that really quite worrying.

So for that reason I would talk to them at least.

And try and find out BHS standards- there must be some.

OrmRenewed · 16/02/2010 12:55

How odd to let a 7yr old lead. At DD#s stable she is 10, has had 2yrs experience and is tall for her age and she is only just now allowed to lead some of the smaller ponies.

Needs pointing out I think.

Fluffyone · 16/02/2010 14:49

This is why I would contact them before doing anything else. Just check what happened.
While this "party" sounds to have been run really badly, it may have been a one-off with a member of staff coming up with a bright idea that they shouldn't have done. Why not at least give them the chance to deal with the situation themselves? In most walks of life you take your complaint first to the person responsible, then on to a higher authority if it isn't dealt with to your satisfaction, so why not do the same in this case? The BHS registration is not compulsory for running a riding school by the way.
As for parents watching not seeing a kick, anyone who knows horses will know how quickly they can move for a quick scratch or to flick off a fly, so that doesn't surprise me at all. It sounds as if DD was standing holding a rope near the pony's head, pony stopped and raised a hind leg to scratch by it's face, catching her hand in the process. This won't have been a deliberate double-barrel with both hind hooves.

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