Modern Obsession with putting kids on bigger and bigger ponies/horses

Im 16 and still going round on my 14.1hh - well I would be if he wasnt very ill at the moment. Being only 5ft2 and not even 7st I dont think I could hold together anything more than about 15.2hh! My 2 friends both took their first ponies back with them to california and were offered loads of money purely because of the height and the fact they have very good breeding. Both of them have kept their first ponies but have both got horses at about 16.2hh warmbloods which to me is a very big step but normal over there. I start riding a 12.2hh tomorrow and I imagine that I will probably get some odd comments from my friends but then I have no real intrest in competing and much prefer the project ponies!
 
I wonder if the trend has filtered over from America. Here, it's customary to see tots on 14hh ponies and skinny thirteen-year-olds on 17hh Warmbloods. People think I'm mad when I insist I prefer horses around 15hh. In fact, it's taken me a whole year of being back in the saddle to find a riding school that doesn't object to me--5'7 and 8.5 stone--riding a smaller horse, in the shape of a fun and nippy Morgan.
 
Completely agree - having a big, difficult horse can't be the way to create those fun, bombing-around-fields memories loads of us had when we first started out. I learned to ride mostly on an 11.2 section A, and now ride a 16.2 ISH - and if I could shrink to a suitable height and weight again I'd have him back in a heartbeat!
 
Well where I come from most of the Quarter horses are far more easy to handle , easy going, and gentle than most of the spazzy ponies around here. It is not a new thing here to put a kid on a horse. It is more the norm and most kids here grow up with horses and not ponies. I grew up on a quarter horse and rode them/showed them since I can remember.

It really just depends on the horse/pony and kid in question tbh and dare I say 'size doesn't always matter' ? ;)


I think the only obvious benefit to a small pony for a kid is the ease of tacking. Other than that I am open minded.
 
JadeWisc said:
Well where I come from most of the Quarter horses are far more easy to handle , easy going, and gentle than most of the spazzy ponies around here. It is not a new thing here to put a kid on a horse.

Spot on Jade, I really have to agree, 2 out of my 3 QH's would look after a child/novice perfectly and the only reason the other wouldn't have a novice on him is because he's still got his bits.

The majority of QH's are well trained too, sorry fellow Brits, but to a far higher standard of obedience than the average riding horse in the UK. For instance, how many of you, hand on heart, can say "Ho!" to your horse and it will stop and stand still until told otherwise?

I think the only obvious benefit to a small pony for a kid is the ease of tacking. Other than that I am open minded.
Little ponies can be buggers, they really can take the mickey when they want to. A good one is worth its' weight in gold though.

Jade, do you find, around your way, that lots of ponies have Hackney in them?
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I think sometimes its a want on the parents side to show off as much as anything.

I was at a Dales pony show a few weeks ago and bumped into a woman my friend knows. This woman was with her daughter (12 years old, 5 foot tall and about 6 stone nothing) She was telling us how they are selling the daughters schoolmaster welsh section c because she had 'outgrown him'

What were they buying the daughter as a replacement? A 3 year old, newly broken Dales pony!. In the womans words he a 'bit sharp' but they are sure they will be able to sort him out. They showed me some pictures of a stunning, youngster, built like a tank who will probably not even realise hes got the daughter on his back shes so little and thin.

Now why would anyone with a bone of sanity buy their 12 year old a freshly broken 3 year old? words actually failed me i was that astonished.
 
