Do your Children share your passion?

EffyCorsten

EffyCorsten

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Hi everyone.
I don’t have any children yet but I’m really interested in if your kids share your love for horses or are completely uninterested in them?
I like the idea of having kids and them enjoying the horses as much as I do but I think my husband is already worried about pony club/lessons and competing in the distant future! :D
How do you slot in their hobby as well as your own?
Did you actively encourage them into it or discourage at all?
Also does anyone have kids who are allergic? How do you manage?
I’m not looking for arguments over different parenting styles just a nice interesting thread!
 
All of my kids have been brought up around horses. They could sit on them before they were 2. I have never pushed them into having one but i think because they have accompanied me to shows and things they just sort of fell into having a pony then horse. As for the shows i just went earlier to the unaff ones and they did their class in the morning and i did mine in the afternoon. My eldest son found girls and nights out which is when he stopped riding, my daughter is in the Army and still has her horse and rides and competes for the Army too. My youngest son is 11yrs and has decided he wants to spend more time with his rugby than owning and competing his pony (which is a shame as its a fantastic lil 14.2H) but its all part of kids growing up. You may end up with a kid who has no interest what so ever in horses. I'd stop stressing and just cross that bridge when you get to it. Family has its own way of just falling into place.
 
That all sounds like a lot of fun! I don't stress about it I look forward to having kids and introducing them to my world. I don't mind if they end up hating horses or being completely mad on them :)
 
my eldest shares my passion for horses but I am not allowed to spend any time with her so we share a passion but not at the same time in the same location! she is 17 and hates her mum, hopefully she will get over it and we can be closer as she gets older-I have stopped beating myself up about it (currently)

my youngest says she does not like horses and does not ride, but if you get her within 50ft of one she will be grooming and fussing-she is scared of them and not ready to overcome that fear-maybe she will maybe she wont, time will tell, she rode till she was about 12
 
My son isn't really interested. He likes the horses, and refers to Spike as "his", but he hasn't ridden in years, and would rather stay at home than come to the yard - especially in winter!

I don't mind at all - I like my horse time!
 
Yes they do:) My Daughter who is 7 has been in the saddle since she was 3 1/2 ... She is horse crazy. Spends more time at the yard than she does at home, doesn't matter what the weather is like lol.. He passion is speed & jumping lol... She loves nothing more that hooning around the field at a flat out gallop with her friend and also loves to compete in Show Jumping... Couple pics below - she even went hunting for the first time this year & has been bitten by the bug!!!

My Son is 3 1/2 and he is much more into messing about in the muck at the yard but loves leading horses into their stable & adores being allowed to hose their legs.

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Our first time out competing together

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My daughter does share an interest but I wouldn't say it was an all-consuming passion at the moment. During the winter she only rides once in the week and both weekend days but is understandably a lot keener in the summer. She first sat on a pony aged 2 and has had her own since she was 5. it is lovely to be able to spend quality time with her, however I have never pushed her into competing. I think she's been to about 4 shows in total (2 dressage and 2 jumping) in the last 4 years. Like showpony's daughter her passion is also for speed and jumping - the higher the better!! Personally I would like to keep her on the lead rein til she is about 15 lol

ETA @Twiggy2 I have sent you a PM
 
Auslander said:
My son isn't really interested. He likes the horses, and refers to Spike as "his", but he hasn't ridden in years, and would rather stay at home than come to the yard - especially in winter!

I don't mind at all - I like my horse time!
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exactly my situation,i had dreams of my daughter (14) when she was younger doing lead rein classes etc...but nope,just not interested,she will occasionly come to yard with me in the summer but that's it,my sone has probs forgot what the horsey looks like!
 
My daughter showed no interest whatsoever until she was 11 when she asked me to learn how to ride out of the blue. I was thrilled and we now share our interest. I did wonder at first whether she was riding for me as she is so nervous sometimes and appears not to enjoy it at all on occasion. but she insists that she loves horses and riding but just gets nervous. I did use to take her with me to muck out some horses when she was 3 or 4 and she used to get stuck in but i never put her on a horse or encouraged her to until she asked me. It is scary watching her though, especially when a riding school horse she was riding took off with her out on a hack and there was ****** all i could do to help :( never felt so helpless since the day she was born! overall, i'm thrilled that she rides especially as her dad (now my ex) hates the fact :)
 
scheherazade said:
My daughter does share an interest but I wouldn't say it was an all-consuming passion at the moment. During the winter she only rides once in the week and both weekend days but is understandably a lot keener in the summer. She first sat on a pony aged 2 and has had her own since she was 5. it is lovely to be able to spend quality time with her, however I have never pushed her into competing. I think she's been to about 4 shows in total (2 dressage and 2 jumping) in the last 4 years. Like showpony's daughter her passion is also for speed and jumping - the higher the better!! Personally I would like to keep her on the lead rein til she is about 15 lol

