Breaking in a leadrein pony

[Pink Gorilla]

We have a small companion pony who I think would make a fabulous leadrein pony for my children. Although it’s not the end of the world if he’s not suitable, but I’d like to give him the chance. I’ve taught him to lunge and long line etc in full tack and leant over his back lots. I’ve just started leading him from my horse so he gets used to me above him too. But I’m far too big to sit on him and put my full weight on him. For those who have done it before, how would you break a small pony in for a child? I’ve heard of using feed bags etc. I don’t really want to put a dummy rider on him though as I feel those can do more harm than good. Once they’ve gotten used to weight of some form, such as feed bags, where do you go from there? Real tiny human (being held of course).

 

[Dasher66]

Find a small, local, experienced adult rider and pay them to back and ride away. Your local pony club might know of a suitable person.

 

[be positive]

I was small enough to do a few myself, others had capable children on once the ground control was well established, I do a lot of in hand stuff in full tack and get them working with my body language until they are totally reliable to stop on the slightest cue from me and are able to stand patiently while I faff about all over them, the priority for me is a pony that will be confident and unreactive in different circumstances, I like to get them going off lead so they can potentially be a first ridden but that takes more skill from the rider so it depends how much you want to invest in time and money.

 

[proseccoandponies]

I have one at the moment I am aiming at first ridden/leid rein. He has been long reined, lunged, road walked, in hand work in tack etc. I have doent a long time leaning over him etc and desensitising him to different flapping about around the saddle and his back end, to the point he looks bored and rolls his eyes at me - what's she doing to me now
Luckily I am lightweight and he is a little chunk so I have been able to sit on and walk him around the yard, and will continue to ride him away, before finding a child to ride him.
I think you are better finding a small adult/sensible able teen. It's too easy for a child to frighten them by grabbing a hold of their mouth, kicking too hard etc. Let someone more experienced get him to the point where he is ready to take a child. Until you can find someone keep at it with the groundwork, you cant do too much with a child's pony.

 

[scruffyponies]

Break them to drive, and take them for lots and lots of walks. The walks will teach him his job as a lead rein pony (the addition of a child rider is rarely a problem). Teaching him to drive should mean he's also capable of going forward off voice and without a leader, which will make the transition to first ridden straightforward.

 

[Palindrome]

I have used my kids who where 2 and 4 at the time. I just popped a kid on the pony's back while pony was hand-grazing and held onto the kid at first. At that age you can lift them up if needed but the pony never batted an eyelid. We then went on off road walks and I had a handful of pony nuts in my pockets to give the pony every time we passed something a bit scary or just as a general "well done" treat.
I backed her in a headcollar and my kids never thought of kicking really. They had lots of giggles when we started trotting. Unfortunately they aren't interested in riding anymore, but the pony is good as gold and my eldest (7) can now ride in the school by himself.
The pony is 11hh, about 150 kg so the 20% rule means she can take a max of 30 kg. There is no adult that weight around me. My friend who is very petite is 45 kg and she didn't want to ride the pony as she feels she is too heavy.


Here they are progressing to riding on the lunge after about 6 months of lead rein :

 

[scruffyponies]

My Shetland is still very popular for lockdown walks. We have left a headcollar on the gate, and sharers take him out most days as an 'instead-of-dog'.

 

[Wishfilly]

Depending on size, I would try to find a lightweight, brave teen to do the first couple of rides- I wouldn't worry about them doing any schooling, just literally getting the pony used to weight on its back and how it feels to have a rider moving around on them.

Once you feel the pony is safe with the teen, I'd try putting on a child, with the view to pulling them off very quickly if it wasn't working. I do think it depends a bit on how old your children are, though!

 

[Pink Gorilla]

Thanks for the replies. My children have just turned 3 and 5. The pony is a 12h mini cob. But he’s pretty overweight himself (another good reason to get him in work). So because he’s carrying an excess of his own weight, I don’t think he needs my 10stone added on top of that. I do lunge him twice a week and take him for walks with the dog, but the weight seems happy to cling on for now. I can’t really afford to pay someone as I’ve spent a fortune recently getting my warmblood broken in over 6 weeks and he then went for another 6 weeks further training. So I’m maxed out for money in that respect.

