5yr old riders

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JenTaz

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Just wondering what you would expect a five year old to be doing at the moment, most of the 5 yr olds at my yard including my younger sister have started doing canter work on the lunge and can control their pony etc, and are happy to walk trot off the leid rein.

Main reason im asking is that my wee sister had her first canter on a hack with taz and I tonight very impressed as she wasn't on the lunge or anything no one to help her if she got in a sticky situation and she popped a wee jump out on the hack as well, have to say my mum was as white as a ghost when she saw her jump, as shes only jumped in the school so far.

Molly (younger sister) is now asking to do more, as it seems as what she is doing isnt enough, her pony is only 11hh 16 years old has learned to love jumping having molly as a rider, as she wouldnt jump with previous owners, does it seem ok to let her do more on Molly Pony at the moment or should we wait. She isnt bouncing around in canter, personally i think, she has a better canter seat than half the people on the yard!

So yeah what are your ideas of what five year old riders should be doing, or what are yours doing?
 
Hi my 5yr old, is- just now getting back into the riding again, after having winter off really.

Shes still on the lead rein, but we only hold the very end, and she steers, stops and goes by herself.

The rise trot is still in progress, but she has a nice position, so when it comes it just will. Shes ridden everyday for the past 3 days and has improved alot as we now have an arena to use, i've been getting her to steer over poles, and marker to marker.

Tonight as dad was about we could do more trot work, so set up 2 lots of 3 poles and one teeney x pole to jump. She has a safari saddle so held on over the jump, which was a good job as pony jumped it about 2 foot higher then it was and child bounced in the air, Daughter loved it of course!!!

She really wants to Gymkana and Jump this year.... on the lead rein of course, but as soon as shes got the hang of rise trot i will put her on lunge to start canter work.
 
I don't think a child should be allowed in public unless they can control their pony in walk, trot and canter - and to be honest a 5 year old is not strong enough to do that, no matter how nicely they ride. They just don't have enough strength or technique. By all means practice in the school or in a field, but not on a hack in open countryside. I don't think that is safe.
 
I think it varies greatly between each child. I used to work at a RS and lots of the five year olds there only came for a lesson once a week so obviously they progressed much slower than the five year olds which have their own ponies and ride more often. Most of them were on the lead rein, or just off the lead rein in walk and trot. They were learning to start, stop and steer their ponies themselves. The few which were more experienced were either trotting over small jumps on the lead rein and cantering on the lead rein. However, when the YO's daughter was 5 she was cantering and jumping a 14.2hh pony by herself! :eek: But I think it's good to encourage any improvement and if the pony is safe and you are sure she is secure enough, there is nothing wrong with her jumping and cantering the pony in the school or field but be more careful when out on a hack and probably have her on the lead rein if you are riding on the roads. Just don't let her do too much at once as otherwise she might lose her confidence.
 
I would 'expect' them to be doing what they enjoy, feel safe doing and no more. Bubs is now 7 and will only jump and canter while on lead rein-she feels safe and riding is still fun this way.
I wouldn't let her ride off lead rein anywhere other than the sand school.
If this means I have to walk miles when hacking so be it. Its odd as her brother (my stepson) was pelting up and down the fields bareback and going off on hacks in small groups with at least one adult..(who he scared on an almost daily basis by having his 11.2 keep up with her 16.2WB at canter!)
FMM has it spot on-I wouldn't let her loose on Joe Public till she was physically (and mentally) capable of being in control of a pony.
 
It depends a lot on the child. Is she nearly 6 or just 5?

I worked at a rding school where some of the 5 yr olds could barely keep hold of a rein in each hand. However, I also taught a family of 5 girls, the youngest was 4 when I first started with them. 4 yr old twins in fact. One took over her older sister outgrown pony - 11.2 and not too wide. Kick on but not ploddy and not strong though a bit lively if you know what Imean. At 5 the child was going to local shows and competing inthe first two classes at jumping. Granted the jumps were about a foot high but she could sit, steer, kick on and stop. The pony went round like an angel, she didn;t bump on his back nor snatch at the bit. She won quite a few times!! Fearless. Her twin sister used to walk round every now and them and was happy with that.

I would say that if she is cantering nicely on the lunge, with no real help from the handler, you should move on to school work off the lunge.

