My son has found his 'brave knickers'

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TJP

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I have commented on several posts on the past re kids who are a little timid when riding. My son would slot nicely into this category. Things I know he can do he point blank refuses too. Sometimes this even means trotting in the school or field. Out hacking he will trot no probs. Even though he has gone round a mini xc on the lead rein he refuses to jump unless it is a tiny cross pole. I have always bitten my tongue and put no pressure on and have always advised others to do the same.

I am not sure what has happened but son would appear to have unearthed his brave knickers from the drawer and put them on under his jods. He has spent the last 2 days having a ball in the school. He has been cantering round the school (he point blank refused to even try to canter last week in his lesson), jumping little straight poles, doubles etc whilst kicking on to 'keep the revs up', trotted without stirrups, ridden bare back, had a go at vaulting (unsuccessful but amusing). I am completely dumbfounded. I have no idea why we have this sudden change but have spent the past 2 days yelling 'well done', 'brilliant' etc etc.

Proud mummy post really but for anyone else who's child is like this it would appear to get there in their own sweet time.
 
Well done mini tjp!!!! Sounds like he's having a ball!!! My little un is up and down with her nerves. Fearless half the time and emotional the other half! Think it's a young lady hormones thing!!

Bet they'll be no stopping your son now, you'll be soon asking him to slow down!! Lol!!!
 
I'm sure we will still have our moments lol. I'm so pleased for him. We had tears a few weeks ago. Thankfully the pony is an angel which helps enormously. Once the ambition outweighs the talent I will be panicking!
 
It can take a lot of effort to muster up the courage to do things like jump a xpole on your own you know!!! I started riding at 8 so old enough to remember what it was like NOT to wee you knickers trotting over a pole on the ground....

Once it comes though, thats it, it's there and you wondered what the diddlies you were so worried about...

well done mini-TJM!!!! Go on lad!!!!
 
tallyho! said:
It can take a lot of effort to muster up the courage to do things like jump a xpole on your own you know!!! I started riding at 8 so old enough to remember what it was like NOT to wee you knickers trotting over a pole on the ground....

Once it comes though, thats it, it's there and you wondered what the diddlies you were so worried about...

well done mini-TJM!!!! Go on lad!!!!
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I know, thats why I tried so hard not to push as I knew he was genuinely scared at times. I was so happy for him when he got to the 'what the diddles' stage as he just kept going with a massive grin on his face :D

Armas said:
Smiling for you :)
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Thank you
 
We still get occasional tears and sometimes have a devil pony!!!

I think anyone who puts their bum in a saddle is brave in my book : ) xxx
 
Oh this is going to be a laugh isnt it..... I can just imagine the posts next year -help kamikazee son wont stop galloping flat out at 5ft hedges and hes only on a 12.2 ! lol

oh the joy to be so young and brave !

Just dont let him canter bareback from the chippy, tyring to eat his dinner with only a head collar on like we used to - but that was in the 70's
 
Brilliant - your no pressure method worked :D

The only time mini-me scared me stupid wasn't eventing or doing huge PC tracks, but after going to Olympia and deciding that cantering around school whilst removing her saddle "like the policemen do Mummy" was a good idea. Luckily it was Christmas school holidays and I was at work so OH dealt with unconscious child :p
 
Gingerwitch said:
Oh this is going to be a laugh isnt it..... I can just imagine the posts next year -help kamikazee son wont stop galloping flat out at 5ft hedges and hes only on a 12.2 ! lol

oh the joy to be so young and brave !

Just dont let him canter bareback from the chippy, tyring to eat his dinner with only a head collar on like we used to - but that was in the 70's
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Nicnac said:
Brilliant - your no pressure method worked :D

The only time mini-me scared me stupid wasn't eventing or doing huge PC tracks, but after going to Olympia and deciding that cantering around school whilst removing her saddle "like the policemen do Mummy" was a good idea. Luckily it was Christmas school holidays and I was at work so OH dealt with unconscious child :p
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Now ladies this is not helpful :p
He did the sitting on her withers while I removed his saddle today. I never thought of how he might take this forward lol.
 
Well i just hope you have fun ! and honest when your young you bounce loads !

When we were kids if we had not fell off at least 3 times a day we had been having a really slow day - but we did learn to hang onto the ponies as it was far to far to walk home, and if we phoned dad to fetch us, he would go and get the pony and take it home, to teach us not to loose !

It also taught us not to fall off - which i am now trying to unlearn as my last two serious accidents were because i stayed on as the horse fell over !
 
