Need advice about my pony

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Foxysoxy

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I am at a bit of a loss for what to do so thought asking on here would hopefully get me some ideas :-)

I have a pretty little grey pony. He is 12hh Welsh 9 yrs, very sweet with humans and adores cuddles and attention. He is quite a nervous nelly and with a typical Welshie temperament. He reacts then thinks which obviously is no good at all for young children!

He has apparently been broken in and I have seen pictures of him being ridden, but he is quite unsure about a saddle being put on him and is very nervous about anyone stood on a block next to him. He is really worried about being long lines as he seems to worry about someone behind him and runs but is really good to lunge and free school.

I am getting him used to a saddle and he is now fine with a bridle. We are working on long lining and just general baby steps with him.

The problem I am having is I'm really not sure what to do with him. I am really happy for him just to be a companion (that's the reason I bought him) but feel like it would be good for him to have something to do.

Obviously he is too green/reactive for a child and only really any good for a very small adult or older teen. I am far too big and heavy to sit on him so would have to get a small professional in to actually get on him and ride him away which I would be happy to do but don't have anyone small enough to ride him after that and not sure if it is just a waste of money?

When free schooling him he has a massive jump so would probably be fun for someone eventually.

I'm just a little stuck with what to do with him, or should I just free school/lunge/lead out and not bother with going any further?

I won't sell him just to make that clear he has a forever home keeping my big lad company.

Sorry this is so long but wanted to try and get everything down.

Any ideas?
 
Work on the long reining and get him driving, that way you can work him yourself. I did the same with my shetland and he absolutely loves having a job, especially driving along on a hack out with the big ponies! Stops them getting to rotund too!
 
I expect this is why he was sold as a companion and not a riding pony, realistically you are unlikely to find a really confident child to ride him without a lot of input from yourself, good kids tend to have their own if parents are interested, if parents are not interested then everything will be down to you.
Unless you really feel the need I would not bother to spend too much time or money on something that you plan on keeping and have no long term plans for, get him more confident, exercise to keep the weight down and look at doing some inhand showing if that is of any interest, getting him out and about may be the best way to attract a rider if he is a smart pony.

Driving is an option but not a cheap one and a really nervy pony may not take to it easily.
 
Thanks for the ideas!

Unfortunately I don't think he would take that driving at all! He would be far too nervous and unpredictable. Not the right temperament at all.

I have seen pictures of him being ridden and jumped, but the rider was a bit tall for him really and I imagine pony had little choice, although must have been OK enough to at least pop a jump on him.

He might just be nervous to get on but once he is going he is fine? But without paying out for a professional I won't know and I don't want to do that with nobody to ride him on.

He is fairly light for a Welsh so I don't imagine would take much weight, no more than 7st ish I would have thought. I'm not sure if there are many small adults/older teens that weight and short enough?
And would anyone actually want to do anything with him? I don't mind paying for him to be ridden on a bit but not indefinitely and would only really want someone to loan/share him where he is obviously with no financial contribution but then again I wouldn't want to pay them!

He is quite happy doing very little so I'm sure he wouldn't mind never being ridden :-)
 
Foxysoxy said:
Thanks for the ideas!

Unfortunately I don't think he would take that driving at all! He would be far too nervous and unpredictable. Not the right temperament at all.
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Mine was a bucking spinning child depositer (never broken, just children plonked on) and he took to it great. I did a whole year of long reining everywhere imaginable before i even conemplated purchasing a harness, so you could always put the groundwork in and see if anything changes.

Horse agility is good fun also, and may help make him a little less spooky :)

If you can find a small adult for riding I guess that would be ideal, the problem is with children are the ones who are good enough usually have their own ponies and the ones who want a free ride are generally not so (even if the parents think they are gods gift!)
 
I think you will just go round in circles achieving very little with him other than to spend money, get your hopes up only to find no one really wants to actually do anything with him, unless they are getting paid, he doesn't care what he does or doesn't do, often small sharp ponies are ridden by bigger kids, pushed out of their comfort zone and end up like him being unsuited to a ridden life, the problem with loan or shares is as I said previously you are unlikely to find a really confident competent child that has a parent to supervise properly.
Unless he is show quality then older teens, small adults that may be capable of bringing him on are not going to be that interested in being involved if there is nothing in it for them, a sign of the times, they will want something bigger that they can really benefit from, or they will be too inexperienced to be of much use without you teaching them and helping out.
 
Well to be honest I will be long reining him anyway so your right I might as well see if he takes to it eventually!


Yeah I know finding a rider would be really hard and I'm not that bothered TBH just thought it might be nice for him to have something else to think about. I wouldn't want to be supervising a child nor spending time teaching them. It's a shame as he did look like he had a massive jump from the pics so maybe worth riding for someone that enjoyed jumping and free schooling he seems to really enjoy it but again not suitable for children and I'm only really guessing as never seen him ridden myself.

I don't know if it's worth even advertising or what I would even say in an advert?


Meant to add, I don't do showing at all and don't really have much of an interest in it. I'm not sure he is show quality? He has decent confirmation but TBH is just a regular grey Welsh pony. I don't think it's something I could be bothered with :-)
 
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I longrein my little companion as we both enjoy it and take her out for 'hacks' on her reins.

The other thing we do is we've got her used to carrying a pack and she is led to the village shop to bring the shopping home or carries coats if we're out on a dog walk. It keeps her exercised and she's quite often a bit of a talking point at the shop - she enjoys the attention.

We made our pack from two childrens rucksacks and a cut-down overgirth - she wears it over a pony pad-saddle to protect her back - only thing to watch is that you balance the load to either side (we buy 2 smaller bottles of milk rather than one bigger one for example so the weight is distributed.
 
Stick him in a field and use him as a companion for the rest of his life. Thats what you got him for and it sounds like thats all he can really cope with. I think as long as he is handled once or twice a month to pick his feet out, little groom so he is always 'ok' for a vet or trimmer then thats probably the safest thing to do as well as the sensible thing to do.
 
It sounds like getting someone to ride him might be a bit of a pain and costly! If you're going to be long reining him anyway then there's no harm in seeing how he goes and maybe driving him in the future if he takes to it :) After a few sessions and getting him out and about he might be less nervous.

Trick training and horse agility might also be fun to look into! Especially as Welshies are generally quite smart. You can compete in horse agility online if he takes to it too.
 
I have one similar though mine is very confident rather than nervous

I didn't want to leave mine too long as should something happen to me he has few prospects as an unridden pony despite being really well bred

I sent mine away for re-backing and schooling, it cost hundreds but was worth it

he is now home and being ridden by a couple of young local children, its not been smooth sailing and when equipped with a younger lighter rider he has taken more liberties than I would like however I have both parents taking it seriously and between us we cover the costs of pony club, lessons and shows so that there is some ongoing teaching (letting them loose in my field riding the pony has only been 50% successful so isn't done very often)

Its taken much more input from me than I anticipated, I try to be around when he is ridden if I can as I want to monitor his behaviour

Interest is waning a little now that the evenings are darker and the weather not so great and I do worry about what will happen over winter, I am considering putting him on a livery yard but that's a cost I wont bear unless there is enough interest in riding him

Its added a whole other level of complication in my life but I do love to see the pony ridden
 
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