Poll: Did you have a pony as a child

Did you have a pony as a child.

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I've always been surrounded by horses as my mum is horsey, and spent my childhood pottering round the yard, riding other peoples ponies and riding school ponies, and helped out at the riding school whenever I could get there and spent entire weekends dedicated to looking after the riding school ponies from the age of around 6! Begged my parents for my own pony at every opportunity and was completely pony mad. My non horsey dad bought me a completely unsuitable first pony when I was 10 from his dealer friend who said he would be "perfect" - my mum tried her best to refuse him as she saw sense but we ended up bringing him home - he certainly taught me how to stay on!! We still have him now and he's never calmed down, I'm still as horsey as I was then and have just added horses to the herd as time has gone on..! Can't imagine life without horses in it.
 
I eventually was allowed a weekly riding lesson aged about 9. Rode at the RS for about 3 years until other more 'important' commitments took over (namely music - choirs and orchestras). My mother was never that keen on me riding. Didn't sit on a horse again until the age of about 20, when I helped exercise some RDA horses. Did that for about 6 months, then started having weekly lessons aged 24, moved house so another 2 year break, now at another RS, where I've been riding for about 18 months.

I am just in the final stages of my PhD and looking for jobs, so no horse of my own until finances allow. I will probably look for a share/part loan of something confidence-giving once I have a proper job.
 
I learnt to ride at 7 but didn't have a pony, then I found one at 10 years old and took on all the responsibilities. He was pts by his owners when I was 11 and it became evident that their daughter wasn't going to want him any more. I also managed to get a load of Welsh ponies to play with and break from a nutty woman in the village. When I was 13 we bought an unbroken Connie and I brought him on, we never had the money to buy anything larger and I was working paper rounds 7 days a week and singing in the church and bell ringing to pay for him. When I was 17 he was sold by my mother to buy a French horn for my sister 9my instruments had been sold to help pay for his tack and then his upkeep)

Then I didn't have horses until I was 40 and my next door neighbour took on a breaker she couldn't manage. So I did it. Then my daughter and husband had a serious accident and we borrowed a pony to teach her that she could be in control of her emotions and affect what happened to her. Her second pony came to us instead of to the meat man and I put in a lot of work on him and that got me back into it.
 
Had a pony as a child and never went near another equine until my girls started riding,over 30 years later.Now have 2 ponies for them but I only ride if one of them can't.
 
I had my first riding lesson aged 7, continued with semi regular lessons until 14/15 and got my first pony at 15. I still have her now I'm almost 25!

Hopefully she will be with me for a long time yet (she's 15 now) but I will not have another one after her - she was a very special horse at a very particular time and I would only do the early mornings and late nights for her, not any other horse, IYSWIM.
 
I was deprived and never had my own pony as a child, I guess living in the middle of London didn't help the situation! I can still remember sitting on a pony for the first time, I was 5, and thinking this is the best thing in the world! Luckily I had a horsey aunt who lived in Hampshire (although she didn't have her own) so I used to spend all my holidays there and she, very kindly, funded all my riding lessons and a few riding holidays which were bliss. I was absolutely pony and horse obsessed, I lived and dreamed them.

Then I got to the dreaded age of 14 and decided boys were much more important and, to my shame, ripped all my pony posters off the wall and replaced them with David Essex! I then had about 10 to 15 years where I never went anywhere near a horse until my sister-in-law bought me a hack in Richmond Park for a birthday present - I was totally hooked again! I started riding at a RS there, then started sharing a horse which was great, the closest I'd come to owning my own. Then at the age of 37 I fortunately came into some inheritance which enabled me to buy my own at long last. I feel very blessed that I can now call myself a 'horse owner' and I think I appreciate it more when I think of all the years I longed for one.
 
I started riding way back when Nelson still had 20/20 eyesight, then as a young teenager my dad caved and allowed my sis and me to loan 2 trekking ponies over winter, then a year later my nan bought us our first pony what a lad he was taught me so much. I eventually out grew him and didn't get another till my early 20's when I got a section B foal and had a blast rearing him, did a bit of inhand showing then had him backed and ridden on till he was sold to a young lady for PC he was a go getter! Still pony less at the mo but trying to rectify that as I type!!
 
I never had my own pony as a child. I did have a share in one when the riding school I rode at closed down snd I shared instead, but she was kicked in the field afte just 2 months and pts. I stayed there backing ponies with them but moved to an raf saddle club and worked there at the weekends. Shared a horse or 2 there including one who belonged to the saddle club, but he thought he was mine lol.

Rode a little over uni and then bought my own horse at 21. Had him for 6 years but had to sell him for financial reasons.

Saving at the moment for a pony (Connemara or something similar) and may get one for my daughter at some point, if she ever begs hard enough (she's nearly 3 now).
 
I had a pony as a kid, got our first when i was 7 (my sister was older) went through all the heights! Started at 12.2hh!! Did 8 or 9 yrs in PC then sold my mare for uni, played polo at uni, graduated and brought a youngster who will hopefully event although he's off with injury so i have a loan boy in to entertain me!! Those 3 yrs at uni were wierd not owning my own horse, i never came home unless i had to (like xmas holidays!) i hated walking into our yard and not seeing my mare, my mum did let me ride hers but it wasnt the same so i saved my final student loan and brought one as soon as i left uni sadly lost him last yr to injury. But for me atm i wouldnt be without my lad! Its true what they say.... Its not just a hobby its a way of life!!
 