We weren't the most sensible either. Gates were jumped not opened, little ditches in the verges were good to gallop at, the railings outside the village shop were for tying ponies up. Not sure how we managed to survive the 80's. Were you also sent out hacking with 10p in your pocket in case you had to knock someone's door to phone home?
My uncle recently asked if my son was as suicidal as I was at his age lol
 
TJP - when we first were sent out it was with 2p - and then went upto 10p - we were on those ponies for about 8 hours a day in the summer holidays - the ponies had more hard feed in the summer than in the winter - benches were for jumping, we never ever walked on a grass verge - we wore shoes out - the ponies were shod every 3 weeks and the shoes would be almost paper thin - the trip to the farrier was an all day affair - except once i tried to be clever and ride and lead two - that did not end well.

We used to race the lads on their little motorbikes and if we did not win would give em a kick of the shoulder to put them off track

We used to play proper cowboys and were allowed to round the cattle up on the farm, and then we used to play rodeo with the bullocks and silver the 11.2hh welshie - he was the most intellegnet little pony, he learnt that in the "rodeo" pen that if he ran at the huge post in the centre he could manage to knock us off him and nearly take our knee caps off !

Grass = canter = or gallop

We used to catch in and gallop the horses to the gate in the winter, and as the horse stopped we would either go over the gate and land the other side, or come off sideways into the mud - oh i cringe when i think about it now
 
Our poor parents. We used to take picnics for all day rides. Funnily enough the ponies were hardly ever ill or lame. Too fit maybe! Such fab memories of those days. There were big boulders up a lane which had to be jumped and a river about 8 miles away which we hacked too to take them swimming. Boys on bikes were fair game. Our ponies lived on corn, linseed and barley. Bran mash once a week. The smell of the kitchen when the barley was cooking was rank!
 
We were of the oats, bran, maize - Dad went mental the first time mum brought pony nuts - he really lost it with her ! lol - he has just come back from the yard and given me a right lecture on the crap i am feeding - i really love my dad !

We used to take the ponies swimming - the once though we ended up in the cannal and the firebrigade had to come and get the horse out as the whole of the cannal had brick sides - oh those were the days !
 
Oh how nice. Wish mine would!! He had a fall jumping last summer and refuses to jump now and he has such lovely jump style too.. Ah well as you have found, time works wonders.
 
Romany I think they are located in a part of the knicker drawer which isn't easily accessed! No doubt like my little lad one day he will take you completely by surprise.
 
I think the young are missing out these days... it's very sad. We used to be out all day on our ponies doing goodness knows what. Now, it's just far too dangerous unless you live in a remote village... even then I wouldn't be too happy.
 
I used to catch my pony up hop on his back and gallop back to the fence hanging on to the rug! Spent many an afternoon jumping the benches around the cricket pitch (sorry cricket pitch man), rode ALL day long and had a good go at jumping some huge hedges on my 14.2 and wondering why he wouldn't jump it (they were about 5ft high)! Those were the days :)
As for children, there must be something in the air as my daughter keeps asking me to put the jumps up! Normally the other way round!!
 
Little update. He can now add careering around with 18 other kids at pony games rally - no time to bother with nonsense like stirrups!! can 'climb' onboard unaided and spent today cantering over little doglegs. I am now having to yell 'slow down' instead of 'kick on' and tell him to give the poor pony a rest. I videoed him jumping in canter over the doglegs today, his daddy is gobsmacked.
 
Bless him! I reckon some kids just suddenly find their feet. My little sister used to hold the pommel and cry through her lessons, eyes closed, white with terror. Then suddenly she became this speed demon, jumped anything in sight and didn;t give a hoot about what her pony was up to (he's have given Ed in the naughty pony video a run for his money!). She's now 18, working with horses, and still is an adrenaline junkie. She wants to do the big hunt rides, and event at scary heights and it's hard to remember the little girl who cried because it was 'tooo fasttttt' at walk on the leadrein...
 
Lolo said:
. it's hard to remember the little girl who cried because it was 'tooo fasttttt' at walk on the leadrein...
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This made me giggle. Even though he rode until he was 4 when I took him (at his request) to his 1st lesson in Feb this year he refused to get on the pony, brushed its tail and then picked Timmy, the tiniest pony in the place, to ride instead. For weeks he wouldn't come off the lead rein, would only walk and then insisted on me riding in his lesson with him while the poor instructor walked miles beside him.
It already seems unbelievable just how petrified he was in walk at times, if the pony sneezed he froze, but he kept insisting he wanted to ride so we took it very slowly. Slow does not seem to be a word in his vocabulary anymore.
 
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