Woman shares ‘relatable’ reason she refuses to give children rides on her horse: ‘I’ve laid down the law’

A woman has sparked a debate after revealing that she wouldn’t let her family friend’s children ride her horse.

In a post shared on February 8 in the Reddit Thread, “Am I The A**hole,” 43-year-old horse owner and Reddit user said that when she refused to  “allow some kids a pony ride,” all “h**” broke “loose.”

The woman has had this horse for over 20 years and she’s the “apple of [her] eye.” She also keeps her in a huge field with other horses “24/7.”

And while the woman isn’t bothered when people try to say hello to the horse, the one thing she can’t stand is when people ask to ride her.

“What I HATE is how my mother keeps offering her friends grandkids pony rides,” the Reddit user explained. “Neither my horse or I are kid [people]. I’m sick of showing up at the property to be met with a gaggle of kids expecting a pony ride. I’ve laid down the law and told mum no more. She EXPLODED at me but I’ve stayed firm.”

The woman also noted that she spoke to the property owner, as she was concerned that her mother “will just show up and try to give the kids a pony ride” without supervision. The owner agreed to mark the mother down as “not allowed on the property” without her daughter being there.

However, according to the Reddit user, the property owner called and said that her mother was there with 12 kids and “going off her rocker” because she wasn’t allowed on the property.

“I spoke to her on his phone and told her to bugger off and NEVER try this rubbish again,” the original poster explained. “Since then I’ve had to block her and most of my family because omg the flying monkeys and screaming about how I’m over-privileged, selfish, and a child-hating monster.”

The woman noted that she doesn’t think what she did was “wrong” but the situation was “starting to really get to [her].”

She also included a note explaining why she thought she was the a**hole, which said: “I fear I may have been too harsh having her blacklisted without my supervision from the property and also for not allowing any more pony-rides on my horse.”

The post has over 12,500 upvotes, so far, with many users in the comments expressing that this woman was not the a**hole.

“Your mother is completely off her rocker and entitled,” one comment reads. “Your horse = your rules. It’s really that simple. She’s just passed that “you made her look bad to her friends.” For the record, you didn’t make her look bad. She did this to herself.”

​​”NTAN [not the a**hole]  what kind of idiot takes random children on pony rides on a pony that does like kids?!” a Reddit user wrote.

Other comments noted how unfair this is to the horse, as she’d then have to give 12 kids a ride.

“Your horse is not a public roller coaster,” one person wrote. “It’s a living creature which can feel tired, annoyed, stressed and become hard to control under circumstances like having to carry 12 unknown kids on her back.”

“Horses can be dangerous animals when spooked,” another respondent said. “If a child gets injured they’re in for a h***l of a lawsuit. Just on that basis alone, they should NOT be offering rides!”

Many people emphasised how surprised they were by the mother’s behaviour in this scenario.

“I could see if your mom was doing it for family, but random people??” a comment reads. “Sorry your mom is so bad with boundaries, you had to get security notified.”

Speaking to The Independent, the original poster on Reddit said that her mother now understands why she shouldn’t have asked if the children could ride the horse.

“We had a good sit down and I explained it,” she said. “Once she understood the danger aspect she calmed down and apologised.”