Childrens ponies.

Seriously thinking about buying R a pony,prompted in part by the post about rubbish lessons at RS for a little one.
He will be 4 in the autum(when I am thinking about buying if we do) and is allready obcessed with horses.
Would be nice to have a few lessons and see how he takes to it first but having trouble finding a RS that will give lessons/lead rein walk abouts for his age and dont have any friends in the area with somehting suitable for him to have a sit on
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Just owrried that he will go off them the second he has a pony,or that he will fall in love like he does with animals and outgrow it too quickly,other option of course being buying somehting for him to "grow into" and risk putting him off all together.
R is a big lad,solid like his dad with long legs.

Pointless post I guess,but any views from mums with ponies for younger children much apriciated
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In exact same boat!
DD is 4 and wants a pony. She has riding lessons and a pony on a 'loan' type thingy-its my bests mates pony so we just do what we can and when.
Luckily my dd is at a fab riding school who take 4 year olds. She has been off lead rein and has recently started to canter and do trotting poles!
She is also a PC'er so that keeps her interested.
I'm looking at ponies for her, but as of yet not found anything we both like.
 
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In exact same boat!
DD is 4 and wants a pony. She has riding lessons and a pony on a 'loan' type thingy-its my bests mates pony so we just do what we can and when.
Luckily my dd is at a fab riding school who take 4 year olds. She has been off lead rein and has recently started to canter and do trotting poles!
She is also a PC'er so that keeps her interested.
I'm looking at ponies for her, but as of yet not found anything we both like.

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Nightmare isnt it?
Dont know what to do for the best.

R has shown a lot of intrest in horses for a while now so it's not a passing phase but at the same time have no idear if he is keen enough to make it worth buying his own!
Wouldnt be any use to me at 6ft
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Apart from daughter(4yr old then) 1st pony a 10hh shetland I used to loan until she got her 13.2.
I decided to do this as I have problems selling them on
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daughter now going on 17 and only sold said shetland last year it had been on loan to different families.I didn't want a pile of outgrown ponie stuck in a field as I pay livery.It worked out well as people weren't always honest about little pony's safety so if it didn't work out ,there were one or two that didn't.They were returned to owner.
Would it be possible to loan something ?
 
Might be a good idea to loan a pony and then if he 'goes off it' you can easily return the pony without the hassle of having to try and sell it. Contact your local PC they may know of something
 
Shame, I have a lovely little shetland, proper sweet heart with little kids, was being looked after/ridden weekly by a little three year old girl and little off lean rein but my cousin is just to big at 11yo and I don't have the time so it'll be nice for him to have a young family to make the most of him.

I have to say the good shetlands are clung onto, why I won't sell Rambo, their gold dust. So loaning could be a good answer and takes the selling when out grown phase out.
 
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Might be a good idea to loan a pony and then if he 'goes off it' you can easily return the pony without the hassle of having to try and sell it. Contact your local PC they may know of something

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Loaning would be your best bet, I brought a pony for my NOW 13 year old...Dear god i feel old, and she has decided that riding and showing are not for her anymore and now its swimming, training for the 2012 Olympics
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so now i have a 12.2 and my 14.2 show cob to exercise myself.

There are loads of ickle ponios out there to loan, just has to be the bombproof, sensible type, which now adays its blumming hard to find
 
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Where you based?

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Sheffield,South Yorks.

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Oh, thats so close to us, we've stopped lessons though. Pants .

Hope you can find something.
 
I am lucky that at the mo dd gets weekly riding lessons at a PC linked school and friend lets her do the dirty work with the pony.
You shetland people-dont I know that the good ones dont sell!!
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I have been to see some right horrors lately!!
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I'm starting to think that it may be best now not to loan a pony from someone BUT to loan my dd to them as a jockey!!!
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I bought my son his pony when he was 4, he is now 9. He is getting a bit tall for him but still looks fine on him. weight wise he is fine. I got a 12.1 welsh sec a. He is with us for life tho and keeps my mare company. They are like george and mildred lol.
I couldn't part with him, so not sure what to do once he is outgrown. Don't fancy mucking out 3 in the winter. He will just have to go onto my 16.2 tb lol.
 
Mine all shared a little brown and white shetland/welsh cross called Wiggy until they got individual ponies .
It wore side reins so it couldn't pull them off by the reins and it soon learned to tolerate the demands on it.
I would buy something small, old and quiet, it's far easier to give them a pony they can make go than one too quick.
If you do buy one they are always in demand to sell afterwards.
I wouldn't buy anything big as it rarely works as a combination, the pony soon susses how to use it's strength against the rider.
 
Suss out your local Pony Club branch - always a useful source of info and something to aim for later (although they can join at any age). I joined my daughter at 5 or 6, she loved going to rallies and mini camp and meeting others her age. Also you will be seriously popular if you have a boy - not enough of them in PC so DCs tend to bend over backwards to keep them happy!

I didn't bother with formal lessons until she was older - just did fun hacks, made sure she sat up, heels down, soft hands etc. Used to do little exercises going round the woods for balance.

