nervous child learning to ride

[beanie_boo]

theres a 7 yr old girl up at my yard who had a fall and broken her arm and has lost confidence in her pony, although it wasnt its fault, just one of those things.

last week she asked me to take her in the school so i did, put a few barrels up for her to steer around and got her stopping and starting to help her feel in control of the pony. did the same thing tonight but the pony tripped and she came off. she was tearful and the usual " not getting back on" but managed to cheer her up and make her giggle. taking her in again on friday but was trying to think of some other things i can do with her aside from going through barrels? she can trot but gets a bit carried away and so does the pony so wanted to focus on walk and take it a step at the time??

 

[Foxhunter49]

Stop riding in the arena and take her outside for a hack. Start with her on the lead rein with you walking by her side. Don't worry about her position or anything other than getting her to look for different birds, flowers, trees, naming parts of the tack, singing all sorts of silly songs. Then when she is a little more confident lead her from a quiet horse. Only correct the riding if something is terribly untoward, the most important thing is to get her to relax and enjoy herself.
You will find after a few weeks of this she will be a lot happier and providing the pony is safe you can start to let her off the lead for a short distance.

Riding in an arena is far harder than going out and it is important that children find their balance and they can only do that if they are relaxed. The rest will follow once they are secure.

 

[jeeve]

Stop riding in the arena and take her outside for a hack. Start with her on the lead rein with you walking by her side. Don't worry about her position or anything other than getting her to look for different birds, flowers, trees, naming parts of the tack, singing all sorts of silly songs. Then when she is a little more confident lead her from a quiet horse. Only correct the riding if something is terribly untoward, the most important thing is to get her to relax and enjoy herself.
You will find after a few weeks of this she will be a lot happier and providing the pony is safe you can start to let her off the lead for a short distance.

Riding in an arena is far harder than going out and it is important that children find their balance and they can only do that if they are relaxed. The rest will follow once they are secure.

Agreed that time in the saddle is more important than a lesson, but when starting a young person (my kids bring their friends home to ride, I am always told they have heaps of experience riding but most have been on once or twice if that), and I make sure they can stop start, turn at the walk as well. I also start them on a lead rein, and do not take it off until they are looking ok.

At 7 I would say that this is probably the best thing to do (use a lead rein)until she starts to feel a little more confident. If her pony can be led off another horse then I think hacking out is an excellent idea.

 

[Maesfen]

Agree with Foxhunter totally and above all, make it fun for her so she forgets her nerves and relaxes, she'll learn a lot quicker that way too.
Do all the usual things like gathering up and shortening reins, also ask her to do this with not looking at them; you can have hoots of laughter at the flapping loops that happen then; also ask her which leg is coming back to her on rising trot, once she's learnt that, ask her to do it with her eyes closed too so she learns to feel (as she'll be on lead rein she won't have steering issues!) If pony's quiet enough, lots of around the worlds, touching toes (hers!) ears (pony's!) and so on.
Can't emphasise it enough at that age (and which so many people, parents included, forget) forget the technical bits but make it fun so she wants to do it and never push her out of her comfort zone until she's confident enough and wants to push herself.

 

[liannexsx]

i was the nervous child. i remember to need to be able to start/stop/turn. having someone close by. and a body protector! a loan of an utterly bombproof (but butt ugly) pony made a huge difference.
ultimately tho, even at that young age..the desire to want to push thru the fear has to be there.
i had a bad accident at 5. i can still be nervous but in the right partnership nothing bothers me. i'm 27 now and have worked mainly with foals upwards since my early teens.
so i suppose some games on the ground to build up the bond between child and pony?