Poll: Did you have a pony as a child

Did you have a pony as a child.

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undergroundoli

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Some of the most eloquent and moving posts on the childhood memories thread were by ponyless little girls. It made me wonder how many HHOers had ponies as children.

I'd really like to know how many people rode as children but don't as adults and how it compares between people who had ponies and who didn't, but sampling that would be hard.

ETS It is multiple choice so you can tell me if you had a break, not so you can count your imaginary horses :)
 
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Yes - I was very lucky to have ponies as a child, and still own/ride to date.

My brother, who also rode, has no interest whatsoever now.
 
yes, my parents rather naively bought me a pony when I was 6, and then they rescued another! They were non-horsey as well but dad learned how to ride and rode the welshie. when I had outgrown those they were sold/rehomed and I got a bigger one. The deal was that any pony would be sold when I left home. I left home at 16, worked with horses on and off (mainly on) until I was 28 and went to university. I then had 7 years off while I did my degree and PhD-then I could finally afford my own!
 
Never had a pony as a child and never owned a horse but involved. I do hope to get my daughter a pony but she only nearly 2 so wait a bit longer
 
I begged my parents for YEARS for a pony but never got one. I rode weekly from 8 til 11 at riding schools then there was no spare money. I got back into riding at various dodgy and not-so-dodgy riding schools when I was 33 and bought my own when I was 38. I'm 44 now, my dad adores my horse and I think deep down he's kicking himself that he didn't get involved sooner.
 
Just voted! I was a pony-mad, ponyless child who managed to get a few riding lessons then the odd ride on friends/cousins ponies...how hard was it that my cousin lived on a farm 70-odd miles away and got a pony and my anti-pony parents just thought I'd "grow out of it"! I bought our boy as a mum & daughter share at the age of 48! I rode on and off through the years, horses and ponies have helped me through some tough times, and last week mum expressed an interest in contributing to our new saddle, must be some sort of miracle!
 
Nobody we knew had a pony or horse - I saved up all my pocket money and earnings and aside from my fortnightly riding lesson eventually, after more than a year, at age 17, bought my own from a dealer. No idea about buying one, or where to keep her, transport her, or anything - but I learned a helluva lot from the traffic shy uncatchable difficult to shoe baggage I ended up with :)
 
I have ridden from the age of 5 and from the age of 12 to 14 I worked at a riding school every Saturday and Sunday for a free ride until my parents got me a loan pony on grass livery to share with my sister, even this was a stretch for them financially so I had to do a paper round and contribute the earnings towards the pony. I've always been grateful for them for doing this for me and my sister and wanting a pony for so long made me appreciate it much more when I got one. Still have horses now and never take for granted how lucky I am to have them.
 
I learned to ride at a riding school from the age of 11 until I was 15 when dad bought me one to help me settle in when we moved home 500 miles from my friends. I was painfully shy but he promised if I asked the farmers if they would let me put him/her in the field he would buy me one. I plucked up courage and found somewhere to keep one and he kept his promise but I didnt own a pony ever until I was an adult. M 15.2y first horse was a 4 year old Irish TB he was wonderful and a superb and talented showjumper I started pony owning when I was in my thirties and would never have anything else now
 
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I rode at a riding school from the age of 7. Mum started riding too and then fell off and ended up with a head injury. that was the end of my parents paying for me to ride. I then helped out from about 17 years old. I got a good job , house and car and then loaned my first pony . He was a 27 year old connie. Had him for a year and then bought my old mare. Met OH , he started riding and bought a horse. Bought me a driving pony , OH got bored so his horse went . Bought my daughter her first pony when she was 4 . She hated her after falling off in stinging nettles and didnt ride for years. Both kids ride now and we have 5 assorted critters . I dont ride because of arthritis but drive the pony I bought my daughter all those years ago. Both kids love it and compete regularly. i dont feel the need to ride but I will never be horseless again. I just love being near them .
 
Thanks for sharing your stories guys.

Dizzy socks said:
The fourth option may mean you are inundated with angry adults riding ponies, :P.
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Oh god, what have I done!

windand rain said:
I plucked up courage and found somewhere to keep one and he kept his promise but I didnt own a pony ever until I was an adult. M 15.2y first horse was a 4 year old Irish TB he was wonderful and a superb and talented showjumper I started pony owning when I was in my thirties and would never have anything else now
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muckypony said:
There isn't an option for me... I had ponies as a child and still have ponies now :D
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Sorry, can't edit and just put 'equines.' What can I say, I'm sizeist. :o
 
