Rant. Please No.
So, a rant... because it annoys me to no end.
I'm targeting this at LotR fiction, 'cause that's where I se it the most. Most of the other 'categories' I write in don't have the same opportunities for this as LotR does.
DO NOT have small children riding foals in your fic. No no no no no NO! I live on a horse farm. We have horses from one week old to twenty-two years. I know what I'm talking about here. Foals are not only BABIES, but also CRAZY! Putting a child -- I don't care if he's two, or six, or eight, or ten -- will damage the horse. The baby cannot support the weight. Hell, just about any weight will hurt the foal's spine. That brings me to the second part... Foals are CRAZY! They don't hurt as bad as an adult horse, but are more likely to hurt you. They like to buck and jump and play, and often strike unprovoked. I've been kicked by foals -- it hurts! Putting a kid around a foal is STUPID. I would only do it if I wanted the child to break some bones, but that would just be a lawsuit in the making...
It drives me absolutely crazy to see this in a fic. Some little Elf child or Estel is put on a foal's back, and "this is your horse now" or "This one is your size!" GUGHHH!!HFH! No! Not only can I rant and rave about the previous paragraph... but the horse has no training! You can't train a foal to be ridden! So, what, you put a dumb little kid on a foal's back ... and watch it flip out and throw the child. And then trample him! And you know that there aren't riding helmets in Middle-earth.
I think reading this in a fic is the worst thing... It beats Mary-Sues and bad grammar and so-OOC-it-hurts. It's just WRONG! It's like expecting an infant to be able to lift weights! SICK AND TWISTED! Don't put it in your fic! Don't kill foals!
I'm targeting this at LotR fiction, 'cause that's where I se it the most. Most of the other 'categories' I write in don't have the same opportunities for this as LotR does.
DO NOT have small children riding foals in your fic. No no no no no NO! I live on a horse farm. We have horses from one week old to twenty-two years. I know what I'm talking about here. Foals are not only BABIES, but also CRAZY! Putting a child -- I don't care if he's two, or six, or eight, or ten -- will damage the horse. The baby cannot support the weight. Hell, just about any weight will hurt the foal's spine. That brings me to the second part... Foals are CRAZY! They don't hurt as bad as an adult horse, but are more likely to hurt you. They like to buck and jump and play, and often strike unprovoked. I've been kicked by foals -- it hurts! Putting a kid around a foal is STUPID. I would only do it if I wanted the child to break some bones, but that would just be a lawsuit in the making...
It drives me absolutely crazy to see this in a fic. Some little Elf child or Estel is put on a foal's back, and "this is your horse now" or "This one is your size!" GUGHHH!!HFH! No! Not only can I rant and rave about the previous paragraph... but the horse has no training! You can't train a foal to be ridden! So, what, you put a dumb little kid on a foal's back ... and watch it flip out and throw the child. And then trample him! And you know that there aren't riding helmets in Middle-earth.
I think reading this in a fic is the worst thing... It beats Mary-Sues and bad grammar and so-OOC-it-hurts. It's just WRONG! It's like expecting an infant to be able to lift weights! SICK AND TWISTED! Don't put it in your fic! Don't kill foals!