ETA @Twiggy2 I have sent you a PM
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Replied-Thank You
 
My son and daughter both started riding when they were about 9. i bought a shettie for my daughter when she was 4 and she landed up in stinging nettles and said she would never ride again . A few years later my son took the pony on and started PC , daughter soon got bored and took the shettie on when my son moved to a bigger pony. They are 17 and 15 now and my weekends are spent taxiing them round with their equines. I love it , I was never much good myself and drive the shettie now but they love it . I am glad they love it and enjoy the time we spend together. Funny enough there was a happy birthday on facebook today and it was for the older sister of one of the pc kids. I didnt even know she existed until today. the younger one rides and so does mum so that was all I had seen .
Must be hard when one does and one doesnt. Mine do different disciplines and we just share the weekends and competitions around.
 
I've got one who does and one who doesn't!

They are now 19 and 17 and the older one has a horse who I ride too. She always was far more keen that the younger one. They started having lessons when they were about 7 and 9 and got their first pony when they were about 11 and 9. The younger one gave up after about 3 years when she was 12 or so. And she went back to gymnastics.

So saturday were spent with me taking one daughter to gym club and my OH taking the other daughter to the hunt!

Younger one will ride say once every 5 or 6 months and will come back beaming and having really enjoyed it, but is happy not to go again for another 5 months, and she is definitely a summer riding person!

Older one finds that A levels and part time pub job get in the way of time she would rather spend with her horse!
 
Should have also said that my daughter has never been pushed into it at all... Im supportive but not fussy.. Ive a busy competition season ahead so we will have to be super organised about planning her outings but am sure we will figure it out
 
My daughter and I share our passion of horses, she is a far better rider than me (all the time, money & effort went into her lessons, competing etc, as it should)! Am reaping the rewards now though as she is away at Uni and we are sharing her competition horse.

I spend the week pretending to school him and then she comes home and shows me how its done properly lol. I do get a fantastic lesson of her though.

It has over the years been the subject of furious rows, tears and laughter, I know my daughter would not have it any other way, neither would i . I recall times when I have had to remove her from her pony during a competition, take her round the back of our trailer and have stern words for being a brat and so many times when I have cried because I am so proud of her.
 
Bit bored in work so thought id reply from a childs perspective!!!

ITS ALL MY MUMS FAULT! ALL OF IT!!!! :D

My mum got me and my sister into horses, my older sister started riding at about 5 and i started at about 7. My mums first ever pony was one for me and my sister to share... which lasted all of about 6 months before she dully realized nope we needed one each!! She never had one as a kid so when we out grew ours she stole him!! both of us have progressed up the sizes starting from 12.2... my mum didnt do shetlands!! and now both own whopping big 17hhs!! slightly different routes thou my sister got up to advanced med dressage whereas i prefer hooning around the country eventing or playing polo! both of us managed 8 yrs + in PC thou!

sadly thou both my mum and my sister are losing interest... mum still hacks out her old man and my sister hops on when she feels like it (bit of a waste of her lovely warmblood but heyho!) so its just me wanting to be out and about every weekend, im hoping to event my youngster once he recovers from his injury, im also hoping maybe i can get a bit of interest back into my mum if she fancy grooming for me.. its looking doubtful thou she would rather stay at home than join me in the cold.. god knows why!! :D

so i guess my mum kinda lived her dream/hobby through us as she never got to do it herself as a youngster... she did BD various horses over our PC years thou so still competed but shes a bit like my sister... they like the confines of an arena!!! :D
 
Thanks everyone, really interesting. I wish my mum was interested then we might spend more time together!
That's one thing that I always seem to see with horsey families, they do a lot together which is lovely.
 
my daughter is 4 and sort of interested we have a pony at home who is too big at 13.2 but she enjoys riding him up the lane on LR and doing fun games but only really once a week or so, I ask her if she wants to ride and she may say yes or no which is fine by me. she does like mucking out though ! one of my 2 yr old twin boys is obsessed though and cries to go down to the yard all the time and will sit on pony for ages and spend ages brushing him, but he adores all animals and has a huge affinity with them. his twin brother is more like his sister - likes them but can take it or leave it. not sure how I am going to make this work !!
 
alex2601 said:
thought id reply from a childs perspective!!!
ITS ALL MY MUMS FAULT! ALL OF IT!!!! :D
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Totally agree!!! If she hadn't sat me on that pony when I was 2 1/2 my parents wouldn't have spent ££££'s on horses for me over the years! If anything I've ended up far far more 'horsey' than her as she hasn't ridden for years while I'm off out competing etc! I'll be getting her back on soon enough though!

