Adults who ride ponies

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Walrus

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Now I know this has been done to death but I have a question for any adults out there that ride ponies....

When it comes to competing do you have any problems? Now I know you can go showing (natives), dressage, pleasure rides etc. etc. so really I'm talking show jumping and hunter trials etc. If you are over 16 is it a problem having a pony? I'm assuming you compete in horse classes and if so are you allowed to do that with something that is under 14.2hh. I'm really talking non-BSJA stuff so riding club, unaffiliated shows you've been to and trailblazer type stuff.

And I mean ponies that there is no way you can try and convince people it's 14.3hh! Like eg. a 13.1hh fell pony? I don't have one but I was just wondering how it worked?

Cheers.
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i used to ride a 13.2 welsh sec C and i used to compete on her in adult classes,ie. over 16, over 14.2, xc and sj - it was my age that mattered more than her size. you just had to tell them when you paid for the class and check.
At the moment i ride a 14.2 and a 15.0 and i always ride in the adult classes with both, again my age is the important bit, not their height.
 
not quite the same I know but I lost my confidence big time and needed to get out and jump in tiny classes and was always able to find 2'- 2'3 classes I could do as an adult on a 16'3. I was in some classes jumping with lead rein ponies, just needed to swallow my pride !! unaffiliated and local stuff usually done on height of jumps not horse now although some have junior sections/classes. very different to how it was 20 years ago when I was trying to find classes I could take my 12.2 in when I was 16 and had to do it all HC.
 
I have a pony a 14h forester - obviously I do native classes on him and I do family pony and in hand classes. I do unaffiliated sj at the RC where the pony class do not have age restrictions. I am going to dressage as well.

No problems at all if you only want to compete unaffiliated - if you want to BSJA you will find it difficult or do non native classes with BSPS unless you get a coloured pony and then you can show them as an adult with most show societies.

I think if you want to do affiliated eventing then the minimum height is 14h.
 
I have been riding my 14.1hh Section D for 12 years, we have taken part in most types of competition.

Most unaffiliated SJ classes in our area have been fine, you do get the occasional schedule which excludes adults on ponies but not many.

You can't do Trailblazers SJ on a pony though
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I have never had a problem with Hunter trials etc and dressage is no problem.

Also M&M showing, TREC and driving are no problem!

I think more adults are competing and enjoying owning ponies now than there were a few years ago. I think I find less people looking down their noses at us now!
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I've been able to have more fun on my pony than many of my friends have been able to have on their horses over the years. They can be fantastic all rounders.
 
It was a right pain when I had my 13.2hh Fell Pony, she could jump 4ft and I was still riding her when I was 21 but we weren't allowed to compete in the pony classes as I was over 16 and we weren't allowed to win anything in the horse classes as she was too small(we were still allowed to compete and had to pay the entry fee!)
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If you are only planning on competing at local level then I don't foresee any problems, more and more adults are riding native ponies and there is massive support for them. Breed specific shows will also have WH and dressage for natives (although they can compete on equal terms with horses at other shows, just the striding can be tricky)
 
I do everything with my 2 ponies, as others have said most local unaff type jumping classes go on the height of the jumps, not the height of the pony, though some do have age restrictions but its always on the schedule. Dressage is no problem, & I have done BD as well, unaff ODE are also fine, & you can do BE up to PN I think, though someone may want to correct me there. BSJA you can do seniors on a pony up to Foxhunter (1.20m), I am going to BSJA next year on Kizzy, she's 14hh, though definately not up to 1.20m!! As someone else said you can't do Trailblazers sj on a pony though, hope that helps.
 
Hi, Interesting to hear that most people dont have any problems - on my local circuit I am very limited to what I can do with my ponies! My local riding club last year changed the rules at the hunter trials but I still cant showjump or show, and many other local shows also have restrictions. There are a few that dont have an age limit but I have found that there are more that do! The limit is normally 16.

As somebodt said, you cant do Trailblazers SJ on a pony - I questioned this last year to the reply that 'it is for a health and safety reason - and that the striding will be different for a horse and a pony' Now I understand this, but I have 2 problems with this. 1) A 14.3hh horse and a 17hh horse will have diffrent length of stride but will be in the same class, and 2) Most of the trailblazers 1st and 2nd rounds I went to with my horse jumped the ponies and horses off together anyway!! Madness!

I am 20 5ft2 and weigh just under 8 stone - I do have and ride horses, but id uch rather ride a pony, and I look better on a pony too!

The problem is, especially in SJ, poeple dont want adults competing against children on ponies, because its not fair, but at the same time they dont want to be in a jump off on a horse in a class with ponies becuase, guess what, it's not fair!
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Okay, rant over, so basically, yes, I do find that I have problems!
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I had problems at a show last year in an open jumping class (open to both ponies and horses any age rider) My friend was riding my little welsh pony. (she's 5ft3 and weighs next to nothing....) and the steward told her that she was too big for the pony, that several people had complained and that if she wanted to kill herself to go ahead... that was just before she went into the ring.... Angel proved them all wrong and came 5th in the jump off!
 
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