LOL...well, for they're safety they should be taught to act like humans around horses:), but it was great desensitizing for the horses...that's what I thought about it:) I'd be more inclined to kick the parents butt's tho, along with the kids:)
Becky
Yeah, when I was leading them out of the pasture, Jackson and Kathryn were running around behind them screaming and I was screaming at them to get out from behind there or they were going to get their eyeballs kicked out. They kinda thought that was funny and then proceeded to scream "He's gonna kick my eyeballs out, he's gonna kick my eyeballs out!". It was so crazy it was comical at that point. And poor Goose didn't know whether to flip or fly and was dipping and dodging on the end of his lead, but he didn't totally freak out and he didn't try to kick, so that was good. I guess it was a good example of Total Sensory Overload. There were so many things go booger at that he didn't know which one to booger at first so he just didn't booger at all.
Oh, and one time I looked up and the 2yr old had climbed up the bars of the cattle trailer on the inside and was almost all the way to the top. I could just see the little bugger falling and bashing his brains out so I told him to get down, but before he could do it, the 7yr old tries to "help" him, and of course that leads to a wrestling match with the 7yr old trying to pry the 2yr old's death grip off of the bars and the 2yr old screaming bloody murder and I could just see him finally jerking him off of there and then dropping him so I told him to leave him alone until I could go and get his Daddy. But of course as soon as the 7yr old relented, the 2yr old promptly got down and then looked at me and said "Fall", and I said "Yeah, you'll fall if you get back up there" and he just grinned and happily toddled off. Kids are funny sometimes. ;o)
Given that it's only a matter of time before one of them gets his or her brains kicked out, I think I would have a serious talk with the parents and let them know that the kids cannot get near the horses again until they can behave.
You don't want to see one of them in the ICU with brain damage or dead. A friend of mine was kicked in the head by a horse as a teenager and was permanently brain damaged. She never graduated high school, and she will never marry, hold a job, or be able to live on her own.
I know it's a pain in the butt to have to tell their parents to rein in the kids, but if they ignore you, at least you've done what you could. At the very least it will help keep you from feeling too guilty if something happens.