Maybe get some simple dressage tests to encourage accurate steering and circles etc, and transistions. Its better than aimless cantering. This will help greatly if you can call them out for her, maybe missing bits out to make it easier.

Then moveon to random poles around the school and have her walk, trot and eventually canter round them as a course.

Very exciting for you and her, lovely to see such a keen progression!!

Leave your mum at home or get her to muck out so she doesn;t have to see!!
 
My mum has just informed me that I was completely off the lead rein (except for the lead rein showing classes we did at the time). I officially came off the lead rein at 3/4. Mum says that I was doing PC rallies independently at that stage, and that although she sometimes ran alongside me for XC, I was not led at all.

I used to hack off the lead rein up our old country lane - Mum would come with me on the bike, or with my baby brother in a push chair. When we got to the farm at the end, Mum would leave me to go off up the track on my pony and then canter back to her :)

I actually have a photo of me on my little 12hh mare Pippa, going (unaided) through the jumping lane at PC camp with no reins or stirrups. The jumps - five of them - range from 1'6 to 2ft. The photo is dated 1993 - I was five years old :D

Kids develop differently; it would be very wrong to tar all 5 year olds with the same brush. I was doing more than some at that age, but now, at 22, I am doing considerably less than many :D

Monty Roberts was riding a 16hh horse named Ginger when he was just three years old - and winning national competitions....
 
FMM said:
I don't think a child should be allowed in public unless they can control their pony in walk, trot and canter - and to be honest a 5 year old is not strong enough to do that, no matter how nicely they ride. They just don't have enough strength or technique. By all means practice in the school or in a field, but not on a hack in open countryside. I don't think that is safe.
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we are liveried on a private estate with about a handful of cars going through it every half hour if that so its perfectly safe
 
THing is, going out with your mum on a bike and then cantering back towards her on a country lane is not "hacking" in the true sense ofthe word. I am quite comfortable with that if the child and pony can cope. But hacking properly at that age you wouldn't have had any control if the pony spooked - you simply would not have had enough balance at that age!

Again, rallies are in a controlled environment, and I think that is good for children to be able to do that.
 
i think the perceptions of what is safe has totally changed as when i was five in 1996 i was out hacking with adults through a private estate, different one that we are at just now, and out doing some small pony club stuff on wild ponies that my mum had bought cheaply that i could grow into, i imagine if this was to happen now a days it would be frowned upon but then again it was then as the pony club didnt believe a five year old who was coping should be riding a pony who was bought unhandled off the hills

suppose its mr nasty health and safety who has changed everything
 
JenTaz said:
i think the perceptions of what is safe has totally changed as when i was five in 1996 i was out hacking with adults through a private estate, different one that we are at just now, and out doing some small pony club stuff on wild ponies that my mum had bought cheaply that i could grow into, i imagine if this was to happen now a days it would be frowned upon but then again it was then as the pony club didnt believe a five year old who was coping should be riding a pony who was bought unhandled off the hills

suppose its mr nasty health and safety who has changed everything
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This is so true!
Can you imagine the paperwork involved in todays pony club if you fall off because the district coms has taken your girth of you, tied your feet into the stirrups with bailing twine, taken your reins from you and then chased you over a cavaletti with a lunge whip???
LOL
 
I think children have been brought up differently too. I was being dropped off by riding school owner aged 9 - 11 at a field, with other kids (none older than me) with a bridle each, and we hacked bareback indeed I used to ride one, lead one, back to the yard for saturday lessons. It was fun! However, i can't imagine any children I know these days being capable or responsible enough. We took it very seriously and behaved and didn;t mess about.

Saying that, the very same roads we used to do this on are barely ridable these days due to increase in traffic.
 
