Following on from the other ride and lead post

[jens]

I have a long striding 14hh fell pony and a 12hh welsh who is short striding and slow!

Pony really doesnt get enough exercise being my 3yr old daughters, and i dont get too much chance to ride him myself. I have often thought about ride and lead but didnt think i could make it work with such different ponies.

Any suggestions on how to get me started??

Can it work with all horses or do they need to be suited stride wise?? The fell is the boss in the field. Would this cause problems??

 

[Tickles]

I've seen it done from either little ones or big ones of the pair where they didn't match (by even more of a gap than your two). Fine in walk and trot although sometime the little one will jog a bit to keep up.

Usually the best behaved is lead unless they're both good in which case usually the smaller/slower is lead.

Lead rein through bit rings clipped to far side. Usually start off with both ridden next to each other before ride & lead with both ridden then finally normal ride & lead. As your daughter is so young maybe see if you could get a hand from someone else to ride your pony whilst you start off as a passenger on your daughters?

 

[3Beasties]

I ride a 16.2 TB and lead a 12hh Section A. She keeps up really well in all paces.

Maybe try in an enclosed space at first to see how it goes?!

 

[sonjafoers]

I replied to the original post as I ride & lead twice a week. One of my mares is a 14.2hh cob and she is the boss of the field, the other is a 15.3hh tb and she is the very bottom of the herd so they are not exactly well matched - however it works well whichever one I ride and we can canter across the moors together without any problem.
I am no expert on this and just did it by biting the bullet really, I know a lot of people lead from a bridle but I always keep the horse being lead in a headcollar, just in case there is an emergency & I have to let go - I don't want flapping reins causing a problem. I would also recommend wearing gloves just in case you get the odd pull from the lead one stopping, and always keep the one being lead on the left especially on roads - you have more control over the one being ridden so you want this one traffic side.
Other than that just give it a go, it really is great once everyone gets used to it. Good luck!

 

[_April_]

I've taken a 7h shetland round the field on my 15.2 TB with no problems.

The little guy just has to jog to keep up but the whole point in it was to exercise him anyway!


I agree with sfoers - I use a headcollar as I would just let the shetland go if there was a problem - I've only gone round the fields though, not on roads.