Child schooling ponies for other people. Experiences? Practicalities?

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maya2008

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We were asked at a show the other day if my eldest (7) would consider schooling another family's small pony for them. He already does this for a friend alongside his own youngster and our cheeky Shetland, but it would be different doing it on a more formal kind of basis. And obviously, I am always involved and shouting instructions as necessary from the sidelines! Has anyone on here had experience of this? Is it just a really bad idea, or is it workable? If I say a blanket 'no' (because I can see about a million pitfalls to this kind of arrangement!) am I depriving him of experiences that would be useful?
 
I can think of a whole lot of reasons not to. There are small adult riders who do this for a living. If he was a bit older then maybe, but at 7, I personally would say no.
 
I have done this, as in had somebody else's child come ride a tiny rescue pony that I got conned into taking on.

I don't have any kids of my own so I was a bit all at sea about how to bring the pony to a point where it could get a good home

The situation with the child kind of didn't sit comfortably with me and it only happened once or twice until I was lucky enough to find a very small lady who specialised in schooling small ponies and I shelled out professional level fees

Should also say child in question was a very competent 11 year old. I think 7 is too young.

I can remember being a very petite (how things change!) 13 year old and spending a couple of summers backing and schooling about a dozen Welsh ponies for some con artist woman and having a whale of time doing it but for no money...again, big difference between 7 and 13
 
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Pitfalls I can think of:
- insurance (would have to be for me?) and cost would make it pointless I think!
- payment (obv not for free, but...??)
- 'nasty' pones i.e. had bad experiences and might actually want to hurt him
- no control over tack/vet checks so could well be in pain and again, he could get hurt.

I am a petite adult and have ridden 12hh upwards to school. Without a child rider who could actually ride, they'd just go beautifully for me and then know they could take the 'p' out of the smaller rider. In fact, our Shetland did exactly that a few years ago. Would behave so beautifully for a larger child, and be a madam for my son (she taught him to ride properly!).

He is really enjoying teaching his youngster though, and it is making him a 1000x a better rider.
 
Could you work out a price based on you schooling and then your son comes in after you have done the tricky/potentially dangerous stuff?

You could do a phased approach whereby you school then after a few session or hours or whatever your son goes on the lunge then the lead rein then goes free range
 
All the no!! Riding is dangerous enough for children without venturing into the territory of ponies with schooling issues.

Source: mother of an 8 yesterday old whose confidence is fragile.
 
We used to get this all the time as others saw our daughter doing well with her ponies she had bought on herself. As she is also petite and was small for her age she appeared more competent simply because she was older and more experienced.

We used to give a polite “no” as she is not a crash test dummy.

We also used to point out the reason her young ponies went well for her is she had a parent at home who was a professional trainer and all the manners, ground work, lunging were done by an adult to make her ponies safe before she got on.

Perhaps suggest that formal schooling might be a more value add option?
 
My daughter did this fairly often - but not as young as 7. It absolutely is a real "thing". DD schooled and rode - mainly hunted or took BS catch rides - problem ponies for some years. And in fact sometimes still does - she is very small and light.

But not at 7. DD grew up on ponies. But I would not have done it with her so young. We did have once incident with a "friend" who brought her child and pony to the yard - child had confidence issue. I was focused on her child on one of our ponies - when Mum put DD up on the problem who promptly carted her off bronking madly around the school and because I hadn't tack checked it she got dragged when she fell because the stirrups were too small. I think she was 8 or 9.

We got away with it and confidence wasn't an issue at the time. But we were lucky. I'm not sure any 7 year old has the feel needed and if they have a bad experience it could break them - physically and mentally.

I'm trying to think how old DD was when we started this properly - probably 14 or so. We'd had some catch rides before that - but a schooled 128 / 138 is not really the same. The thing is - they take a fall and get a major break they'll loose 6 months. At that age that is enough to take them off ponies all together. They also need to have enough feel to be able to respond accurately and quickly to a challenge. By the time we were schooling DD had a string of 5 and a few failed ones behind her. What you can see is only part of the picture. What they feel is at least 50 - if not 75%. A parent shouting from the sidelines (and I am one!) is not enough.

If your son is good enough its a fabulous thing to do eventually. But they need loads of experience on different -and ideally difficult - ponies to develop the skills.

Absolutely echo Bonnie Allie - its something that really does come up when other parents see your child doing well. But the likelyhood, especially at 7, is that the child does well becuase the pony is well set up. Those struggling with problems have issues far too big for a young child to solve.
 
Thanks for the input - we have a retired oldie who keeps threatening not to make another winter. When she finally goes, I have been toying with the idea of getting a small pony youngster every few years to bring on and eventually sell, not aiming to make a profit at all, just for the experience. That way I have control over the temperament of the pony we choose, tack that fits, experiences it has had. What worried me about the pony we were asked to help with, is that we have none of that.