I never got pushed...I fact I was thoroughly discouraged! But really it's all ived ever lived for and it is nice when your parents really love what you do!
 
funnily enough it was my daughter who got me back into riding after a 25 year break. She had been going through a tough time when she was about 8 years old, after my divorce, and a counsellor told me I needed to do something that was just her and me. I asked her what she wanted to do and she said horseriding. After taking her to a few lessons I got hooked again. However, as a child I was horse MAD and spent every waking moment at the stables, happy as long as I was within sight, sound & smell of a horse even if I couldnt ride (we could only afford lessons infrequently). Polly can take it or leave it. I wonder if that's because she has had it all handed to her on a plate - her own horse (I had to wait until the age of 43 for mine!) - or maybe because its a bit offputting having your mum around most of the time. But we have fun together and thank goodness she does ride or I'd have to spend more time shopping! :)
 
My girls are 8 and 10 and pony crazy. They have been riding 2.5 years. We started off with one pony and now they have one each on loan.

That allows me to indulge my passion after a very long break. Should add that 8 year old is fearless and now jumps higher than I am prepared to!

We spend an inordinate amount of time at the yard and they gave a great - outdoors - social life there.

I know I am lucky - Nothing beats riding out across the fields with them both on a summer's morning :-)
 
My daughter had her first pony aged 1 week(ok ok she wasnt riding then lol ) and grew up with ponies around her. Now aged 24 living in Aussie she still has that same love that same passion as me living amongst them and loaning the most beautiful ex racer..But her childhood was fun. No pressure and we both have wonderful memories :)
 
My now 10 yr old daughter didn't show much interest until she was about 8 even though we had my mare and various little ponies that she could ride at home since she was 2 yrs old. Ended up giving up getting her to ride or show an interest and sold pony. strangely enough it was my 16yr old 15.1hh very shy mare that really got my daughter interested at around 8 as they seemed to bond and my mare was so gentle with her, would let her catch her and groom and pick out her feet. I told my daughter that if she got up and fed my horse every day for a month and helped poo pick without complaining every weekend I would consider getting her a pony. And she did it! I think the turning point was when she could actually do stuff herself rather than being on lead rein or always having an adult to help pick out feet etc.

She is now besotted with horses and we hack out and do the horses together every day (although I do get some me horsey time when she is at school!) She will quite happily bring in, feed, sort rugs out, pick out feet, muck out etc the three horses all on her own. She started PC last year but I think both of us find the competitiveness of it all a bit draining. We get to spend some lovely special times together (although can argue horribly when she thinks she knows it all!). My riding has taken a real back seat now, I am just there as her hacking companion, trailer driver, groom, general dogsbody ... But I love doing that and I get more satisfaction from watching her grow as a rider than if I was competing!
 
My sons have grown up with my ponies. My eldest loves it, in fact his first word was "Benji" (my pony). He was helping to muck out at 13/14 months old when Benji had serious injury. I show at local level and he used to cry when I was in the ring as he wanted to be with me. At four years old he wanted to start riding so I thought it was time to look for a pony for him. We got a little 11.1 20yo NF mare for him to cut his teeth on. He used to take her in child handler classes, lead rein and loved it. Sadly she was PTS due to cushings last year and we purchased one (I was naughty, hubby said we were supposed to be loaning but I got my way!) for him. I've been told I'm not allowed to go in the ring with him any more as he can do it all by himself.

He's a great help down the field and yard. When hubby gets roped into feeding if I'm at work it's William that tells him which ponies need feeding what etc. He's very confident around our ponies and he's keen that my lovely unbroken 4yo mare will be his, I think NOT. He spots if they are lame or got a cut and knows what we should do. I think it's great and long may it continue. My youngest likes being with them and occasionally wants a ride but I'm not pushing him at all.

It's lovely going out for a ride together across the forest.
 