Another one who doesn't get it here! At 16 I was still on my fab 13.2 welsh (all 5'7 of me!). She could carry me as easily as you like - and liked to prove it by carting off with me every now and again just to add variety! But I felt as safe as houses on her, bouncing off fortunatly didn't require a&e visits and I could easily pop back on her after. After a 15 yr break I am now riding my 15.3 mare who rides so small you would never believe from her back that you are riding anything more than a 14hh cheeky pony! I was after something smaller, but if you are after a fab and safe all rounder there isn't that much choice! At 5'9'' and under 10 stone I still don't think I look too big on a study 14hh cob (who can obv carry me with ease), so how most children can be thought of to be too big on their ponies I don't know!
Pc troubles me aswell, a local pc uses the school for group lessons at the livery yard I'm at. Almost without exception in all of the classes (seem to be split by age) the 'slip of a thing' girls are on massive ponies or horses, wear spurs, carry a whip and ride in a 4 ring gag!!! They generally look over horsed and spend much of the lesson kicking on and hauling on the reins, struggling for the smallest bit of control. Doesn't look much fun to me. So much fun to be had on a smaller pony that you can use your leg on properly because you can reach below the saddle flap and also have a hope in hell of controling properly with your seat and hands - rather than being nothing more than a breath of wind on the back of a horse. They must surely miss out on gymkhana games too as they could never reach anything or get back on again! I think it is a shame that so many shows (around here anyway) have you out of classes on anything under 14.2 if you are over 16. That's mad (and a shame as I have a hankering for a pony to have some gymkhana fun on again!)!!
 
mishaspey said:
I fully agree. Give me my 14.2hh highland any day.

One girl I know has lost all confidence and was a cracking little jumper who would ride anything. Her pony - he was expensive so he had to be good - bronced her off so much she sold him and bought a show pony. She nearly sold this one as she decided it was too much. She barely does more than trot and doesn't have any fun due to lack of confidence. Another one has a 15.3hh 5yr old tb ex-racer and has lost all confidence and then horse injured leg so is on box rest for a few months. I've been letting her ride my highland hoping she'll regain confidence and start to have fun again.

I'm sick of people buying a horse and when it isn't winning rosettes, it's sold and another's bought. Have these people thought thatit might actually be their riding that needs work and not a flashier, more expensive horse?

Sharon - if your daughter gets on well with your cob and is in control and confident, then that's different. It's the ones who go from a pony to a huge horse simply because it's the "done thing" these days. I now have 2 14.2hh ponies and will ride them with pride!! I've been told I need a horse and maybe one day I will but for now, my ponies enjoy their work and do I really need a flashy, expensive beast to happy hack on?
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I have seen kids on huge horses.I think what on earth,the horse is too big for them. I am nervous since I fell of my cob and hes so quiet now. I wont ride huge horses,no need Im quite happy with my cobby who I will hopefully ride soon.
But I dont know why these kids want big horses. (maybe so they wont outgrow them???
 
glosgirl said:
Another one who doesn't get it here! At 16 I was still on my fab 13.2 welsh (all 5'7 of me!). She could carry me as easily as you like - and liked to prove it by carting off with me every now and again just to add variety! But I felt as safe as houses on her, bouncing off fortunatly didn't require a&e visits and I could easily pop back on her after. After a 15 yr break I am now riding my 15.3 mare who rides so small you would never believe from her back that you are riding anything more than a 14hh cheeky pony! I was after something smaller, but if you are after a fab and safe all rounder there isn't that much choice! At 5'9'' and under 10 stone I still don't think I look too big on a study 14hh cob (who can obv carry me with ease), so how most children can be thought of to be too big on their ponies I don't know!
Pc troubles me aswell, a local pc uses the school for group lessons at the livery yard I'm at. Almost without exception in all of the classes (seem to be split by age) the 'slip of a thing' girls are on massive ponies or horses, wear spurs, carry a whip and ride in a 4 ring gag!!! They generally look over horsed and spend much of the lesson kicking on and hauling on the reins, struggling for the smallest bit of control. Doesn't look much fun to me. So much fun to be had on a smaller pony that you can use your leg on properly because you can reach below the saddle flap and also have a hope in hell of controling properly with your seat and hands - rather than being nothing more than a breath of wind on the back of a horse. They must surely miss out on gymkhana games too as they could never reach anything or get back on again! I think it is a shame that so many shows (around here anyway) have you out of classes on anything under 14.2 if you are over 16. That's mad (and a shame as I have a hankering for a pony to have some gymkhana fun on again!)!!
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Mine are both keen pony clubbers, but I agree with your above description and it is beginning to worry me.
I am on the verge of selling my very nice 12.1hh who we've only had five minutes (admittedly I wasn't expecting to keep him very long, but longer than this!) because yet another PC person has basically told us we don't stand a hope in hell of doing anything much or being taken seriously because my tiddly ten year old is too big for him.
The pressure is constant. She's not the bravest and has really settled in with him, is jumping 2'6"/2'9" comfortably, and is really having fun. But her friends/peer group at PC are now on 14'2" speed machines! The one other person on a 12.2hh (much more 'full up' than ours and looks more 13hh tbh) has also been told she needs to move up. :(
I'm feeling at a bit of a moral crossroads!
 