Try the pc website, sometimes the classified section has ponies for loan.
 
you could try a pony club centre for riders who dont own their own pony
http://www.brocksfarm.co.uk/id22.html

im still looking for something for my 5 years but cant afford to buy
Maybe you could share one with a few other parents with young children
i wouldnt get a pony for that age to grow into..its like giving a child a bigger bike to learn to ride and grow into they are more likely to fall off and wont beable to control it

if you do get a pony please post some pics
 
we just bought our R (same age as your R) an aged shetland. These ponies come up rarely, and always via word of mouth. We were incredibly lucky to have the oppotrunity to purchase him, as usually they are loaned out via the pony club.

He is quiet, a real kick along plod who can be handled by kids and is safe. He didnt cost us a fortune either (home was more important than price).

We were certain that R was pony mad enough to warrant this, but had we been uncertain we probably would have loaned.

In your situation i would loan him a small friendly pony and see how it goes...
 
You were very lucky to find you shetland,lovely looking guy
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I'm more or less sure he is pony mad enough to make it worth buying one BUT because he hasnt had the chance to be around them so far not completly sure-does that make sence? lol!
He spent an hour at bedtime chatting about horses because he saw some photos in PG
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Even IF (see,being good and not plotting what to get yet
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) I buy one,it wont be for a while.Fingers crossed we can get him some time around ponies and have him sit on them a couple fo times to see what he thinks.
 
Anima - what you need to do initially is find a person like me!!

Who has a small pony kept as a companion, so didn't ever want to sell him or loan him out, but used to happily take small kids out riding on him to get him out and about.

The last little girl we had started at 3yrs old as no RS in this area would take one so young. She wasn't interested in learning to ride as such, which was good as my Shettie is rather naughty once he gets going, but fab in walk and trot on the lead.

So she came and brushed the bits she could reach and me and her Mum did the rest and then we'd go out for walkies for an hour or 2.

She came weekly throughout the summer until she was nearly 7yrs old, then started at a RS.
 
YO has been told she won't sell her pony atm as lots of people are worried their kids will outgrow a pony and are 'waiting' for them to grow before buying them a pony/horse...
 
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Anima - what you need to do initially is find a person like me!!

Who has a small pony kept as a companion, so didn't ever want to sell him or loan him out, but used to happily take small kids out riding on him to get him out and about.

The last little girl we had started at 3yrs old as no RS in this area would take one so young. She wasn't interested in learning to ride as such, which was good as my Shettie is rather naughty once he gets going, but fab in walk and trot on the lead.

So she came and brushed the bits she could reach and me and her Mum did the rest and then we'd go out for walkies for an hour or 2.

She came weekly throughout the summer until she was nearly 7yrs old, then started at a RS.

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Where do you live? I'm moving next door
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Something like that would be ideal.Mind you,OH is pulling funny faces everytime I look at horsemart so worth pretending to look at least
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my nieceis now 6 and has been borrowing my YM's shetland for roughly a year now. depending on how big your son is if you can find a good shetland i have found this one to be great - he is quite a small and narrow one though, compared to the other ones i have seen the kids on at the local pony club. some of them are quite huge!
i think at her age (6) its fairly important she is able to carry out as many tasks as possible by herself or with limited help, and a shetland allows her to do this, she can change all his rugs herself, and is almost there with the tacking up. and can brush him and pick his feet out, lead him around etc.

I know inevitably she will grow too long for him soon but i think the unaiding practice she is able to have now is invaluable. And alot of people have said "if she can learn to ride a shetland she can ride anything!!" with there short stride to rise to and there cheeky ways i think that is a true statement!

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/vicki1986/ABI/abi7.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/vicki1986/ABI/P4170002.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/vicki1986/willow/april0812-1.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/vicki1986/willow/april082.jpg

However she is growing fast so i think i will have to buy her her own pony soon, and i can see your point its tempting to buy a slightly bigger pony for them to grow into rather than have to keep selling them on. I think it would be down to the individual ponies and how they go - my niece sometimes rides me 13.1, she can do a lovely rising trot to her longer stride but after half an hour she gets very tired and says her hands hurt bcos the mare leans and is heavy so is not a suitable bigger pony.
 
Hey there I have been thinking about this recently. My son is pony mad and rides my cob... who is of course far too big for him. I really would love something small and manageable for him but I am too worried that he would go off it and get into tractors or something and then I would be stuck with a tiny pony I could not bear to part with.

For some reason I think if I had a girl I would not be worried. Girls tend to be more pony mad I think...?
 
Oh yeah, and my mother loaned a shetland when I was about two years old. I dont remember riding it, but I do remember falling off ... a lot! I have vivid memories of the grass rushing up to meet my face. I want something safer than that for my son
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I've got Fred's pony on loan, partly becasue where I am, bombproof shetlands are like hens teeth! (sods law I sold a Perfect one about 2 years ago!!) I'll Buy him a pony if he decides he's really keen, but as he's only 1, i think it'll be a while! I'd recommed loaning as alot of people tend not to sell their beloved aged shetland, i'd also wait to buy something to grow into until she's a bit older, my mum did that everytime with me, & TBH it takes longer to get to grips with something when your legs are only just off the saddle flaps!!

Good luck
 
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