My seven year old ran up behind my horse after it escaped and slapped it on the butt, is it the horses fault or the boys?

I would think that it is your sons fault, especially if he has been around animals all his life and knows the do's and don'ts. At seven years old, he is old enough to understand if you tell him what he did wrong, why and that the end result could have been much worse than what it was. Explain it to him and make sure that he understands... As far as I understand (not being a horse owner, but I have had dogs all my life), that people should stay away from behind a horse because it is only natural for them to kick.

If that is true, then your son needs to understand that there are no circumstances where he should come up to a horse from behind. It would be along the same lines as being a dog owner and not teaching, or having a youngster understand the proper etiquette for living with and treating a dog with respect -- some can and will bite if treated improperly. If your horse would be prone to doing it again if it got away with it once, I would supervise very closely for awhile so that both the horse and your son act accordingly.

You spend your time and energy teaching them the difference between right and wrong. You, to the best of your knowledge teach them consequences for their actions. But you aren't a horse, and therefore cannot kick like one.

You can not blame an animal for a child's unwillingness to listen, nor need to learn life's hard (and sometimes painful) lessons. Kids do things like this, and as the "mature", "loving" and "wise" adult, it is our job to say " I told you so", when things like this happen. If you need to, take the kid to the family doc to make sure they are okay, andmaybe even an ice cream after.

But when a child is raised around animals, they need to have some respect for them. Don't beat yourself up over it. You didn't kick the kid, it was just an animal being an animal.

Now they know better, and odds are it won't happen to them (or any other sibling that saw what happened) again. Make sure at some point to take the child to see the horse face to face so they can "apologize" to each other. Good luck!

I don't quite understand your question as it is written. Did your 7-year old get kicked? If your child got kicked after he slapped the horse when it escaped, it is your child's fault.

Kicking is a defensive reaction. If the horse bit your child, that would land on the horse, because biting is an aggressive act. Your horse was defending himself from what he percieved as an aggressive act by your son.

Sometimes kicking, because it is defensive, is simply pure reflex on the horse's part. Just because the horse kicked once, does not mean that it will kick again, unless it got some kind of "payoff" from the action. In other words, if a horse learns he can escape something he doesn't want to do (like working) when he kicks, he will associate the kick with the payoff.

I know your frustration, but don't blame the horse. Chalk it up to a lesson learned by your child (hopefully). So you know a bit about my background, I have owned horses continually for 34 years (currently own five), have trained horses professionally, and have raised two sons to adulthood (or nearly so!), so I understand what you are going through.

By the way, you might want to ask yourself who's fault it is that the horse escaped in the first place.

I think parents need to take more responsibilty for their actions or inactions. This situation is not the fault of the horse or the boy. You let the horse escape and you failed to properly train your child to deal with an animal that could in fact have killed him.

The fault is yours and yours alone.

Its only the fault of the parent in this case. If you've been around livestock for very long, you know its an animal. Animals communicate with kicks, and bites.

Sure, you've told your son not to walk up behind the horse. You can do your best to acclimate the horse to all situations. And, you can supervise the situation from all angles.

But, the plain simple fact is that you say, "My son had seen us slap them on the butt and tell them to get on when they are causing trouble before. " That is not setting a good example. Your son was doing what he had seen you do.

Actions speak far louder than words. I would suggest taking some basic horse handling lessons yourself so that you can understand slapping the horse's on the butt for "causing trouble" is not a good training strategy.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.