Kids can be naughty sometimes, but the punishment they get should never put them in danger.

What would you do if you saw a parent kick their kid out of the car on the side of a dangerous road, forcing them to walk?

That is what happened to the rider in this story, so she stopped and gave the kid a ride on her horse to keep him safe.

Abandon your kid on the road as a punishment? Well now they’re getting a free pony ride

So, I work on a farm and keep my horse there.

This sounds like a lot of fun.

This morning, my bf and I went for a “trail” ride down the road, I kind of need to give some info as to how this road is laid out.

The road is on an incline as it goes up the mountain; there are some activity places up the road from the farm as well. There’s no sidewalk along the road and there’s minimal space off to the side of the road.

It is important to keep the horses safe.

When we hear or see cars coming, we pull into a driveway or larger pull off areas and wait for them to pass before continuing.

Not super safe or ideal for horses or walkers, but beggars can’t be choosers, and cars are usually moving slowly on this road. There are some slightly more blind curves though and on occasion, a car moving way faster than it should.

So far everything seems pretty normal.

At this point we are on our way back to the farm, moving up the inclined road. We hear a car coming up the road so I pull into a driveway, and my bf farther behind me, pulls off to the side.

After a while, a van passes by me with a side door open. I turn to my bf and say “that was weird, their door was open” he looks behind us and says “hey, I think we should go back, I think someone or a kid is walking on the road. We should make sure they’re ok, I thought I heard someone yell “WALK.””

Wow, poor kid.

I agree and as we come back over the edge of this hill, sure enough, there’s a kid between 10-13yo walking on the road with his phone in hand and crying.

My bf asks if he’s ok and he says yeah but that’s obviously not true. I connect the dots and ask if his parents kicked him out of the car, he says yeah.

Did his parents really leave him on the side of the road to go to an activity center?

I’m pretty shocked at this point and ask if he knows where they were going, and he names one of the activity places about 1/4 mile up the inclined road. I’m mad at this point because who abandons their kid on an unfamiliar road, in an unfamiliar state (he told me his fam was on vacation here), as a punishment?!

Let alone a road that doesn’t even have a sidewalk!

This boarders on abuse.

Between the dangers of him walking up this road alone and the distance to get to the activity place, I knew there was no way I was just going to walk away.

I also didn’t want to make him follow us on foot the rest of the way to the farm.

I bet the kid was excited.

We walked to the next driveway and I dismounted then called him over and gave him my helmet. I told him I was gonna put him on my horse and I’d walk her with my bf following on his horse back to the farm. From there I’d drive him in my car the rest of the way up the road to the activity place.

He perked up as he rode my mare and I tried to get more info from him. He said he was afraid to do the activity (it involved heights, so valid) and he was talking back to his dad and asking “why?”.

What kind of parent does this?

His dad got mad and was yelling, and kicked him out of the car. He said his parents are really strict and I didn’t want to keep asking questions because every time I did he would get visibly upset.

As we neared the farm his phone rang and it was his mom, the convo went like this:

Mom: where are you?

Kid: on the road, this nice lady let me ride her horse-

Maybe just the truth, mom.

Mom: what did you tell her?

Kid: that I got kicked out of the car

Mom: did you tell her why? Did you tell her you were being disrespectful?

Kid: yes

I hope she puts this mother in her place.

I ask if he wants me to talk to his mom and he immediately says yes. I say hello and say that I put him on my horse so he wouldn’t have to walk far and we are almost back to the farm and then I can drive him up the rest of the way.

She says she’s coming to get him and asks where we are and I say on the road. She says ok thanks I’ll be there soon and quickly hangs up.

The mom should be happy, not irritated.

About 5min later she shows up and I help the kid down. Mom looks irritated, says thanks and tells him to get in the car. Then the following convo between me and her.

Me: you’re welcome, but it’s really not ok to just kick your kid out on the road like that.

That is no excuse.

Mom: He was being disrespectful and taking back to his dad and cursing at him!

Me: that doesn’t make it ok to leave your kid on the side of the road. You’re lucky we were the ones who helped him and not a bad person.

Maybe YOU should tell his father!

Mom: you should tell that to his father! (Who isn’t with her btw) his father had enough and couldn’t take it anymore!

Me: well it sounds like you don’t have a son problem, you have a husband problem!

Mom: huffs tell me about it!

Yes, mom should have gotten out as well.

I just let her leave after that. It sounded to me like she didn’t agree with kicking the kid out (in which case she should’ve gotten out with the kid), and that they probably argued over it.

Her tone made it seem like this wasn’t the first issue she’s had with her husband.

Good idea, at some point you are causing more harm than good.

I didn’t want to push it, for all I knew he was abusive to her and/or the kids and berating her wouldn’t have made things any better for anyone. I just hope he didn’t get more punishment afterwards for not walking all the way.

Whether he really was being a naughty kid or the parents were just overreacting didn’t matter to me, you don’t abandon your kid like that as a punishment.

I bet he really loved the ride.

My petty revenge was that instead of a punishment, he got a pony ride.

Plus, anytime he tells the story about the first time he rode a horse, whoever’s listening will find out it happened because his crappy parents abandoned him in an unfamiliar place.

This person did the right thing.

Kid, I hope you’re ok and that I was able to cheer you up in a bad moment. I also hope your mom divorces dad, gets full custody, and he has to pay child support.

It is really sad how awful some parents can be, but at least in this case, a kind stranger was there to help.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

100% agree with this commenter.

Yeah, what kind of parent would do this?

These poor kids.

Wow, the things that happen to kids can be traumatizing for life.

This would have been the right thing to do.

The police should have been called.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.