They asked though, not because he was winning on a 'made' pony, but because the Shetland decided that day that she did not want to play, and he rode her to each jump with determination, ensured she jumped no matter how hard she tried to run out or stop and when she legged it for the gate, he sat up, pulled her back round, made her jump the jump and finished the course. She likes to make him work, for everything, always has! But...she has never hurt him. He's fallen off plenty, been carted home out hacking, she's ducked and run, bucked, you name it. But there's no malice in her, she just likes him to learn to actually ride.

And he has. Yesterday, he took her hacking off-lead for the first time in a while (his younger sister tends to hack her on-lead) and she decided to run for home. "Back in a minute!" he yelled, as she disappeared down the track. And he was. Another hack today, and she didn't even try.
 
I loved doing this as a child. There was never any payment involved, just the excitement of being in the saddle permanently and riding another pony.

Everything from schooling nappy riding school ponies, backing young ponies, riding rescue ponies, competing on someone’s smart show pony. All experiences I never could have had without being asked to ride other people’s ponies- and I certainly couldn’t have afforded some of the nicer ponies.

I also remember mucking out and grooming for weeks hoping to be asked to ride one of the ‘big horses’- I couldn’t have been more than seven or eight at the time.

I’m not sure how one even begins to work out the liability issues these days but it’s quite sad, isn’t it.
 
My son did this a fair bit as a young teenager, but only for people we knew. He was always paid in kind, ie rugs/boots etc for his own ponies and it tended to be an easter or summer holiday project. Still have a lovely thermatex that he got in payment many years ago.
 
It's great that your son is a happy confident rider but even on his own pony it's easy to have something happen which sets them back. We bought a young green connie for our 7 year old daughter and she learned so much but always in a safe environment and with excellent pro help but most importantly we had complete control over everything. I wouldn't have had her riding someone else's young green pony or problem pony and I wouldn't have expected someone else's child to school hers, we paid for a pro rider to do it.
 
I have schooled a lot of ponies over the years and have used various children based on the yard as jockeys but always under my supervision with the pony already having a very clear understanding of what I expect from them, voice control and body language on the ground.

I would not be happy to go to another persons yard with a young rider to deal with someone elses problem unless I was very sure it would be a one off for a straightforward pony that just required a little extra, the owners need to spend some money getting it educated, if that is with you then fine but otherwise I would suggest they find a pro yard and your son rides it once it is there, that way he gains experience and has a better chance of being safe.
 
Yes we did this probably from when daughter was about 10, either having a young pony to run alongside her established fun pony and hopefully then sold to help pay costs of competing or having a young sometimes naughty pony in to be played with and turned into a child’s pony for payment. If they were really horrible I would break them to harness so at the very least they could be sold to do a job. It certainly made daughter the rider she is today, she has a great feel for green and not understanding or being a little s***. Give him a few years and if he’s still keen go for it, can be great fun
 
My initial thought was that 7 was too young, then I read your last reply and it certainly sounds like your son is a capable little rider but is he confident and capable on his own ponies that he has grown up around or is this the way he would ride others he wasnt familiar with? My daughter flies round bareback and bittless on our cob but she wouldn't feel safe (and nor would i) doing it on any others.
I have used a close friends kid for one of our ponies in the past but always with me and her mum around, again though the child and pony were very familiar with each other though.
Are they asking your son to school said pony with a view to selling it? If so maybe you could suggest doing a sales livery type arrangement so you and your son could get to grips with the pony on your own terms at your own yard?
 
maya2008 said:
We were asked at a show the other day if my eldest (7) would consider schooling another family's small pony for them. He already does this for a friend alongside his own youngster and our cheeky Shetland, but it would be different doing it on a more formal kind of basis. And obviously, I am always involved and shouting instructions as necessary from the sidelines! Has anyone on here had experience of this? Is it just a really bad idea, or is it workable? If I say a blanket 'no' (because I can see about a million pitfalls to this kind of arrangement!) am I depriving him of experiences that would be useful?
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What would be the circumstances OP?? Would the pony be staying with you for the duration of the schooling, and would it be a couple of weeks or a couple of months?? And what are the pony's problems that it needs schooled?

If you had the answers to those questions then I may be inclined to agree on the basis that your son sounds like he would enjoy the experience, but if the pony was a real villain (rearing/bronco) or it was being kept at the owner's house, then I'd definitely say no.

If you can have the pony at home with you (and therefore control over its environment ie tack, turnout, feeding etc) and you have a couple of months to work on it with no pressure to get results, and it just needed to get rid of a bad habit like running to the gate or not listening to a tiny riders leg, then I'd be inclined to ask your son what he thinks.

I say this on the basis of having an 8yo son of my own who loves riding different ponies to his own (not interested in mucking out or poo picking but that's another issue entirely haha, but loves riding...)

Fiona
 
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