New pony

[Charleyrobinson]

Hi all

I have just bought my first welsh section a he is 2 and a half he is our first ever pony and we've never had any experience with keeping horses.

The ladies in the livery yard are making little comments such as 'She doesn't know what she's doing'

'Why would she buy a young horse if she doesn't know what she's doing'

This has left me very upset and making me wonder weather to swap him for an older one?

Any advice would be great 🙂🙂

 

[meleeka]

What do you want the pony for? Do you have any guidance at the yard, or previous experience? It could be a recipe for disaster, but then if you are really novice, so could an older horse.

 

[Pinkvboots]

It probably wasn't the best choice for a first pony but if his relatively well behaved you may just get away with it with the correct handling, how are you getting on with him? are you wanting him as a riding pony when his old enough or is he just a pet.

 

[Charleyrobinson]

We wanted him to ride my best friend has a horse too and gives me loads of advice I've also gone on courses

 

[Charleyrobinson]

He is a good boy

 

[LadySam]

Sorry, let me get this straight - you have no experience with horses. You've bought a 2 year old, presumably handled but unbroken. Correct?

If that's the case, then the ladies on the livery yard are right. Don't be offended or upset. If this is the situation, you've taken on way more than you can handle and you don't realise it. I apologise if I'm assuming too much, but I am assuming the pony is untrained for riding given its age. Training a horse isn't like training a dog. You can't simply muddle your way through it as a total horse virgin by reading a bit of online advice. And there's much for a young pony to learn even before we get anywhere near riding.

As a novice you would be much better off getting an older, quieter schoolmaster type to learn with. A horse that will be kindly and tolerant while you're learning about horses, will be unfazed by most things and will teach you a thing or two a bit gently.

Put it this way - and I am saying this kindly - a youngster is going to be looking to you for help and answers. You can't do him any good if you don't have the experience to help and don't have the answers.

And please, get some proper ongoing instruction to set yourself up properly.

 

[Pinkvboots]

If you wanted a riding pony you would have been better to get a ready backed older horse as your first pony, you know you have at least a year before he can even be sat on? even if you send him to a professional to be backed your riding ability has to be to a certain standard to cope with a newly backed pony and section a ponies are not always the easiest, how old are you if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Pearlsasinger]

The standard advice for a novice owner is to get a horse/pony that knows its job inside out. How big are you expecting your Section A to grow to?

 

[southerncomfort]

The standard advice for a novice owner is to get a horse/pony that knows its job inside out. How big are you expecting your Section A to grow to?

I was just wondering the same. I'm assuming you are approaching, if not in, your teenage years. Welsh A's are generally though of as children's ponies. I'm going to be buying a pony for my 11 year old daughter soon and I will need one bigger than Welsh A's generally grow to.

I don't think the ladies on your yard are saying those things to be unkind, but rather they are trying to point out that an inexperienced owner is not the right person to be educating a youngster. They may be worried about you getting hurt or causing confusion to the pony. Personally, I'd been keeping horses for ten years before I thought I had enough experience to buy my first youngster.

I assume your parents are not 'horsey' and it sounds like you didn't have much advice before you bought your first pony. It may be if you can afford lots of riding/horse care lessons and an experienced person to educate your pony for you that you can make it work. But if you don't have those things then ultimately it may be kinder to both you and the pony to sell it and find something that already know it's job.

 

[southerncomfort]

Deleted as duplicate post.

 

[GirlFriday]

According to OP's other post she is a mum of three under 12 and struggling to schedule... But (OP, I'm sorry, your story sounds too bad to be true, this sounds like a wind up) she'll pretty soon loose a kid or two by letting them play ponies... which will help with the scheduling!

Seriously, OP, if you have three little kids (who are presumably the intended riders?) then the pony needs to be professionally started (when old enough) and your kids need to be having riding lessons (potentially on a much older, been there go the T-shirt type loan pony?), oh, almost daily, until the pony is broken in order to ensure they catch up enough to be safe on something very, very, green.

Unless of course they are already awesome little riders competing PC nationals or what have you...

Good luck sorting out something suitable/winding us all up!

 

[YasandCrystal]

Got to be a wind up

 

[Widgeon]

Got to be a wind up

hmm yes got to say it does sound like it.

 

[Charleyrobinson]

Why would I loose my children??!

 

[Shay]

I suspect girlfriday (correct me if I am wrong) meant that one or more of the children would be seriously hurt. It reads like a rather dark effort at a joke. None the less it is true. Being around horses is not a safe occupation. Being around an improperly backed youngster is exceptionally risky as they will react unpredictably. Kids don't always appreciate dangers. As adults we need to do that for them. An as an inexperienced adult it is harder for you to see the dangers I'm afraid.

 

[LadySam]

OP, what did you do about the pony? Anything? Please don’t feel you’re being picked on. You asked for advice and as experienced horse people we can see the risks and problems. We don’t want anyone to get hurt or throw money into a bottomless pit. Horse people aren’t backward about talking about this stuff.

 

[LaurenBay]

Is this not the OP who posted another thread about said 2 year old being difficult to handle?

 

[ester]

Yes same OP about being the boss to the 2yo.

 

[LadySam]

Yeah, I saw the Boss post after I wrote that.