Child's pony stopping from trot - rider falls off

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hessy12

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Hi all,

We bought this lovely 16 yr old welshie 12.1 hh about 3 weeks ago. On lead rein she is Fab, no faults, apart from putting head down to eat grass, which we stopped by using grass reins. My two sons ride her, aged 7 and 9, she is their first pony and a real sweety. Super on hacks, not a nasty bone in her. She has taught lots of kids to ride and been loaned before.

However, she has a few times stopped from trot and obviously rider goes flying off over her head, then gets upset.

I got on after she did this with eldest boy - she did it with me! Needless to say am badly injured and wisely decided I am too big to ride her ever again. My instructor said i should ride her but i have to disagree!. We have weekly lessons and like i say, on lead, she is near perfect. I had her vetted prior to buying her, and she is in a lightweight synthetic saddle, her back is fine. She is a strong pony with a nice wide back, lovely conformation.

Questions! Is there any way we can discourage this stopping? I don't want the boys to use a crop on her as she is normally so good, BUT, nor do i want her to learn she can evict the boys so easily and they then lose confidence when they're doing so well thus far.

She tends not to do it on lead rope but obviously i want them off that when they are stronger riders. I thought it was just to get grass, but she cannot now get grass, and is maybe doing this stopping to get the rider off. The sellers warned us she would put her head down to get to grass, but never said she stopped so abruptly. It really is scary. Any hints or ideas I would be very grateful. Cookies and cream for reading through this far!
Thanks.
 
Hi,

Such a typical pony's way to de-rider themselves!! Has she only been doing it since the grass rein have been used? I take it when you say grass reins, you mean side reins that cross over the wither? Why not try a "Daisy Rein". It basically attches to the front of the saddle and runs along the top of the mane and attaches to the headpiece of the bridle. I think she may be putting up resistance to the grass reins.
 
Not all lead rein ponies are good for off the lead rein. It may be a case of keeping the lead rein on until your boys have enough balance to stay on, or enough strength to keep the pony moving. How about a cub saddle, with a handle, just for the boys to get used to it :)
 
Then, other than getting her back, teeth, tack checked, I would say its just her cheeky pony ways - Is there nothing else that happens or she does just before she stops?. I use to school one pony who would bolt round the school with beginners on!! She would try it with me, but instead of stopping her, I would push her on!! She soon learnt that actually bolting doesn't rid you of the rider, it makes you work more!!
I can only say your boys will have to learn to sit up, and when she does stop, get her going again. This may mean them holding short crop, and using it, just so she learns this stopping game isn't going to work.
You could lunge the boys, that way you can hopefully keep her going, if she does stop!
I really hope the Daisy Rein works!!
 
Sounds like she's being a cheeky pony and has learnt that by stopping the child will cry and not want to get back on so her working time is drastically reduced. Agree with the suggestion for the kids to sit up and keep their shoulders back when she's trotting and instead of buying a cub saddle you could loop a spare kids stirrup leather or flash strap through the saddle D rings for the kids to hold.

Another option is to find an experienced lightweight adult or another confident child rider who can ride the pony and if pony tries stopping with them they could hopefully stay on!

You could also try long reining her and use your voice/whip to encourage her on if she stops. May mean a lot of jogging for you unless you try it on a circle. Hope you sort the problem soon.
 
hessy12 said:
Hi all,



I got on after she did this with eldest boy - she did it with me! Needless to say am badly injured and wisely decided I am too big to ride her ever again. My instructor said i should ride her but i have to disagree!.

.
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You don't say how much you weigh but roughly speaking a 12hh pony 'could' carry around 11st or 12st - not for long periods, but for long enough to square up any problems.

I find it hard to swallow that you are happy to put your 7 and 9 year old boys on her, but not happy to get on her yourself!

I agree with other posters that you should put a daisy rein on her, give your boys something to hold onto and that they need to sit up straight. Also, the idea of getting a competent child or adult to ride her and move her on well when she tries to stop.

You haven't had her long and she is trying all the pony tricks in the book to get the better of you all. Get tough.
 
i weigh 8 st. am 5ft 5in. I was not happy to get on not because she is bad, but because my botty doesn't fit in saddle properly! and I feel very uncomfortable, being used to my lovely 15.3hh appaloosa! I rode her bare back and that was fine but not for trotting.
She looks ridiculous with me on as you can imagine!
Many, many thanks for all your suggestions, very much appreciated.
 
You don't live near King's Lynn do you? I know a fab adult rider who would (I think) be pleased to help you out and she's used to riding a small pony - as well as bigger ponies and horses. Let me know if you want to know more.
 
Mine used to do this as a youngster (he's 16.3hh). When I warmed up walking round he used to stop to scratch his nose and this then progressed onto doing it from trot. I never thought anything of it (thought he was just itchy )until my instructor pointed out that he was actually testing me in the walk to see how awake i was and I was letting him get away with it in walk which he then used in trot. He used to pretend he had an itchy leg/head. I never connected the 2 (doing it in walk then trot) and used to let him do it in walk but tell him off if he did it from trot.

To combat it, every time he stopped or even thought about stopping I'd be quick with my leg on and a quick tap with the whip to get him to move forward. Soon stopped it. Like mentioned before, as soon as he realised stopping when not asked meant he actually got hassled and sent forward he soon stopped it.
 
One of my horses used to stop dead from canter. That sent me flying up his neck to his ears if I was lucky. If I was unlucky I ended up flying through the air :( Never managed to cure it and he did it with everyone who rode him, no matter how good a rider they were. I sold him in the end (with a full and honest explanation of his behaviour) because I couldn't risk coming off again and I couldn't let anyone else ride him unless I paid them and they were made aware of the problem.

I hope you can get your pony's problem sorted out with the right trainer though.
 
Shame you're not closer to me- I'm about the same height and weight as you but used to riding ponies (I was always the person who would turn up at a hacking centre and be on a 13hh pony when their friends were on huge things!) so wouldn't feel out of place. I love naughty ponies :D

I would get your children to ride on a 20m circle and walk round the centre of the circle with a lunge whip which could gently be used to encourage the pony to carry on if you could see it's about to stop (like lunging but without the lunge line). Just warn them to sit up and not tilt forward in case you miss! Your children may then get used to the feeling as the pony is thinking about stopping and use a few 'pony club kicks', growl and maybe use of a crop? Make sure they are stable in the trot on the lead rein first though and pad them up as much as possible to if they do fall off it's not too bad and they aren't likely to get hurt (children are quite bouncy though anyway ;))

Obviously if you can find someone to get on the pony to try and break the habit first that's a lot better than the above idea!

Good luck :D
 
Ponies are such cuning little things!! As an instructor I would say keep them on the leadrein as long as poss. With our 8yr old son, we got round keeping him on the leadrein by doing ride and lead - so rides can be longer and faster, but you still have control (and they feel more independant). I would also say lunge them - until they have stronger seats and legs - the pony knows this is the problem... I always think that for the first few weeks with a new horse you are on "borrowed petrol" from the last owner, and then they start testing you. 3 weeks is not that long. Give them all time to get to know each other before you expect too much. A first pony is a big deal for them, and much harder than a school pony... Good luck.x
 
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