Help naughty show pony

[Msjpl]

My daughter has a new pony. Approx 5 months.
He’s really good most of the time however he’s starting to have quite a few naughty moments.
When he doesn’t want to do something he drops his head and backs up. This could be on a hack or at a show.
When hacking it’s mainly on the way home when he’s asked to stand its as if he’s thinking you have no chance an I standing here when we are nearly home..
At a show it’s mainly when he goes into the ring and you can see him thinking I don’t want to do this.
My daughter is only 9 so isn’t experienced in having to deal with this. He’s on a calmer to see if that helps and a instant calmer when needed.
All tack, back and teeth are all up to date. Nothing medically wrong with him at all it is genuinely him just being an absolute stubborn stroppy little s**t. We have put some balancing reins on him just to help her but it’s not making a difference with this issue. We have found previous for sale posts from the seller saying about him doing this but we wernt told about this issue so it defiantly something that’s been going on quite a while. Any suggestions would be greatly accepted. Thanks (new member)

 

[AdorableAlice]

What a shame for you and your daughter. Now you have found out that he was being awkward before you bought him, my thoughts would be to put him on a schooling/sales yard before your daughter gets either too fond of him or too petrified of him and get shot of him. Confidence is key and it takes very little to shatter the confidence of a child.

Probably not want you want to read, but if it was me in your situation he would be down the road without delay.

 

[Sossigpoker]

How small is the pony? Could you find a small adult to ride him and deal with these episodes?

 

[Suncat]

There's lots of reasonably straightforward options to sort out naughty behaviour, with a very good chance of success. And a nice, well behaved pony at the end of it. I'd suggest starting with finding a good, experienced instructor to work with your daughter and the pony; they should be able to assess the situation, work through a solution and make it a positive, learning experience for your little girl. If he can carry a small adults weight, a petite experienced adult might be another shout to school him out of the issue. Obviously only you can decide how bad his behaviour is, but on the page head down and backing up doesn’t' sound too dastardly?


Just because the previous owner didn't get it fixed doesn't mean it isn't fixable with a little effort, or that they even tried sensibly
And you little girl could learn a lot from seeing that horses aren't perfect and (as long as it’s safe and using good knowledge) we can learn and improve a lot together.

Best of luck x

 

[Msjpl]

How small is the pony? Could you find a small adult to ride him and deal with these episodes?

Pony is 13.1. This is what I’m thinking of doing but I didn’t know if it would help

 

[Msjpl]

There's lots of reasonably straightforward options to sort out naughty behaviour, with a very good chance of success. And a nice, well behaved pony at the end of it. I'd suggest starting with finding a good, experienced instructor to work with your daughter and the pony; they should be able to assess the situation, work through a solution and make it a positive, learning experience for your little girl. If he can carry a small adults weight, a petite experienced adult might be another shout to school him out of the issue. Obviously only you can decide how bad his behaviour is, but on the page head down and backing up doesn’t' sound too dastardly?


Just because the previous owner didn't get it fixed doesn't mean it isn't fixable with a little effort, or that they even tried sensibly
And you little girl could learn a lot from seeing that horses aren't perfect and (as long as it’s safe and using good knowledge) we can learn and improve a lot together.

Best of luck x

Thankyou for your reply. I have the option of a small adult and think I’ll give it a try. My daughter is quite gutsy and isn’t really scared of what he doing but I just don’t want it to escalate. Her naughty Shetland has given her a good seat but I just don’t want to her to get hurt. People who have seen it happening have all said he doesn’t look like he’s trying to get her off he’s just having a tantrum when he doesn’t want to do something

 

[jhoward]

Sounds like a typical pony taking the pee...cam daughter be a bit stronger in riding him forward?

Also you mention showing and the behaviour going towards home, perhaps pony is bored perhaps what he needs is a blast around a set of jumps and a good gallop where the pressure is taken off of him.

And daughter!

Is a beach ride a possible?

 

[Msjpl]

Sounds like a typical pony taking the pee...cam daughter be a bit stronger in riding him forward?

Also you mention showing and the behaviour going towards home, perhaps pony is bored perhaps what he needs is a blast around a set of jumps and a good gallop where the pressure is taken off of him.

And daughter!

Is a beach ride a possible?

Thankyou for the reply. She has a jumping lesson every week plus dressage clinics or Janie jumping on weekend. They do a lot together weekly.

 

[Winters100]

I'm afraid that children's ponies are an intelligent bunch, quite often too intelligent. The good thing is that your daughter is gutsy, so you have a good starting point. I would look for an experienced instructor / trainer who is lightweight enough to jump on and ask him to reconsider his opinions when necessary. You may well find out that the problem is solved more easily than you imagine. On the plus side a naughty pony can be a very good teacher. I had a 13.2 who had a whole myriad of ways to eject his rider when he got bored. I fell of a lot during the first year, but he taught me to ride rather than just sitting there!

 

[jhoward]

Thankyou for the reply. She has a jumping lesson every week plus dressage clinics or Janie jumping on weekend. They do a lot together weekly.

Perhaps these are some of the issues chances are pony has been ridden in the same way for years and is just bored and that's turning into what you are seeing as naughty.

Bit like trying to make a child sit and learn all the time.

 

[laura_nash]

It doesn't sound like he's being a "stubborn stroppy little sh*t" or "having a tantrum" and I personally find that anthropomorphic way of viewing things unhelpful. It sounds like he's learnt a handy tactic for getting his own way and is deploying it when asked to do something he doesn't want to do. Only logical from his point of view.

Lots of different ways to break the habit and a small adult to ride him or someone to work with your daughter from the ground would certainly be one way forward.

I'm very non-confrontational (as both me and my daughter are total wimps in the saddle!) so if it was me I'd start by teaching a really good solid stand still command on the ground, something I do with any new equine anyway, then extending that to under saddle, then try using that to break the habit when he starts backing up.

I suspect my old instructress would have just told me to grab the mane and then she'd have sent him on sharply with a lunge whip though (not suggesting you do this as haven't seen the pony and there is always a risk of escalating the behaviour if you confront it directly like that).

 

[windand rain]

Not always helpful to add an adult rider to the mix ponies are far too clever not to know when they have to behave and when someone cannot make them. Lunge lessons might work to re install compliance to voice commands and then the instructor can use those to send the pony forward again in my experience waving a whip or hitting from behind often makes them more backward

 

[maya2008]

With ponies, getting an adult or older child to school then doesn’t always work. They may be perfect for the older rider and still well aware that they can get away with things with the smaller one. However tall your nine year old, 13.1hh is quite big, and 9 year olds are not very strong physically. I have had two 13hh ponies and neither would have been suitable for a child under 12/13, until they were in their mid to late teens at least. Both had adult riders in their younger years as they preferred a rider who gave them direction and took control, then teens after they were aged 8 or so. Both were perfect for me once adults - never put a hoof wrong. Not so perfect for a smaller/weaker rider though!