sharon1959 said:
But I dont know why these kids want big horses. (maybe so they wont outgrow them???
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My daughter moved from a 9.2hh shettie to a 13.3 4 year old highland.

She had massively outgrown the shettie- not in weight obviously but she has long legs and her feet were almost on the floor. She was devastated when the pony was sold- but sold she had to be. I purposefully bought the second pony as a 'forever' pony. We have brought him on...and because he is big enough for me to ride he will now hack out alone/in company and on/off lead rein. He has a home for life with us. Yes...when we got him he was way way too big for her....but now she is growing into him and loves him to bits. Her riding took a few steps backwards when she made the transition- on paper- small child and young/large pony is not a good mix. However- she is riding him independently now- takes him to shows and does well in equitition classes. She's 7 BTW

He wasn't bought as a fashion statement, to 'keep up with the joneses or whatever.....he was bought with a long-term view and chosen carefully.

I don't like constantly buying and selling...far too stressful, difficult for the children......we will hopefully avoid all that now.

There you go.....:D

ETA...no gag/spurs/whips.....simple snaffle and cavesson.
 
I agree, I would like my son to join the pony club but cant stand the buy it today sell it tommorrow attitude! Ialways had ponys until i got my 15'3 TBxID when I was 15 but i didnt want my first horse to be to much for me as i was going from a 14hand cob so we looked round for ages and got mojo he was a 17yr old schoolmaster that could teach me how to ride a horse not just scare me with he's size. I had him 8 years and he tuaght me a lot but had to have him pts in may this year, if I get another i will be going back to a 14/14'2ish cob!

son (3) has mini shetland definately not over horsed lol
 
Oh dear, my bad! I bought my daughter a 16hh warmblood a couple of months ago when she was still 13, so am obviously the sort of parent you are all are slating.

But her gorgeous 14hh pony won't carry her comfortably (particularly jumping) for much longer, and she gets too attached to her animals to be constantly buying new ones as she outgrows them (because she seems to have got tall genes from somewhere - definitely not me).

But she can get on him from the ground, is happy to hack him out alone and she is having a great deal of fun on him:

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Really, it is little to do with size, but more to do with matching the temperament, abilities and experience of horse/pony and rider. Some of the disaster stories listed above are more to do with people matching novice riders to young, inexperienced animals, rather than the size or breed of the animal itself.
 
I stayed on my brilliant little 13.1hh till i was 15 and having to secretly shorten my stirrups so i didn't look big on him but having said that i did stop doing much pony club stuff because i couldn't stand the snobby bitchy people in it.

The people i have just finished working for had an 11.2hh and 12.3hh for their 8 and 9 year old daughters, they sold the smallest and pushed the 8 year old onto the 12.3hh, they are now having trouble. the 9 year old was bought a 13hh 6 year old fancy show pony which they damaged (don't ask) and then asked me if i thought the 9 year old could ride the 14.2hh seriously strong jumping pony for some pony club event, a pony that i at 24 with alot of experience of riding big show jumpers find strong
 
This is what I hate about PC, its all about spending lots of money & impressing other mums, woman at my yard sold her daughters lovely pony & got her a horse because "all of her friends are moving up" What happened to having a jolly time & loads of fun, why is it all so serious, after all they are children!!
 
Very true, I loaned my 12hand section A to a lovely PC family he was for their 9 year old daughter, when she went to a rally she was on the smallest pony there! They kept him until the girl was 12 and she was too big for him then, but they then got her a 13.2 and again she was on the smallest pony in her group!
 
:( I was always so tall I had to move on as soon as my legs reached beyond the poor ponies knees!! Damn being tall.