There wasn't the exact option in the poll for me, so I'll explain..
I'm 42 this year. I started having lessons at 4, and continued doing so until we moved house the summer that I turned 7.
The village that we moved to had a lovely couple living there who had their own farm, with horses and a few ponies, and they let me ride theirs for help round the place.
When I was 9, I was deemed dedicated enough by my parents to have my own pony, which said friends sourced for me, and we kept at their farm.
We had many happy years together until I outgrew him and he was sold to a friend. Lovely couple then sold us an old Anglo Arab mare, which I enjoyed a few years with (and had a foal from which I brought on), before moving out to go to college at 16.
I didn't get on a horse again until about 6 years ago,when I moved back to the sticks. Although I never stopped loving them, but city life meant I didn't miss them so much.
Now I can't believe that I managed 20 years without them. I am still in touch with the lovely couple (now in their 70's and still competing at high level in Endurance and shoeing horses respectively), and have so many happy memories from my childhood, both of the horses I rode at riding schools, and the ones I was lucky enough to own,
 
I didn't realize it was multiple choice and answered sorry! My mum was an instructor at local riding school so I was plonked on pony at 18 months, rode and helped out at RS, got my own just before I was 11.

I did pony club from 7 and went to be a working pupil after leaving school and did BHS stages though teaching wasn't for me, worked with point to pointers and as a hunt groom and also had a few of my own.

I did have a break for nearly 2 years where I didn't work with horses, nor owned any, as finances were tight I couldn't afford to run a car for the same wages I would have got grooming for working in non horsey job which I walked to.
 
My dad rode horses in his youth and was always keen for me to ride so after 5 years of working at a riding school every Saturday I got my 6 month old colt. I was 16 and the deal was they bought him for me, paid his first years insurance and his first bag of feed and the rest was up to me.

I worked my socks off to keep him and it taught me the value of money and hard work.

After a very long break and having taken early retirement I have bought myself a youngster. Can't remember the last time I was this happy.
 
Highlands said:
And me!
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Me too!! Went through phases of "the bigger the better" but have ended up buying Exmoor ponies who are all under 12.2hh :D bought my first pony at the age of 28...26 years after I started riding - I never did grow out of my love for all things equine as per my (non-horsey) parents expectation!
 
I started riding at about 7 and always dreamed of having my own pony. My parents were always very open about the fact that they simply could not afford it and I accepted that but never gave up the dream. I took lessons, helped out whoever, wherever and whenever I could just to get my fix! When my grandma died I was 16. She had left my mum and dad some money and so they decided it was time to let me live my dream. I will always be eternally grateful for that. Sadly, as some of you know, I lost him just 2 years later but am lucky enough to now have my lovely connie.
 
Ponyless, I bought my first horse at 16 (for meat money, never a wise move lol!! Loved the horse to pieces but he was never sound) but my sister who is six years younger then me was given a pony when she was about nine, and I re-lived my childhood through him!
 
I was very lucky as my mum always had horses so ive never been without them but i wasnt allowed to have my very own pony till i proved i would be down the farm everyday come hell or high water, do ALL yard jobs unaided inc muck out, bring in, tack up and cope on my own in general with most things a pony would throw at me! Around 10/11yrs and i was given candy the naughtest, scruffiest shitland my mum could find (who was handed down to all my sisters to learn on!) she taught me so much though :)

i wish ide of made my son work harder for his pony, he completley takes him for granted :(
 
I had no pony as a child despite begging my parents for one every xmas and birthday. I rode from a young age at a local riding school in return for mucking out. I had one loan pony as a child and I had him all summer while a friend of my dads worked in Dubai with his family for the summer. I rode friends horses also. I then had a break upon discovering pubs and boys, had kids but still rode from time to time. Went back to it when I was 30, taking lessons at a local school. They used livery horses for lessons and when the woman who owned my riding school ride decided to sell I worked overtime for 3 months solid to raise the money to buy him - she let me have him on full loan while I was saving. I have gone from a ponyless heartbroken 11 year old, to an adult with 3 horses - could never have seen that one coming when I was a kid :D
 
I always loved riding, my parents weren't horsey but our friends were, and I'd ride a welsh d (think pea on a mountain) every summer holiday we visited them. Where we lived there were no riding opportunities but I started riding lessons when we moved to Devon when I was 11. For my 13th birthday my parents bought me pickles, he taught me so much, my dad said it was the best thing he did, he knew where I was, who I was with and what I was doing throughout my teenage years. I took a break for three years at uni, but moved to Cornwall for my final year and I looked out of my bedroom window, and there was ebony.... The rest as they say is history. I started riding again, bought her with my student loan, I've never had a break since.
 
I didn't have a pony when young but I was pony mad and had riding lessons when finances allowed. I was convinced that I would win the pony in the WH Smiths competition running at the time. You had to guess the native breeds and I was so sure I was right and no-one else would know all the breeds! lol
I waited until I was 50 to get my first pony (horse but with a pony brain) and also seem to have aquired another along the way. Its the best thing I have ever done and wish I had not waited quite so long.:)
 
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