Am I being unreasonable to sell daughters pony?

I was that child that my parents could not afford to buy me a pony, or even pay for lessons, I blagged rides and I will be eternally grateful to the low end dealer who let me ride and do things I shouldn't on a variety of ponies, in the company of equally horse mad girls, for a plate of oven roasted chips and white bread and jam sandwiches.
I was lucky both my daughters rode, they liked their ponies, we enjoyed riding together, but they were never so competative that we were going to drive all over the county and spend huge amounts of money. I did all the things that I didn't do as a child, PC , hunting and small shows,and some bigger ones through them, and when they finally decided to be teenagers and do other things, I have missed their company, but that is part of growing up. I still have the ponies my daughters backed as children and competed, no it was not wasted time, and I would rather have done that than stand at the side of a football pitch any day.
 
Floxie said:
I don't have a solution - I don't think 'making kids wait' or earn their rides is the answer. I don't know what I'd do if I had children and was in a position to buy them a pony, because I genuinely do think that spoils the magic and drive for most kids - not all of them of course! But MANY that I've seen, and probably would have done the same for me. But then if I could buy my children a pony (and they were pony-mad) then I think I'd be a horror not to, just because I thought it would spoil them!

So it's a bloody good job I'm child-free and poor :D
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I think the solution is to get the pony, but they have to share it with someone - ANYONE! then they want it more cos kids hate sharing stuff. :D
 
SadKen said:
I think the solution is to get the pony, but they have to share it with someone - ANYONE! then they want it more cos kids hate sharing stuff. :D
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That was why I was bought a pony, because the kid who’s pony i shared was vile to me and my mum was disgusted by her behaviour. 😀
 
Well, here we are back in the new school year.

Pony was sent to schooling with the view to sell her after. It was the best thing I did in all of this as it was the kick starter we needed.

I sent her on a transporter, otherwise I couldn't have moved her without daughter knowing. Typically within a few days she asked to go visit pony, I put her off (just about to cook dinner/ we're going out somewhere else shortly/anything else I could think of)...and kept putting her off for 10 days til she twigged something wasn't right.

I was really pleased with how the schooling was coming as I found a riding school with the owners young 14yr old could do the schooling - pony has shown a real talent for jumping and as pony is a good looking one got quite a bit of interest in the first two weeks, but pony also hacked and just did some more hours under saddle with an independent rider.

Upon asking why she wasn't seeing pony, we told her pony had gone on holiday for an education and a few chats come up after that, she does feel that she can't ride well enough for her but does like riding but felt it wasn't worth the bother as the partnership was going no where fast.

We went to visit pony and daughter wasn't offered a ride we watched instead the older rider get on, then another rider from the RS hopped on to show the difference with a more novice rider.

Went home and after a day or two daughter asked to visit again, went to go and she had dressed herself in her riding gear, put her body protector and hat in the car herself. We said nothing, but we got there - child asked to ride and whaddya know? Within 30 mins of riding pony in the school there, she was off lead and trotting large circles herself with a massive smile on her face, still convinced this was a fluke we said nothing but kept pony there for another 2 weeks, during that time we have had two offers on her for prices which I thought were a bit sky high or too good!

Husband and I toyed with the idea of selling pony as that was the plan originally, but daughter has continued to ride pony at the school and she's gone from strength to strength, livery there was quite expensive though so pony has come home and I thought I was a bit stupid not selling her when we had the buyers but daughter has come home keen and still wanting to ride, - she did a small clear round show at the weekend and it was a marvellous day. I went in the ring with her but only to call out the route and to act as ground support, she only went in a trot all the way round but that superstar pony didn't break from trot the entire way around with ears pricked and looking happy.

So pony is still definitely with us and daughter is interested for now, but sending pony away for schooling was definitely the best thing, even if we end up selling next year - who knows but least it's had a happy outcome.
 
Can I suggest she joins Pony Club to meet other pony riding children of a similar age and to have fun. Honestly it was the best thing my daughter did, the lessons are cheaper than riding school with some fabulous instructors (typically 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of riding school), and they do great fun stable management sessions, lots of team stuff which has been great for her confidence, and she has made some lovely friends on the way.
 
I’m in my forties and it took somebody else to get on my pony for the realisation to hit that he’s actually pretty obedient and straight forward, so I can see exactly where your daughter is coming from. Agree with pony club, there’s nothing like having peers to learn from.
 
Totally agree with Dubsie - is there a Pony Club near you? My life really would b easier if my 7 year old son wasn't so keen - I would get to go to RC things with my own horse!! He started with a mini shetland to show inhand - (we breed shetlands so he was at the shows with us showing our standards anyway) and he always really enjoyed the bathing and copious bubbles etc. In the ring for 10 mins to do Young Handlers and done and dusted... that was enough. He rode Pip on LR for a year or 2 and went along to a few fun fancy dress type things.
Now he has a 12.2hh welsh cross who is quite cobby and big for him but is 20 and has seen it all. We got him on loan a year ago and joined PC , with the idea to get him off lead and riding properly. We had a wobble earlier this year when he had a couple of falls and didn't really want to ride, just after we had bitten the bullet and bought him as well, but because his buddies were going to Pony Club camp, he wanted to go as well. He was genuinely more interested in all the other non-horsey activities!! The pancakes for breakfast, water fights and team games! We put him back on a shetland for camp and thought it would perhaps make or break things. On the very last day he asked for his 12.2hh because there was going to be a jumping and dressage competition and the shetland wasn't really as up to it as his bigger pony and he wanted to be the same as all his friends ;) Without PC I doubt he would be keen, riding at home with me is one thing but he loves working for his badges and going to rallies. Which means I have the leverage to say you need to ride at least a couple of times a week to keep your pony ticking over in between times if you want to keep going! Thankfully I am small and I also hack his pony out once a week. For me that is enough. I actually have a lovely new horse that I would dearly have liked to take to our local RC dressage last weekend but instead I stood and froze my bits off while minime did grassroots combined training, meh! For him though it was about being there as part of his club and with his friends. - they all hide in the back of someones landrover and eat haribo :D
 
I’d sell. It sounds like she isn’t passionate about it enough to have her own pony. I’m sure there is another hobby she will love and be passionate about. Years ago I sold ex step children’s pony for the same reason. They tried so hard to change my mind but the pony had to go. On the day she went there was only 1 person in tears - me !
 
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