i need to toughen up to loan my pony out

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riding_high

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i have an amazing little 12.2hh pony that is just backed and ridden away, he is too small for me and my kids aren't really into the riding as such so i have to think about loaning him out.
someone showed interest in him and i felt quite sick at the thought of him going to a new home!!! so that fell through, i need to write up ads for him but every time i write an ad i either give so much detail or i delete them because deep down i don't want him to go anywhere BUT i can't keep him unless i have a small rider that is not a nervous or novice rider.
i also want him to stay at present yard and i know that is tricky for alot of people wanting a pony on loan so how the heck do i advertise him honestly, keep him at present yard AND toughen myself up to letting him go???

please also bear in mind a year ago i would have been happy with a fiver for him! lol. he's changed so much in the last year and enjoys going out exploring that i've really bonded with him, he's won me over in a big way these days but his stable mate is doing my head in unlike a year ago he could do no wrong!

ponies should come with a health warning, they are addictive and make you indecisive! lmao :D
 
How about advertising for a jockey for him first? Theres plenty of capable young riders out there who's family just don't have the funds or may not be able to offer 24/7 commitment, that way you still get to keep care of him and he gets exercised.

Not the easiest to find I'll add and it may take a while to find the right person but it sounds from your post like you really don't want him out on loan!
 
in an ideal world i wouldn't want to part with him but he enjoys having something to do so much that i think he would get bored just sat in a field, him and boredom are a bad combination! lol

with the right home and an understanding jockey he will do so well and i will be proud to watch him but i'm hesitant because of the struggle me and him had to get this far. but the idea when i got him was to always loan him out it's just that i've got very attached to him. damn ponies! lol

i did think about breaking him to harness but i don't think he would 'enjoy' it like he does the ridden side of things, also i don't think his mentality would accept the harness.

my other pony will be broken to ride and drive once he's learnt what breaks are.
 
Contact the pony club DC. Pony may be offered great home maybe not at present yard - however once it has established itself as pony club pony then you should have a stream of great homes on offer for life??
 
my YO knows alot of people in the pony club so may do a couple of adverts for her to show people.
the problem is that any advert is either OTT or half heartedly done! lol
 
Put an ad on PC website or get someone you know to put the word out. My rather difficult pony (IMO) was put out on loan twice for various reasons (one when I was working abroad for 6 mths, the other time I can't remember). He went to a family friend's daughter the first time who was just sort of out of riding school - i thought he'd put her off for life! However, I think that little bit of not being worried (ie not having the life experience of ponies) helped them as they didn't anticipate anything going wrong and, funnily enough it didn't - he was still a bit naughty (plunging etc) but they coped.

2nd time he went to a more competitive kid (about 12/13 I think she was), bear in mind he's a full up 14.2hh powerful, quirky oddball (lol) she did really well as took him to PC, did XC etc etc (he was scarily fast x-country but was beter to just be let to get on with it - cue having a fearless kid on). She was very very upset when she had to give him back (i think she liked having a 'naughty', stunning pony to show off with) becaue her mum had got her a showjumper on loan as that's what she wanted to do and sadly my silly pony was not consistent (showjumping scared him so he'd either jump at 100mph or not start at all - no ideal for PC SJing teams)

So, i guess the point of my post is - you will be surprised how well loans to decent kids go. At that size he needs to be a kids pony and give kids those memories. I think we all will remember those 1st ponies we had or rode won't we.

Plus, wuth little ponies like this, you could just keep on a continuous 'loop' of homes through a PC. Go on, do it!
 
If you genuinely have no use for him and he has ability I would find him a good PC home. I had a cracking little 12.3hh NF gelding from weaning, he came free as a companion, he was meant to be sold once they'd been gelded/or after being broken depending on turnout arrangements. He was with me until he was 9yrs old and completely wasted as he was too small for me, he would be taken out of the field to give my friends kids rides, that's all. Still annoyed with myself that I held onto him for so long :mad::mad:

Anyway, a friend had had a string of disastrous and dangerous loans for her 3 children so I offered her my lad and explained that he was broken at 4 but had done nothing since so would need some time taken to get him going. Well, after 6 months he was off at PC camp and is a jumping superstar. All 3 of her kids ride him, the eldest outgrew him 2 years ago but still prefers jumping him to his bigger pony :D Apparently the kids fight over him, he's been there for 6 years now and they're happy, I'm happy and, most importantly of all, he's happy because he has a 'life' and gets to go on lots of days out and holidays!

I do appreciate that I was lucky for him to go to people that I know and trust but here are others out there, it may just take a little while to find them. Good luck.
 
I also have a small pony and after a disasterous spell being used in the riding school where I liveried at, I got a sharer. This was a fantastic arrangement. What I wanted was for someone to give her love and attentiona nd ride 3 times a week. The girl that ended up sharing did that and more. She would be there 5 days a week, woudl poo pick, muck out tack clean groom, even get the pony and my other horse in groomed and tacked up ready to hack out with me after work!! This arrangement went on in various forms (school work depending) from when the sharer was 11 to when she left for university. Pony then went on loan, and two rubbish loan homes later is back with me.

Its really hard to find a good loan home - both the ones I found appeared to be ideal and neither were, The pony is excellent in every way but still they were hopeless.

At least with the sharer you can keep and eye out and also have someone to hack with, or bring in of an evening if you are working late or whatever. You can also teach them all of your own wierd and wonderful ways!
 
Tell me about it! I acquired a little 11.2 welshie 6 weeks ago, a sort of bogof offer I couldn't resist. I took him home intending to sell him and pay towards a new saddle for the mare I had bought.

Well, 6 weeks down the line and I adore the little darling! He is quite the best pony I have ever owned, but is useless to me in that my child is now a grown adult. A friend's daughter has been taking him to do pc stuff, and he is brilliant at everything, little ears pricked all the time, done xc, sj, games, hacking, and I adore him.

Saw a wanted ad on the pc website and replied to it, giving lots of info, and they got back to me asking for photos, and I have yet to reply to them because now I don't want him to go. Hopeless, aren't we :)
 
thanks for the replies and your own stories, its nice to know i'm not alone! lol

i will try and get some video/pics of him tomorrow so you can see what i mean about him!
there is an advert in the local trade it asking for a pony that is confident but they dont mind youngsters so long as they don't nap, rear or buck etc so it might be worth phoning them and seeing what they say, they seem to want to do showing as well as PC stuff.

the worst thing/fear for me is that he will go to a home and get smacked for doing something wrong when in fact i've honestly never had to smack him for anything other than bullying his stable mate (double barrelling him!), if he doesn't do something then it's simply because he doesn't understand and if you show him then he just goes "ahhh that's what you want, why didn't you say?" lol
i also think if he was smacked he would come back at you with a vengence, not because he's nasty but he just doesn't take 'bullying'.
 
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