one very stressed pony one very frightened child

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katymay

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Just took the youngest out for a hack on the pony, all was going really well, he was a little bit bouncy but fine, heading for home when a massive depot loader complete with two round bales stuck on its spikes came haring round the corner, que Harry planting his feet, luckily I had the forsite to whip Noah off quick and pass the leadrope to the OH, OH got dragged in the ditch and nearly through the hedge, poor Noah said he is NEVER EVER going to ride again :( I did manage to persuade him to hop on for the last little bit with no incidents, poor Noah is only four and only just learning to ride, I know the roads arent ideal but its all ive got, and it is very very quiet county lanes, think I need to invest in a trailer and take him and the pony for lessons somewhere, hope my heartrate returns to normal soon
 
Could you do some in hand work out on the roads with him, de sensitise him to the bigger vehicles? Then when he's sorted go back to riding?

How long have you had the pony, were you told he was good on the roads?

Horrible when kids see or experience such a thing, and it's awful for us Mums :(
Kids are amazingly tough and resilaint though, he will get over the incident with time, as long as you avoid the road until the pony is traffic proof :)
 
Glad no-one was hurt. If pony isn't a bombproof type might be a good idea to stick to riding round the field if transport to off road hacking or an arena isn't an option right now. Or maybe find out if there's anywhere local you can lead pony yourself & get the oh to drive kids over? Might be worth taking pony out yourself in hand anyway to do a bit of bombproofing too. Fingers crossed your little boy gets over it soon, kids are pretty resilient.
 
Oh dear poor thing :(

Obviously I wasn't there so tell meto mind my own if u like.....but being an instructor who teaches lots and lots of young children, the best tip I can give you is that you stay calm yourself.

If you see something scary ANC panic (even slightly) and drag child off pony quickly and 'make a fuss' for want of a better phrase the kid will be scared. If you just calmly get them off and laugh at the whole situation with them 'oh look, daddy can't control him like you can!' or something and laugh at it they are more likely to just giggle and get back on.

It's hard when they are young though but from experience the children usually don't get scared unless the parents do.

I honestly honestly don't mean that to sound too critical - I know what it's like trust me! :)

Hope he enjoys his next ride :)
 
Bless you, I know that feeling, our rides are now boring, as do not trust the roads :(

Take a break, them just get your little boy grooming, and being silly running in hand, I did this and now after not getting her on, I can't get her off :)

The trick is to build a friendship, but try to keep away from the road for a while xx
 
pony only gets ridden at weekend due to kids school / my work etc and my eldest child is disabled so cant push a wheelchair and lead the pony at the same time, but either me or my OH take him for a walk out every night so he knows where all his scary bits are and is used to normal traffic etc but he hadnt seen one of these before!
good point Patterdale I did panic, in hindsight if the road was wide enough I would have kept walking but we had to get up on the verge!
what I really need is a keen confident young rider to come and ride him throughout the week, he needs excercise!
 
^^^ ditto that, if I could have enough area to lunge I would, normally do but bad weather has put to that :(, do you have room to lunge? Getting a confident rider deffiantly helps, has brought daisy in since her fright xx
 
Oh I think most people might grab a small child off as they are so young and a scared horse is no fun etc. But what about asking a local farmer if you can walk your pony around the yard and if they might start an engine etc. Sometimes I think its the height of the vehicle ie above a ponies head that can frighten them on the roads. Typical always happens when you are not expecting it. Hope it doesnt put them off.
 
I'd do some bombproofing at home. You can never show a pony everything it might meet, but what you can do is teach them to be confident round new, potentially scary stuff. More exercise would no doubt help, but I'd get him slightly better on the roads first, both for your children & any older one that might ride.
 
Why not let your little one join in the bombproofing of the pony, poundland has loads of suitable stuff ;).

Aside from that I'd try find a small adult or teen to get the pony more confident out and about. If you post on here where you are roughly then people might be able to help.
 
Some horses and ponies do have a problem with large noisy rattling vehicles, especially if they are driven by someone who is not sympathetic or appreciative of the problem a rider might have.

The answer is of course, that you as a horse rider, using the road, have to familiarize the horses with these vehicles. The bomb proofing.

A tip you may find useful as part of the process is this.

When you come across a vehicle on the road and it has got past you, turn the horse and follow the vehicle.This gives the horse confidence in as much as the vehicle is pulling away from it and is therefore less threatening than one coming towards it. If the vehicle is travelling fairly slowly trotting a for a few hundred yards behind it builds confidence. I've used this with mine and followed tractors, trucks, buses etc for miles round our lanes. It doesn't take long before the horses just ignore them whether they are in front behind or whatever.
 
Yes mulled while lol but it is very easy for me to say I suppose. It is true that if you stay calm thrn they stay came but......In a few months time when mine makes an appearance it will probably be different! ;)
 
Aww, does sound scary...my daughter came off her LR pony last year (she was 5 and a half)...the circumstances weren't anything similar to yours, but she did utter the infamous words 'I never want to ride him again.', despite getting back on straight away...but..once she'd had time to think about it, this was what she decided...sooo, I told her that was ok if that was what she really wanted but why didn't she just come down the field with me and give him a little brush - after all, he was quite upset by it too and probably didn't understand why she didn't want to ride him anymore...so perhaps she could tell him herself? We'd take the tack, just in case she felt like it....by the time she got there, she was fine and rode him and has kept riding since.
I also take her for lessons at a riding school when I can, to get some qualified instruction (ie not me!!) give her experience of other ponies, riders etc and to occasionally pass the responsibility of it all to someone I trust - just standing and watching her by the fence, is really nice.
And as others have suggested, I try to work ponio myself when I can, ie a bit of longreining etc...hope you'll find a way forward anyway ;)
 