I have no problem with children 'hacking' on private land off the lead rein, I would have a problem with a child riding a pony off the lead on roads that I wouldn't let the child cross on her own. Children need to be proficient at controling their pony and traffic aware before they can be let off the lead rein on public roads IMO.
 
i just remember the days helping at a riding school bringing ponies in from the field, getting 15 ponies from the field all in one go between four kids and one adult all we had to do was cross a road which thankfully had traffic lights :) but still each kid between the age of say 9 and 12 had about three ponies each not the easiest to bring in either, my mum hates the thought of me standing at the gate letting my wee sister go catch her own pony when the pony is in a field with two mares over the age of 30! and are the most quiet animals ever as all they do is lie down and eat
 
Brandy said:
I think children have been brought up differently too. I was being dropped off by riding school owner aged 9 - 11 at a field, with other kids (none older than me) with a bridle each, and we hacked bareback indeed I used to ride one, lead one, back to the yard for saturday lessons. It was fun! However, i can't imagine any children I know these days being capable or responsible enough. We took it very seriously and behaved and didn;t mess about.

Saying that, the very same roads we used to do this on are barely ridable these days due to increase in traffic.
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Same! And cantering about on every grass verge or playing field we saw. I distinctly remember being mortified when my pony invaded a sunday morning football match when i was about 9!

My daughter is 7 and has ridden properly since she was about 4 (apart from sitting on and being led about having pony rides on a borrowed pony!) She is still on the lunge most of the time on her pony as she finds it hard to co-ordinate steering, keeping her pony going, and rising to her trot! Her pony is also a little monkey and buggers off to eat the moment she gets the chance. However she rode my friends 4 yr old sec c pony( that she has her eye on as her next pony!) in walk and trot and a bit of accidental canter the other day and did beautifully so she can do it when she really tries. Her PC instructor is giving her lunge lessons at the moment to help her with her balance and co-ordination.
If we hack up the lane i walk beside her but don't lead her, so i am there if she needs me but she feels grown up! I have never pushed her and have always wanted her to find riding fun, maybe she would have progressed more quickly if i had pushed her but she is happy and thats what matters to me!

Good luck to your sister though! She sounds a brave little thing, maybe a future star!
 
the main reason i asked was i found it strange that all the five year olds at the yard were all at the same sort of stage, mollys the only one who rides every day apart from a monday and has done for the last year now, i suppose like everyone is saying it just depends on the pony and the rider, to how much they feel like doing, molly hasnt been pushed, she's seen me and my other sister riding and she is such a competitive child she wants to be doing the same :)
 
I must say I am rather taken aback by this thread - really? Are 5 year old children REALLY capable of controlling a pony? I say not, sorry, but 5 year olds have absolutely no control over their muscles most of the time, they are growing and they are not strong by any means. I can say with absolute authority that my boys would not have been capable of controlling a pony aged 5 in all paces and over a jump, simply because they did not have the coordination or strength to do so as they were growing so fast. Rising to the trot at 5 is a damn hard thing to do.

Also 5 year old children do not have instinct, nor are they safety conscious, nor are they capable of listening to instruction for any decent amount of time. 5 year olds have minds that wonder off in all directions, at any given moment, very, very few have decent balance or coordination because 5 year old children are all out of proportion!

What they do have is bravery, because they don't think about things - sure, you can stick a 5 year old on a good pony and they can canter, but if the pony decided to spook, spin or pee off then the jockey would have no option but to hang on or slip off.

My children are 8 and 9 now, so I have had plenty of exposure to 5 year olds ;)
 
i have three children my older one was able at four to trot, canter and jump with full control. She would also hack out. My other little girl who is five she will be six in nov can not do any of the above. Each child is different which is why you should you should teach them to the level they are at not age.
 
my daughter is 5 next month and she can walk, trot, canter and do small jumps off the lead rein in complete control of her little 19yr old pony she will hack out on her own with me on my cob i take a lead rein out with me just incase and have only had to use it once, i think it is easier to go on each childs ability as my daughter has 2 ponys but while she can go completely unaided on her 19yr old she is still only at a trot on her other pony who is a lot more forward going and is inclined to buck
 
I have walked, and jogged a little for about 4 miles today :eek: as my 5 year old wanted to go for a proper ride! The pony is an old shetland and I trust her completely. My daughter has been doing rising trot for more than a year, can canter, has been to shows, done games and mini jumping all on the lead. I ought to be fitter and slimmer. :rolleyes: I don't take her riding much in the winter and whilst she likes to fetch her pony from the field, she is not allowed in any fields without an adult.
My oldest didn't ride out off the lead rein until she was 9. I took her on ride and lead for a couple of years before that, and she hunted on the lead rein. She was perfectly able to ride at all sorts of PC rallies, shows etc before that. Although most of our riding is off road, you never know when a hare will run out from under your feet or more commonly a loose dog will appear.
 
