Cheeky/ridiculous posts you see on Facebook.

I wasn't suggesting they stayed like that forever :), or turned out like that in the right hands I've just seen too many quiet 4 year olds bought by the wrong people.
 
Equally plenty of 3yr olds never change and remain safe and sane. Not for a novice who isn't going to spend a lot on education, but I just haven't seen these 3yr old turning into monsters. The laid back lazy blighters remain laid back lazy blighters!
When I started work at a RS back in 1965, my boss went out and bought 4 new ponies. 3 three year olds and a 6 yr old. The three year olds never put a foot wrong in the four years I worked with them and all were eventually sold on as good ponies. No soundness problems with any of them. The six year old had quirks and was soon sold back to the dealer she came from.
We only ever did road work, no indoor or outdoor school so no going round in circles, just steady work in mostly straight lines. Two of them I took hunting and they were excellent, in fact the biggest, a 14.1 welsh cob type was sold to someone who hunted her with the Pytchley and said she was fabulous cross country.
 
When I started work at a RS back in 1965, my boss went out and bought 4 new ponies. 3 three year olds and a 6 yr old. The three year olds never put a foot wrong in the four years I worked with them and all were eventually sold on as good ponies. No soundness problems with any of them. The six year old had quirks and was soon sold back to the dealer she came from.
We only ever did road work, no indoor or outdoor school so no going round in circles, just steady work in mostly straight lines. Two of them I took hunting and they were excellent, in fact the biggest, a 14.1 welsh cob type was sold to someone who hunted her with the Pytchley and said she was fabulous cross country.
This was pretty much my teenage years. The dealer would buy about six from Ireland unseen, connie x looking, shades of grey. We would get allocated one or two each and we just hacked them everywhere after school and at weekends, and they were 'our' ponies until they were sold, and there was no adult input. The biggest problem was the state of their feet, some were so long they had slippers, and the homemade shoes that I wish I had kept because they were a piece of flat iron bent in half. They all made good ponies that sold to the first viewers. One I saw ten years later he was with the same family at a show.
The big problem now is no none has time, a short hack for us would be an hour and at the weekend we would roam all over the outskirts of the town, through the estates and along road verges.
 
I suspect it's not just the lack of time; traffic is so much worse now, it's getting much harder to find safe places to hack
The traffic is busier, I used to hack on bus routes out of Sheffield, but mainly people have no patience now, even on a Sunday on a back lane that only goes to houses. I have been nearly mown over by a tractor with children in tow on a ROW.
I lived on the very edge of a commuter village, which had new housing estates, so a quick hack after school or at the weekend was just walking around the estates, and down the high street, and learning to stand at the ice cream van or shop while one hoped off to get sweets. Youngsters would have to learn to stand while the village school turned out. All this conditioning really takes only time, and leads up to bigger things, like the not spooking at a flappy sail cracking on a boat in the wind or the helicopter landing on the school field.
We didn't have a surface yet everything was capable of doing Prelim 7 with a reasonable score when my daughters were in their teens, and that included a 16hand cob.
I have come to the conclusion people are just to conditioned now in to thinking that something that can do a 20m circle is a made animal, when it that is probably like a party trick, and really most of its education has been missed.
 
Job lot of stuff. £400 Ono. Won’t split the items. Pictures of said items are in well used condition and mostly pony sizes.
Definitely not worth £400, probably worth £250 to £300 at a push.
 
I paraphrase….

Please buy my youngster. I took it on with the intent of getting professional help but then decided to do it all myself and it’s now rude and bolshy on the ground (while still being reasonable to ride). I’m now a bit scared of it. I want rid and the money back that I paid.

Surprisingly, no takers…
 
I see so many adverts for unicorn type children's ponies wanted for loan.

Its virtually impossible to find that type of pony to buy for under £8k -£10k let alone get one for free.

Not out of the question, when it comes to oldies people often advise to loan rather than sell, there might be outgrown ponies that are getting on but not quite ready for retirement that would fit the bill. They're soon outgrown again.
 

26 years old 😢 wish I had the space for her to live out her retirement
That poor pony looks depressed
 
I see so many adverts for unicorn type children's ponies wanted for loan.

Its virtually impossible to find that type of pony to buy for under £8k -£10k let alone get one for free.
There do seem to be more people than usual looking for a perfect FR on loan this year.

Share wanted ads for a larger first pony abound near me also, for teens coming out of the RS and needing to learn to jump etc.

I do know that my sharers decided to find a share and teach their own children due to the high price of RS lessons and the lack of actual progress for that price, so perhaps both are symptoms of riding schools being increasingly unaffordable.
 
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26 years old 😢 wish I had the space for her to live out her retirement

I was just about to share this! That woman is way too big for that tiny 12hh pony FGS. Hope the poor little mite lands on her feet.
 
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