Daughter's pony - to sell or not to sell?

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mummblesmum

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Hi all
Apologies in advance for the long post.
I have a dilemma on my hands. Hope some of you can help me see the options open to me.
My daughter (just turned 11 but small for her age) has a 9 year old 13.1hh Sec C, darling little pony which she has had for almost 4 years – which we bought as her first pony. Up to now she has been absolutely perfect for her. She mostly does PC stuff but her passion is showjumping. She has done all the mini teams, camp, rallies etc at PC with great success. This pony is a diamond. Daughter can go to the yard herself. Tack up, do everything herself and hack out with her friends round the farm tracks and I never worry about her. But over the last few months she has been getting more frustrated with her pony because she can be slow/lazy and she wants to do slightly bigger showjumping classes. She has this summer found herself in the position where at a lot of the local shows she does not really qualify for the minimus type classes so the first class she can officially jump are the 2’6” classes in which sometimes they do ok but sometimes not! Quite often we will not go to a show as there is only one class that she could enter, which would usually be novice – intermediate seems to be beyond pony (and possibly rider) capabilities.
I have got a new BHSAI instructor (who comes highly recommended) coming this week to help improve things but I suppose my dilemma is:
1. do we sell pony to a family starting out in PC etc (daughter and I really don’t want to do this and we cry every time we think about it:o) and get something slightly more speedy and eager to jump higher;
2. do we have pony schooled by a professional – we do school her with lots of transitions etc trying not to let pony become dead to the leg, back up leg with whip – but perhaps it would be more successful with someone more experienced and with better and stronger aids;
3. do we leave well alone for a while and just see how it goes with new instructor;
Daughter is too small to move onto a 14:2hh I would say – unless it was a pushbutton type and from what I have been looking at, they are like rocking horse ***.
Also how do you know if a pony has scope to go higher showjumping? She seems to have a limit but perhaps that could be my daughter or a combination of the two.
Sorry for rambling on so long but I just cannot decide what to do and keep changing my mind‼
 
It's worth checking with someone who's seen the pony if it can be improved. But generally ime first ponies are first ponies & don't always have it in them to progress. Being a good first ridden is something that is just in them.
If instructor thinks schooling on isn't an option then I would give your daughter the choice. Either to keep & not progress, or part with him & move on. If its possible, preferably loaning, at least at first, rather than selling so its not too sudden if that's her choice. Also genuine ponies like yours go quickly, so I imagine he'd be easy to loan or sell. And fizzy second ponies are much more abundant, so loaning one for her should be possible.
If she's a competent rider, another option could be keep him & pick up rides. Tiny but competent jockeys are always in demand. Not saying its easy to get rides on top ja ponies for free, but certainly normal everyday stuff. My childs always being offered small fizzy ponies to ride. She's 7 & got about 18mnths before she outgrows her 11.1. There's no way she'll even consider loaning, so as a result will move onto my very easy schoolmistress 14.2. Who's perfect, except for height restrictions for comps/shows. We've already been offered free rides on a few smaller ones without even asking about. Not top class comp ponies, but certainly ones who'll be fine for local stuff.
 
I'd suggest maybe loaning yours out and loaning another one? It gives her a feel for something more capable. She may find the pony is in fact just what she wants and anything faster etc is too much. Personally I wouldn't push the pony too much with schooling etc as you may find it backing off everything.
 
I think the pony sounds like a gem and it would be a shame to push her. She'll give someone else a lot of pleasure, so loaning her or selling her to a friend with a smaller jockey would be ideal.

Your daughter will fall in love with the new pony as long as you take your time to find her something a bit more forward but still sensible. It's a good lesson in letting go for her, even though there will be many many tears :0(
 
Hold fire for a few weeks, let instructor form an opinion of them and then bring up your concerns with them - see what they think..

Our 13.2 pony was a bit like that - he was a total superstar and won everything up to 2'9, then he would say no, which I always thought was fair enough. He had been honest as can be at the height he was happy with, and was telling us that was his limit.. We sold him onto another little girl, who is now loving him to bits as we did. I've loaned loads over the year (both sides of the coin - ours out and other people's ourselves). I wouldn't loan again really. I think ponies are always slightly better bought - people try harder with them.. Loan ponies always seem to get passed around more, which can't be nice for them. Unless they are staying at your yard, which is even harder to do!
 
I would see what the instructor says. Although you say you're schooling her, you might not be doing the right things to get the full potential out of the pony and the instructor should be able to help with this.
Or what about trying different kinds of jumping classes - WH or XC jumping? Or try out jumpcross/TREC, etc. That way your daughter can still jump but be starting off at a lower level again so not be frustrated (and the pony might excel at a different discipline).
 
If your daughter has genuinely outgrown her pony's capabilities, which can happen obviously, then there is no reason why her next pony has to bigger, just more capable. Moving up to 14.2 locally can mean she will be competing with adults on small horse/ponies.
 
Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I don't really want to loan her out as for a start if she comes back for any reason I wouldn't have anywhere to put her.
I think it is worth giving it a few more weeks with the new instructor to see what she thinks and go from there.
We have tried cross country but she still didn't speed up any - just her safe steady self all the way round :)
 
I suspect that your pony will be restricted in her jumping ability as it seems that her great talent is to be so safe and confidence building which rarely comes with the ability to be a jumping pony. i would see if your daughter could get some rides on ponies who are bigger or the same height but with more jumping ability and see how she feels on something with more whizz and jump compared to her own super pony whos talents are in a different area. Whatever you then decide is between you your daughter and your instructor but if you do decide to sell there would be a long queue of people looking for a pony like yours :)
 
I'd either sell / loan and move your daughter up.

First riddens are worth their weight and gold and I'd be careful not to ruin on by asking for more than its willing to give - especially when ponies normally give everything they have so readily anyway.

As someone has already said, small, confident jockies are in high demand. I know so many people who struggle to find Little Lionhearts to pair with their equally brave ponies.
 
We are in Kent. I might mention around that we are looking for something. The trouble is I don't think she has actually ridden anything whizzy and she might not actually like it as much as she thinks she will😄
 
Your pony would probably be very easy to sell or loan, so I would suggest a change over period, where she has something fizzier to ride, as she will quite possibly not like it, before commiting to getting rid of yours, and getting something else. Wizzy ponies are about on lwvtb, as they need to be matched to the right home. My 14.2 goes out on loan, and hasn't been advertised for any bar his first home, always goes via word of mouth, so I suspect your pony, who sounds very similar would do the same!
 
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