Never thought buying a L/R pony would be so hard!

I quite like the look of peter rabbit myself. Think if the adverts telling the truth he'd be a fair bit more if he didn't windsuck.
 
Yes he seems nice, but the wind sucking puts me off. I've had a wind sucker before and lots of vet bills for colic because of it!

I'm sure some thing will find us soon :)
 
curragh said:
Thats probably too good for what I want, I don't want to spend a huge amount and then the kids lose interest. So thought if I brought a pony just able to do L/R and then if they still enjoyed it, I'd invest in some thing like you have for the next step.
Click to expand...

Would loaning be an option? I did that first so the rugrats had to 'prove' their interest wasn't going to wane over winter or when mucking out was more than the riding...

Some families don't want to sell on a much loved pony but will be happy for him/her be loved by other kiddies and help them to learn to ride...

:)
 
I'm been looking for a kick along type first ridden pony for quite a while basing search on Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire. It is such hard work without travelling miles and budget less than 2k. You do have to be really quick with viewings & phone calls. Good ones gone with 24 hours.

Good luck in your search op.
 
I feel your frustration! I looked for my daughter's first ridden pony for ages and had given up as it was coming to the winter and I thought we will start again in the spring. Then someone sent me an advert on preloved for a pony literaly 15 min from us and he was PERFECT! I think a more realistic budget would be up to 1000. I would certainly recommend looking on the pony club website, you can refine your search to local ponies. I think alot of the good ones are passed around through word of mouth and never advertised so try and get the word out that you're looking to everyone. We were offered alot of youngsters which in my opinion are not for young children. Good luck!!
 
The reason why they are so expensive is you are buying the work someone else has done. The small ponies my daughters had where traffic proof, child proof, would go past flappy things, pop a small course of jumps, canter safely in an open field and not buck and rear.This took months of walking out with them and at some point paying an adult to school them to the next level. These were 'ordinary' PC ponies.
In your position I would by a brood mare thats been to a few shows inhand, you could probabely buy one for £250 or even free and put in the work. You've got to baby sit the kids anyway so the only difference is the childs on a pony.
At the moment I have an A waiting to be backed but I can find no adult to back him(I am too big and fat), I have a least three children waiting for him, my home grown jockeys are now too big.
There are some very nice sounding ponies on here.
http://horsegossip.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=mmnonewelsh
 
I bought a pony at the back end of last year for my little ones. I did pay a lot more (kick in the ass off £2k) for a 16 year old pony from the wilds of Inverness. He is a little saint on the ground, my daughter loves spending time with him and was worth every penny. However he does go off the lead too, has been to RIHS as a first ridden and is still capable of showing at County level so a bit higher spec than you're looking for.

063.jpg


086.jpg


I fully understand why you don't want to spend a fortune, my two eldest girls are horse/pony mad;-

080.jpg


However when my youngest is at the farm she has no interest in the ponies and prefers to spend her time like this;

033.jpg
 
I paid £1200 for a Shetland! He hunts, has done pc camp and jumps about 1'9ft he is safer than my horse in traffic and it has been known for him to lead the hack past scary stuff! We had a few teething issues (he's a Shetland after all!) but worth his weight in gold.
 
littlelegs said:
Reason they cost a fortune is cos your paying a fortune for safety, regardless of ability or looks. Especially if you want one that you can let off the lr. Ones my daughter rode or loaned when tiny had waiting lists!
Click to expand...

I do not have children, but if i ever did (having a foal has been enough trauma so has totally put me off) i would spend as much as it took to get that perfect pony.
i would happily spend more on a childs first pony than i would on a competition pony in later years, as those first riding memories and experiences are what shape children as riders.
you might find one for that price and be happy with it, but make sure you buy for the right reasons, not just becuase it might be cheap and so a satisfactory job.

good luck xx
 
I bought our LR pony from ColleenMissTom on here, having seen her posts about him. He did LR, but would go happily off the lead rein. He'd pop tiny cross poles or jump a course of 80cm. Both sons have outgrown him, so Colleen has bought him back for her youngest children :D It does depend what you want them for, but for a pony that will do a range of jobs, it's best to push your budget a bit and get a good one. They are far easier to buy than they are to sell again, so don't get stuck with one that doesn't meet your now and future requirements if you can help it :)
 
I do think that, as you are finding, the willingness to travel and to pay more are needed unless you fall lucky.

We paid £2000 for a 20yo lead rein pony who had belonged to about 6 other pc families I knew and he took our younger son from 3-6yo safely and happily. We then flew the length of the country - to Devon! - to buy son's current 11.2hh m&m first ridden who was three times the price of the lead rein pony. The owners had a queue of people wanting him at that substantial price and were able to choose who they felt would be the best home for him. He has been a superstar and I again, two and a half years later, have a queue for him when our son has outgrown him.

Gold dust and queues I'm afraid! Very best of luck getting a fantastic friend for your little one.
 
Like a lot of folk have said, you need the safest schoolmaster of a horse you can get for a child to learn on.

No child can teach a green horse, no horse can teach a green child.

Green on green equals black and blue.
 
I'd try the loaning route first. So many people don't want to sell their diddy kid's first love...

Facebook is always full of ads for people selling/looking for horses/ponies..

We paid £800 for our first pony. She was only 4 and a bit whizzy, but it didn't matter on the leadrein, and when he was ready to come off a couple of years later she was great fun for him. She also kept up well with my big horses on ride and lead (with and wi thout a rider) which was great for inbetween stages..

My friend had a ploddy pony on loan for her son, which was great initially, but he could never get it to canter or jump later on, and he got fed up of not being to do anything at show, and gave up..

I also thing the auctions would be worth a look. York auctions last year was full of lovely little things for about £150 each. There were quite a few I would have bought if I'd been looking.


I think the second pony/first ridden is much more important and needs to be more expensive. The LR is usually on the leadrein and supervised... The next one is the one they go off and do camp and rallies etc with.. Obviously if the parent is not knowledgeable then you do need a more expensive all rounder..
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top