My kids all learned to ride from a very early age but gradually gave up the elder boy did enjoy doing the ponies and loved the breeding side dealing with the foals stallion and the little mares. He wasnt so keen on the big ones. the other two both liked to sit on the pony when they felt like it and still will although they are grown ups now and I have two granddaughters who if they lived nearer would ride Hazel all day everyday. She is a 13.2 Highland and as wide as she is tall but they love her She is very gentle and they are extremely nervous I am not wholly convinced if Hazel wasnt around that they would ride anything else though so I hope she toddles along for a lot of years yet She is 19 this year
 
My mum started me off, it was her passion as a child but could only have riding lessons once she got a job, then she got married and had lots of kids. Me, my step sister and younger sister all wanted ride age 6,8 and 9 so we started having lessons and so did mum. Then we got one pony to share between 4 of us!! Shortly after followed another pony on loan, then a youngster for mum to bring on (which ended up being my 2nd pony to bring on) mum never really got back into things properly. For a while she would take me to pc (sisters weren't as all-consuming passionate as I was) but once I was old enough to ride out on my own she gradually took a back seat, then stopped altogether for a few years. She decided to get back into it a couple of years ago but she only rides once every few months and I look after the horse. I definitely overtook her in the horsiness! It's not always fun and games, there have been some very trying times but we've come to a point where I try not to let it bother me and she ignores the horse....
 
My two girls showed very little interest for years, the eldest had more fun with a whole herd of plastic my little ponies than the real live horses at the yard! They both had the occasional ride on a friend's pony but that was about it. Trips to the yard were greeted with huge amount of whinging unless there were big puddles to jump in! In fact, the thing that held their interest the most was the enormous muck heap which they called "poo mountain" and liked to spend ages climbing it.
Then I met my o h and moved to his farm when my girls where 7 and 9. He has a very horse mad then 8 year old daughter who was desperate for a pony. We bought a little Welsh sec a mostly to keep my Tb company. All of a sudden my two became very keen on horses mostly because their new step sister was so into them. As a result we ended up with 2 more ponies (one pony to three kids dosent work!).
I now have 3 horsey daughters! My o h says I should have been careful about what I wished for, I all ways wanted the girls to share my love of horses and riding but now all 3 of them do I struggle to find time to ride myselft! They are all quite novice so need a lot of help, it is getting easier as they progress though.
My main problem is that they are hugely competitive against each other. They all want to be the best rider and if one achieves something then the other two aren't happy until they have too! It can be quite fraught! I shouldn't complain though, the four of us have a great time together with the ponies, especially now I've got through to them that after a ride they don't just vanish indoors leaving me holding 3 ponies complete with all their tack!
 
Both OH and I had horses at home, I was competing more so we got a potentially useful pony on loan as a companion for his when I was out gadding on mine and mini just grew up around him...she loved her little wheelbarrow and used to throw shavings all over the place, rode when she wanted to, sometimes didn't for a month. She turned competitive around the age of 7, I blame mounted games :) she had a whale of a time for 3 years, he rgames pony could jump a bit as well, (couldn't afford two!) and the rest is history. she's now 13, has her own young 15hh mare who she hopes to event but mare is off the roqd again for a few weeks so we are wheeling out 20 year old 14.1 Heidi again for her to have fun on in the meantime. Heidi's mine, we bumble around the lanes to keep her fit.
 
I used to compete fairly seriously up until my son was born and still did a little until his horsey activities took over. He grew up with horses as part of his everyday life so hasn't really had time without them. As a tiny tot he rode as and when he wanted and enjoyed doing lead rein classes at local shows on our riding school ponies. He progressed on to having his own small ponies and doing just about everything he could with them including lots of PC activities. Once on to 14.2hh's things became more serious and he was competing his own and several other ponies in affiliated show jumping alongside PC activities. When he moved onto horses he initially show jumped but then turned more to eventing. He kept this up throughout uni even though he was 400 miles away and I kept the horses going at home.

However things have definitely slowed down now, he works in the equestrian industry as an EDT but has far less time and inclination to ride and compete. The horses are a youngster and one at pre novice level so there's no requirement for 3 day event type fitness and the ex 2* is now my play thing and the other is ridden by a friend and son's fiancee. I don't know how much he'll want / be able to do in future but I think are days of eventing two horses seriously are long gone although perhaps in years to come there'll be a grandchild who wants to ride - we do still have son's first pony here after all!
 
My daughter started riding at 4. Had a pony on loan at 9 and got her first pony at 13. She loves it and is looking into equine courses for when she leaves school this year. My son is older and whilst he loves the horses doesn't ride. My daughters loan pony re-ignited my love of horses (I gave them up to have the children) and just before she got her pony I got mine! We spend a lot of time together and usually hack out together. I groom for her at shows and likewise she does for me. I have never pushed her, its always been what she wanted to do.
 
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