 

[Wishfilly]

Thanks for the replies. My children have just turned 3 and 5. The pony is a 12h mini cob. But he’s pretty overweight himself (another good reason to get him in work). So because he’s carrying an excess of his own weight, I don’t think he needs my 10stone added on top of that. I do lunge him twice a week and take him for walks with the dog, but the weight seems happy to cling on for now. I can’t really afford to pay someone as I’ve spent a fortune recently getting my warmblood broken in over 6 weeks and he then went for another 6 weeks further training. So I’m maxed out for money in that respect.

12hh mini cob you could definitely find a small adult/competent teen for, I would have thought? I'm imagining a weight of about 7 stone. You might well find a teen who would get involved for free or minimal cost, too. In my opinion, you don't want the rider to do too much, as it can overexcite the pony if they are already pretty chilled out. You might want them to do more if you want the pony to transition to first ridden, though!

My concern would be that he would be too wide, especially for a just turned 3yo?

 

[windand rain]

Once totally fed up with you they usually dont care much what we do I just sat a kid on top without stirrups or reins and lead the pony around kid had hat and body protector on
then added stirrups and reins to the headcollar and finally on the bit saddle had a oh dear strap to hold onto

 

[honetpot]

If its for lead rein an adult rider, even a small one is perhaps not right. A lead rein takes its commands from the leader, not the rider and an adult rider with thinking would use leg and weight aids, the leader uses voice commands and body position. You just need to take the pony everywhere once you have got the basics on the ground, I was lucky that I lived in a village with traffic, shops and pub, so every evening it was a walk round the estate, so you learn how it reacts. If it's a quiet pony putting a small child on it is just a progression, the leader is still in charge.
The hardest pony to find is LR, FR, because they get so used to responding only to the leader and ignoring what's on its back.

 

[Winters100]

When we were children we used to back the smaller ponies for YO and every summer would be allocated a couple each as 'ours'. It was a great arrangement as we had extra teaching every day while schooling the ponies and learned a lot. I guess now though there are a lot more worries about liability, so not sure what you can do other than using your own children.

 

[windand rain]

The above photo was age 4.5 she did a season as a lead rein and now is confident and going well off lead at 5.5 is jumping small courses with her novice rider and hacking out alone and in company off lead

 

[kidsandponies]

Once totally fed up with you they usually dont care much what we do I just sat a kid on top without stirrups or reins and lead the pony around kid had hat and body protector on View attachment 63979
then added stirrups and reins to the headcollar and finally on the bit saddle had a oh dear strap to hold onto

This is pretty much what we did! Got pony completely used to tack etc (and he was already used to children sitting on him in the field bareback) and then started taking him out in hand (tacked up) with our other pony (every day for a couple of weeks). Once he was over the excitement of having a job to do and discovering there was life outside of the field we put my 6yr old on board. Happy that he was taking everything in his stride she went back to her pony and my 4yr old now rides what was the companion. To begin with we always had an extra pair of hands walking alongside her, to grab in moments of need but we’ve never needed them and they both happily pootle along now! We feel very lucky and pony is absolutely loving having a job to do, if he sees the children coming he always beats them to the gate and genuinely loves his little excursions. Not bad for a little WHW companion pony who previously had spent 9yrs with us purely as a field ornament (I did seek permission from WHW to see if we could break him in as a lead rein).

 

[Pink Gorilla]

This is pretty much what we did! Got pony completely used to tack etc (and he was already used to children sitting on him in the field bareback) and then started taking him out in hand (tacked up) with our other pony (every day for a couple of weeks). Once he was over the excitement of having a job to do and discovering there was life outside of the field we put my 6yr old on board. Happy that he was taking everything in his stride she went back to her pony and my 4yr old now rides what was the companion. To begin with we always had an extra pair of hands walking alongside her, to grab in moments of need but we’ve never needed them and they both happily pootle along now! We feel very lucky and pony is absolutely loving having a job to do, if he sees the children coming he always beats them to the gate and genuinely loves his little excursions. Not bad for a little WHW companion pony who previously had spent 9yrs with us purely as a field ornament (I did seek permission from WHW to see if we could break him in as a lead rein).

Yes mine is a rescue too. He’s from Bransby horses and I have permission to use him for riding. He definitely does plenty of in hand walks. Will try sticking a child on board while he’s tied up maybe and get someone to shovel treats in his mouth while I hold the child until he’s used to it.