Competent/confident novice? Beginner?

sidesaddlegirl

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Wigston, Leicestershire
www.sidesaddlegirl.co.uk
I know this has been done to death here but I am currently writing an ad for J (the 12 year old girl who helps me at my stables and rides the Old Mare) for her own pony and just want to be able to describe her ability honestly in the ad or to anyone who inquires.

J has never been formally taught in riding lessons only by my friend on her own ponies and then had stuff drilled in by me at my own yard.
She is a soft quite rider, quite nice hands as Hattie always seems to go into frame with J and not for me!!
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She started riding when she was about 9 and can:
-walk/trot/canter in a menage and out on hacks and has galloped on hacks as well.
-She can maintain her position at each of these gaits and control her mount as well (BUT she has only ever ridden saintly ponies!). She does not bounce at a trot but can rise correctly and keep her heels down.
-Has jumped little 18" jumps set up in the field and the odd log on hacks.
-Has ridden wappy Hattie side saddle at a walk a couple of times (had a nicer position than me..sigh..)
-Has hacked out bareback on the Old Mare.
-Rides quite regularly on the roads with me and understands signalling.
-Can muck out, poo pick, understands basic feeding, knows how to groom, fit and clean tack, saddle up correctly, is my own "groom" at shows, has cleaned clumsey Hattie's wounds for me, can lead a horse correctly.

I would trust her to take care of my chickens, Hattie and the Old Mare if I couldn't do it for one reason or another and she has in the past when i've had an emergency (she's never on her own at the stables- her dad or mum is there if I'm not but there not horsey). I trust her when she has cleaned out Hattie's numerous wounds and I trust her to make up the correct feeds.

Soooo, would she be a beginner since she's never had lessons? Competant beginner? Novice?

I don't want to overhorse her but also want to be honest about her ability to any potential loaners.
 
Cmpetent novice for sure - she sounds better than me + my mare's quite tricky!

Most kids who've gone through formal lessons for the same amount of time wouldn't have experienced nearly the same amount.

Hopefully she's small enough still to enjoy a pony + she can go off and enjoy something that is maybe a little more sprightly than a saint but not a terror.
 
I don't think that lessons has anything to do with it (never have done)....when it comes to a pony or a happy hacker, as long as they can deal with any eventuality I'd say competent novice. I've seen 'great' dressage riders poo themselves on hacks in the past ;-)
 
Sounds like a cracking kid! Need more like that around, a lot of kids can't ride these days! You should get her out competing
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Sounds like she's a competent, confident novice, like you first suggested on your OP.
 
Thanks for the input guys!

I'm meeting with her mum and dad tomorrow evening to "number crunch" to prepare them for the financial aspect of loaning a pony (vets's bills, feed, wormers, farrier) as like I said, they are not horsey so I want to make sure they are in this for the long haul before I go out and find J a pony.

She would like to start competing (she likes dressage and side saddle) would like to start doing an Intro A test , some little gymkhanas and very low clear round jumping but the Old Mare can't handle those things anymore and Hattie being a TB, can be a bit sharp and I think would be too much horse for her to handle just yet in a tense show situation.
She's a normal sized 12 year old, not tall like I was at that age and not tiny but certainly not too tall for a 14- 14.3 even through her teenage years (heck, I'm 5'9" and had a 14.1 on loan for a couple of years!).

So hopefully, I'll be able to find her something.
 
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