My non horsey parents got me & my sis a pony for christmas when I was 10 but he turned out to be a rig and either fought with or tried to mount our friends ponies. So he quickly got exchanged for Punch, who we had for about 7 years and was the perfect pony. We also took a trekking pony each winter so we both had something to ride. When I went away to uni I gave up riding and did not get back into horses until I was in my thirties when friends from work took it up. We had some great times going to different riding centres for weekends away. Then I took an arab x mare on loan and bought her after 6 months and she was with me for 6 years before being pts. By then I was truly hooked and got my current mare who I've had for 12 years. Can't imagine life without horses now and I wish I'd not had that break from them. My sis also got the horsey bug again after a break.
 
I've always been around our own horses and ponies. My first pony was bought for me, when I was 18 months old. She was a scrawny black shetland X, stood 10.2h, no older than me. Parents rescued her from the travelling community for £50. I had yet to walk, so the pony was my therapy, and I gather I was hooked!! (mother was brilliant at re-hab'ing horses!) We had about 10 or so horses on our land, but I regret to say I was too small to appreciate them. From there on in, had many ponies on long term loan, which we all classed as ours. This went on for about 18 years!! Then I had a break, for all of about 18 months, while I did 'some' studying, and travelling, before owning my current two out right. I'd be surprised if I had any more after these. I have found that I have many horsey acquaintances who want a spare helper/rider!!
 
I got my 128 ex ja pony on loan when I was 9 ... she chucked me more times than I can count including rearing in front of john whitakers wagon ( our claim to fame 😄) but by god did I learn a lot
I then got my 14hh on loan off a lady who bought him for me to loan ... we then subsequently bought him but I had to use my baby savings for him
I then used the profit I made off him with a little bit extra for my 1st horse

I now pay for everything myself... hard times :( ha
 
No pony of my own when I was a child. Managed to persuade my parents to let me have lessons at a riding school every fortnight instead. Kept them up until I was about 18 then stopped and only rode occasionally on holidays. I really wanted to get back riding so when my own daughter was 6 I asked her if she fancied trying riding which she did and loved it. Got her a pony which we had for about 3 years before she outgrew her. After that we part loaned a few horses until finally at the ripe old age of 51 I purchased my first horse that we could both ride. I've now had her for 7 years and at 23 she is still going strong and will be with me for life as she is perfect for me. Last year I bought my daughter her own horse which hopefully she will be able to do more with although she has turned out to be a bit of a project. My 21 month old granddaughter also loves having a sit on both horses and has even had a couple of trots on my mare so hopefully once she is a bit older she will also enjoy riding.
 
Had my first pony at age 13. No horsey parents or anything - although grandmother DID have a pony and trap on the farm years ago, and they also had draught horses, but all this was way before I was born. Pony was 5! Everyone said it would be a disaster. It wasn't. My dear little dapple grey man carried me ever so carefully all through pony club, hunting, shows etc etc.. He'd stand there when everyone was hooning around him and not move an inch, a pony in a zillion zillion. They don't make ponies like that anymore :(

Then had a break from horses when started work etc., for 8 years and in that time rode out for a friend......... then couldn't escape the bug and got my own again. This time a lovely cob; another horse in a zillion, an absolute star.

Gosh how I miss them: my two lovely boys, I was sooooo lucky.

Now I've got a loan mare and a trad-lad; and love them to bits too:)
 
Ponyless, has regluar lessons from 5-7/8 then could only afford a hack when on holiday type riding so rode maybe once or twice a year until I was about 18 and my sister got her horse. I got my own at about 24 or so.
 
I've voted, I was one of those riding school kids who 'worked' all weekend in the hope of having a quick 20 minute ride at some point! Eventually did progress to being able to hack the ponies bareback to their fields :) Finally, at the age of 21, I bought my own pony, I still have him :)
 
I lived on a council street with a farm at the end. Riding lessons and ponies were well out of my families reach..there were four of us and money was tight. Luckily I was able to help on the farm in return for full access to Patrick, an old grey irish hunter. Ive never riden a pony in my life. Patrick was 15.2 and I he taught me the basics...he was the most forgiving and bombproof horse I have ever known. I worked with horses for a while but I really needed to earn some money so had a twenty year break. I bought my own horse five years ago....a different kettle of fish to Patrick, he was quite bad to handle in the early days. After a shaky start we have bonded and now I have fulfilled my lifelong wish to own my own horse..Evan now after five years I still can t quite believe he is mine!
 
I had to wait 30 years for my first pony!

My parents are not at all horsey but when I was little they had a next door neighbour who was. She had a pony for her teenage daughter and a little Shetland companion who needed a job........... I was taught to ride on the Shetland (who terrified my mum) and I never looked back!

After I outgrew the Shetland I had lessons at a riding school and helped out at the weekend and was your typical ponyless but ponymad child. My proudest moment was aged 7 doing my pony club d test on a borrowed pony and the examiner wrote on the sheet for my brownie badge that it was the best riding she had seen from a "weekly rider"!

I stopped riding so regularly when Saturday jobs, a levels and uni got in the way but then started a part time job during my postgrad where the manager was horsey and I started helping out with her gorgeous ex-racer. That got me going again and when I got a proper job I started regular lessons at a good riding school.

Eventually after lots of saving, millions of lessons, and marrying a horsey man I finally bought my first horse in my thirties. She is perfect and is fulfilling all my dreams. Even my Mum loves her and is now brave enough to groom her and feed her a treat.
 
I'm another one who didn't actually own my own until I was 35.
I did ride as a child...a lot....riding schools and work for rides, I was given full use of a friend's outgrown pony, and then her foal when she was backed because no one else wanted to ride her. I had a long break between 20 and 35 and then when my son started having lessons I did too.
After a short while I bought my own and kept him on a local livery yard....but ones not enough really is it? I have three now, and a private rented yard next to my horse...and thanks to Patricia Leitch one of them is an Arab, so I did finally make my childhood dreams come true :)
 
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