As a primary school teacher, I can tell you that in any class of 5yo children, there are hugely varying levels of maturity, not directly linked to when in the year they were born. We've had children in Reception, just starting, who were on a par with most 7yo children, in terms of balance, awareness, and cognition. Likewise, some 9/10yo children are incredibly unbalanced, lacking co-ordination and concentration. Each child, of whatever age, needs to be assessed as an individual..
 
i will make one more comment, then give up and hope never to meet a 5 year old in charge of a pony on a hack.

IF the pony spooked, the child would likely fall off. If the pony took off, the child would NOT have sufficient experience to be able to control the pony. Some adults don't either, but if there is an accident, they are more able to deal with the aftermath.

IF the accompanying adult had a fall, this leaves a 5 year old in charge of the situation.

If you are not happy letting your 5 year old walk down the road on their own, cross a road and generally be aware of traffic the way an adult is, then they should not be going solo.

If an adult is walking alongside or they are in a controlled environment, then that is a different scenario.

To those of you who were hunting at 5 years old. THings change. Hunting is (in effect) a controlled environment as a loose horse will stick with the rest of the horses and there are plenty of people to help out if there is a problem.

We did things many years ago which we would not dream of doing now. For example, I never wore a strap hat (there weren't any - only jockey skulls) when I was 5 years old. Does this mean that 5 year olds should not wear strap hats now? I see talented 5 year olds every weekend - but they are riding saints, and if the saint trips, spooks etc, they are just not strong or balanced enough to stay on their pony every time.

Keep the child off the lead rein in a school or a field, but please do not expose drivers and other horse riders to someone who is not sufficiently skilled, trained or strong enough in a public place.
 
My daughter is 6 1/2 now. She CAN trot, she CAN steer. She often wanted to canter amd always wanted to pop over a small jump. She has her own mind, and thinks what she does is right - which is often far from the truth!! I kept her on lead rein/lunge line 99.9%.
Her riding is ok, but I would NEVER put her in full control because the pony wasn't a 100% trustworthy plod. If the pony went left - she went right, if the pony spooked - whoops, if the pony put it head down - I caught daughter.
What Iam getting at - if the pony is a true saint and does NOTHING wrong then the childs riding has the ability to be more advanced than others. This doesn't mean the child can ride. As said before, children of that age often show no fear when all is going right, but put them into a situation when its going wrong, and I don't think ANY five year old can or should be able to manage.
My four year old son has no riding ability at all, but quite happy to sit and bounce about. He is even more fearless than daughter - so wait 2 years and I will report back on his progress!!
 
Regarding young children riding on public roads off lead, I wouldn't let a five year old cycle on a road, let alone ride! Too many idiots about:(
 
Weezy said:
I must say I am rather taken aback by this thread - really? Are 5 year old children REALLY capable of controlling a pony? I say not, sorry, but 5 year olds have absolutely no control over their muscles most of the time, they are growing and they are not strong by any means. I can say with absolute authority that my boys would not have been capable of controlling a pony aged 5 in all paces and over a jump, simply because they did not have the coordination or strength to do so as they were growing so fast. Rising to the trot at 5 is a damn hard thing to do.

Also 5 year old children do not have instinct, nor are they safety conscious, nor are they capable of listening to instruction for any decent amount of time. 5 year olds have minds that wonder off in all directions, at any given moment, very, very few have decent balance or coordination because 5 year old children are all out of proportion!

What they do have is bravery, because they don't think about things - sure, you can stick a 5 year old on a good pony and they can canter, but if the pony decided to spook, spin or pee off then the jockey would have no option but to hang on or slip off.

My children are 8 and 9 now, so I have had plenty of exposure to 5 year olds ;)
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Baaaaa :p
Mine is 5 and although he is very brave does not have the strength or co ordanation to get himself where he wants to go half the time let alone controll a pony.


Just to add,I dont understand why a child "should" be doing anything at a set age.
Make it fun and there is a lifetime to learn,but push too much and they will get fed up then stop alltogether.
Play games,have fun together(LR is great for that because you are right there with them) and add something more when they are ready.
 
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