I have tried lunging him, but paddock has trees and we would end up tangled up, also neither he or I have much experience in lunging so he might go a few circles in trot then stops and walks over to me and no amount of tapping the lunge whip on the floor of his feet or hindquarters for that matter will get him going again, I did consider longlining him in fact I could practise that around the trees then try him on the road :)
Thanks all
 
Cop out patterdale :), I really want you to come here :D

Can't wait to see your ' peanut' this is what we called
a05dd7c3.jpg


This crazy girl :)
 
Sorry katymay :( he is a wimp, all I can really say is that I live on a farm!! When he can to us, he was scared if tractors, forklifts, lorries, combines etc, he is now calm , at home, o. The road he is scared :(

So we avoid them, not the right thing I suppose, but he is getting better x
 
She deffiantly would give him a go Katy may :)

No help I know, and our pony is still crazy, but as soon as I hear a scarey thing is around, I lead him out to see.

Tbh I am not his favourite person !!!!
 
Maybe this pony isn't suitable for your child, we have a pony who was almost perfect but there were a couple of minor incidents so we decided he needed a new home.
We found him a new home and now have another pony who truely is bomb proof, he would not have reacted in the situation you describe.
 
no in all honesty he is very forward going, more suited as a second pony, he does look after his riders but still has his moments, he was listed as having done pony agility and when we viewed he was as quiet as a mouse, but he did come from Tavistock area where it is all moors and hardly any traffic!
the boys would be gutted if we sold him, I will just have to do in hand showing with him this year and bombproof him, he has only been with us for just over a month and a half so going to give him the summer at least, and I really didnt want a dope on a rope I wanted something that could grow with the child, hey ho,
 
patterdale said:
Oh dear poor thing :(

Obviously I wasn't there so tell meto mind my own if u like.....but being an instructor who teaches lots and lots of young children, the best tip I can give you is that you stay calm yourself.

If you see something scary ANC panic (even slightly) and drag child off pony quickly and 'make a fuss' for want of a better phrase the kid will be scared. If you just calmly get them off and laugh at the whole situation with them 'oh look, daddy can't control him like you can!' or something and laugh at it they are more likely to just giggle and get back on.

It's hard when they are young though but from experience the children usually don't get scared unless the parents do.

I honestly honestly don't mean that to sound too critical - I know what it's like trust me! :)

Hope he enjoys his next ride :)
Click to expand...

lol thats the ideal answer to the situation, when you're there with your child about to get squished by either pony or machine, you just grab and pray!!;)
 
If he's a second pony type just be very careful, kids don't have to ride a plod but they do need to get confidence from something safe & predictable first so they can then go on & enjoy a more lively type. Saw your other thread for a rider, how about contacting the local pony club & seeing if they know a suitable rider?
 
yes Littlelegs good idea,
thats what my mum did with our first pony, he got loaned to the pony club for prince philip cup until I was experienced enough to do it myself
 
If yOu can feel lIke You can see to the future than go for it :)

He is not ideal ATM, but can you lead off him ? If yes then another couple of years he will be perfect!!!

That is how I am looking at current pony , he is perfect on th lead but far too strong off, bit she is getting there , as is he :)
 
I havent got a horse or pony myself so cannot ride and lead :( the previous owner used to ride her point to pointers and lead Harry with a five year old on board, so I feel I need to give Harry a chance at least,
he has been ridden by my friends daughter on a hack off the leadrein and he rode beautifully, I have also got on him and taken him down the road he is so responsive to the leg but im just too heavy to ride him regularly, just going to take the slowly slowly response with both Noah and pony and see how we go, will be doing extra bombproofing work from now on :)
 
katymay said:
pony only gets ridden at weekend due to kids school / my work etc and my eldest child is disabled so cant push a wheelchair and lead the pony at the same time, but either me or my OH take him for a walk out every night so he knows where all his scary bits are and is used to normal traffic etc but he hadnt seen one of these before!
good point Patterdale I did panic, in hindsight if the road was wide enough I would have kept walking but we had to get up on the verge!
what I really need is a keen confident young rider to come and ride him throughout the week, he needs excercise!
Click to expand...

how big is your pony? one thought might be to talk to the local riding club pony club, there might be a good little rider who has no pony and you could set up a supervised part loan share, then your pony could get to see more of the world etc. i was fortunate that people would lend me ponies for pony club i had to save up to buy my first one at 17, i also respected that it was not my horse. i would contact the local PC and see if the know of anyone?

just a thought
 
Whereabouts are you? My girls are 6 and 8 and super confident riding on the road as they do it every day and we pass buses,tractors,lorries and those bale holder things without any bother.I could lend you one of them if you are near me.

When they first hacked out,we sang or recited times tables if something scary hove into view as it is hard to be nervous if you are thinking about what comes after 4 x 7.If we weren't worried then the pony wasn't worried.Interestingly enough,I walked both ponies up to the school in hand so the girls could ride home and the ponies were slightly jittery on the way there,but once they had a rider on the way home,were back to normal.

Good luck.:)
 
Hi, we are in Somerset so unfortunately miles away from you!
I totally agree that if the parent is calm the pony stays calm, my sister borrowed Harry yesterday to take her daughter for a quick ride (has never ridden before) and whereas when we go past things Harry is scared off I tense up he must feel it as she was totally calm and he didnt bad an eyelid!
the last few days he has been going like a dream, hopefully he was just having an off day! we even managed to pull his mane without even having to tie him up, he just fell to sleep!
thanks for the offer of help x
 
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