But yes, I 100% agree, and in most situations I actually think its very dangerous, I don't think many 12 year olds are going to manage to stop a flighty 16 2hh thoroughbred. A girl at the yard is 14 (but very short about 5ft 3) and has just bought an 11yr old hunter thats scaring her to death! Poor girl :(

Although to be honest, she was the one that wanted a horse, her mum told her otherwise...I guess she thought she knew best!!
 
Okay I was probably the child you were slating. When I was 12 years old, I rode a 16.1hh ID x TB, but the thing is I would of rather ridden her than the nappy 13.1hh pony on the yard! I was very tall for my age 5'7'' and felt completely fine and we just clicked. I totally agree with TGM! I'm sure it is to do with temperament, ability and experience. I still do not agree with shoving kids on horses as soon as they can, I ride a 17hh now but I still gladly ride my friends 14hh. I think it depends on whether you and the horse feel comfortable with each other not about the size.
 
yesterday at a show i saw a kid on a big horse, however they were both good and won the class. i ride a 14.2hh and wouldnt really want to move onto anything bigger than 15.2 ever :o
 
I agree, i dont see the point in children riding 16.2hh. I can see the point, if its from a proffesional point of view. Where children are riding larger horses, as they can jump bigger, like the 'children on horses' jumping classes, atleast if they are jumping large tracks they have the control.Or i hope they do!!

I also disagree with this the otherway round, where 17-year-olds are riding 14.2hh's. You see this a lot in the show pony rings and showing rings in general. Just because the over-sized rider can control the pony better and get it to respond to aids more quickly. There is no point. How can you judge a 12-year-old on a 14.2, to a 17-year-old aboard to same height?!
 
I've never come across this tbh. I must mix in the wrong circles.
I DO have a 14 year old who is over 6ft tall and would look stupid on a 14.2 so I am one of the villains I suppose for putting him on a 15.2, then next year on a 16.2.

I was delighted when mine ourgrew ponies, the sooner the better to my mind, ponies are pretty horrid and it's murder trying to buy an honest one. Horses are vastly more biddable and once purchased don't get outgrown on a yearly basis.
 
I own a 16,2 and have really long legs (horrible I know) and everyone says that 16.2 is a big horse. I honestly don't feel he is big and I was more than happy to ride a 17.3.
As long as they can handle the horse I don't see a big problem, although I have to agree, legs not coming under the saddle flaps is just ridiculous.
 
i agree that it does have alot to do with temperament, ability etc. Although one of my friends who is currently riding at a riding school, and jumping 2'6 on the horses there, has just brought a 16.3hh scatty thoroughbred because she thinks its suitable! riding school horses and 'normal' horses are completely different! :)

im 15, and rather tall :p and i have a chunky gypsy cob, supposed to make 15.3hh but currently standing at 14.1hh and at 2 1/2 years old i dont think he will make it, but he can carry me, and he will stay with me for life! although, when somepeople constantly tell you your too big for your horse, it can get you down, and actually make you think you are!

horses shouldnt be a fashion statement, too bigger horses, and children who can control/ride/care for them, without spurs, harsh bits etc. will cause accidents. A bad fall of a horse as a kid could put them off for life!
 
I think the complaint is more against the tiny skinny little 8-12 year olds on massive beasties they can't control than tall kids who go onto bigger horses because their feet reach the knees of the ponies.

Personally being a shorty I love ponies and think that the little b*ggers have a lot to teach in the way of a secure seat and not loosing concentration. :)
 
Tiggerlilly said:
I also disagree with this the otherway round, where 17-year-olds are riding 14.2hh's. You see this a lot in the show pony rings and showing rings in general. Just because the over-sized rider can control the pony better and get it to respond to aids more quickly. There is no point. How can you judge a 12-year-old on a 14.2, to a 17-year-old aboard to same height?!
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I'm afraid I'm going to be that person :o (I'll be 17 in December) and my pony is 14.1!! But I'm only 5ft2 and feel perfect on her? I don't show, to be fair, just eventing... but I don't see why I shouldn't ride a pony just because of my age?

I don't think I look big on her at all?
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