Best jumping combo/ breed for child coming off ponies

[Spangles]

In your experience ...
Not thinking of a TB type, primarily for showjumping as wanting horse to have a decent 'ping' in them but ideally a good sensible allrounder (Mother is a bit nervous).

 

[FfionWinnie]

One with a proven record with children. Depends on the child too. By the time my daughter comes off ponies she will be out riding most adults including me. Breed is immaterial.

 

[PorkChop]

Doesn't matter a jot, as long as the horse is honest and knows its job.

Of course if you are talking about jumping really big tracks, then maybe you might be looking into the breeding more.

So ideally, something that is 10+, that is in full work with a solid competition record, and preferably that has been ridden by an amateur.

 

[ycbm]

I once liveried with a child who was a prolific winner on ponies. She was bought two experienced, and very expensive, show jumpers over 16 hands ridden by a girl in her late teens, and she could not get on with either of them. She would have been much better served transitioning onto an overgrown or half bred Connemara of about 15.2 before going onto the bigger horses. She was so demoralised by her failure, it was sad to see.

OP as a concerned Mum and for a competitive child, I don't think you can beat the Connies, they just adore jumping, all the many of them that I know. My friend has a full bred at 15.2 and a half bred who is going to go to 16 hands or a little more.

 

[Shay]

Breed isn't the be all and end all - but I do think ycbm is right about Connies. Don't overlook something else - but perhaps have that in the back of your mind. As an active PC committee member I have seen numerous children through that transition from ponies to horses - and it is almost without fail a difficult one. Whether you switch to horses in your young teens, at 16 when you can't jump BS ponies anymore or at another point. Many children give up at that point (in no small part because they are also teenagers and other things intrude - but it is a part of it.)

If you have the capacity - and can find something they are sought after! - opt for something as pony like as possible. Don't leap from your trusted 13.2 to something 16hh+ Try to find a 14.3 - 15.2ish. Again if you can and have the capacity - don't opt for a proven competitor first off. Competition animals are quite different from a more "standard" riding animal and the combination of the pony to horse switch and a competition animal is very daunting. Get something transitional. You can move on again in 6 - 8 months. A loan is quite good for this is you can't keep several at once. And finally - again if you can - don't sell the pony! The child will have bad days and want to go back to something safe and secure. Wait 6 months or so.

Oh... and get a good instructor if you don't already!

If your child is smaller - do they actually need to come off ponies? There is no harm in staying with a full up 148. My daughter had BS ponies. Approaching 16 - and with GCSEs - we sold / returned many of them but kept her first pony, who has a home for life, and the really tricky ISH that I didn't think we would be able to sell. She opted to re-set him for eventing and he has done very well. Although with an LHC at 147.8cm, with shoes on and in a mood he is a fairly simple 15.2 ish and more than capable of the level of eventing she started at. He proved to be the perfect transition for her. A pony brain, the ability to do pony strides but also to do a horse stride. She was able to expand on from him to bigger horses in a relatively seam free transition. But we were lucky to have him (although I didn't think so when we bought him!) and that we have the capacity to have a number of horses for her at the same time.

 

[popsdosh]

Im with the above ! I have seen so many very talented riders totally messed up by the move to horses.Some have given up altogether. Dont make the mistake of spending silly money for what you think is the ideal horse as invariably this ends in tears and a very rapidly devaluing asset to sell. The most successful transitions I have seen is onto a young horse before their out of ponies with both to ride the young horse and the child learn together rather than the child being over horsed by something that thinks it knows best .