Pony has become a one person pony

[shannonandtay]

Just wondered how common this was, we have had our connie a year now but he seems to have bonded very closely with my 13 year old daughter, which is great but just recently if anyone else rides him they've taken an exit including myself. today she was going to free lunge him in the school but instead they just ran around together having fun with him following her everywhere when she ran he would trot and so on. this is lovely to watch but worried that if she's ever not well or we go away, i don't feel comfortable with someone else riding him, I know it's not a problem as such and we have never just let anyone jump on him just found a bit of a change in him recently with this.

 

[DuckToller]

Just a thought - have you had his back and saddle checked? It could be the difference in weight and/or pressure from a different rider more than him becoming fixated on one rider.

 

[shannonandtay]

We did have an issue with the saddle around December time it was reflocked and checked, back was done at the same time but physio is due back out to us in the next couple of weeks so will be checked again soon. I'm a stone and a bit more heavier than my daughter but the last girl to come off him was about a stone and a half smaller than my daughter so quite a bit of difference between us. Back is due a check so maybe I should get the saddle checked again anyway just in case. Thanks.

 

[maree t]

mmm difficult, we have a nf pony that we bought when he was 3 because there was an instant connection with my son. He is still riding him even though son is 16 next month and pony is 13hh. They are so closely connected we will never part with him and my son wont have another but he does allow other people to ride him and handle him .
Good luck

 

[Tinsel Trouble]

My welsh d is very much my horse. He's thrown event riders and a NH jockey before...! Other kids didn't stand a chance, Sven my sister would be chased out the field (he hates her, she couldn't wear hoods on the yard, he'd try to throttle her!).

I've never known what causes it, they just seem to gel with certain people.

 

[paddi22]

could it be a pain issue that is triggered if someone is heavier than your daughter?

Other than that, how good of a rider are you? some clever ponies are perfectly happy to potter around on ground and under saddle with young riders especiazlly if they aren't been made work hard. But when they are made to work properly with a stronger rider they can throw a strop. I don't believe in the concept of 'oh the pony only loves and goes well for one rider'. A good well rounded horse should be comfortable with any competent rider on it - if it wasn't i'd be analysing was it a pain issue, a training issue or a rider issue.

 

[Rose Folly]

I think it could be that he's a Connemara!

In a long life with horses only two have been one-man/woman horses to me - my current cob, and the brilliant Connemara hunting poiny I had from the age of 13 to my marriage at 22.

He was utterly devoted to me. I never had to use a headcollar on him, and I often said - and meant - that I would be happy to ride him round the world with just a neck rope. He tolerated other people perfectly politely but he visibly sparkled when I came home from boarding school each term.

After my marriage we were going to be living in London, our other family horse had died, and my father was getting too old to be expected to look after the connie. So we loaned him to the most delightful friend of ours, who adored him, treated him like a prince, and used him to hack gently round checking her livestock. Mutual friends told me how happy she and he were together.

I went to see him after about 3 months. I saw him with her from a distance, and they did look very happy together. When he saw me he became terribly upset, and when I left he tried to push through the fence, and eventually jumped it, neighing frantically to me. I was devastated, as I KNEW he was being beautifully cheriehed, and made the saddest decision - not to visit him again.

The lady and I stayed in constant touch, and I will never forget the tearstained letter I got telling me that he had been PTS through kidley failure. I still have the letter "your little man died with his head in my lap..." She was very experienced with horses, and her comment on his devotion to me was that she'd only seen behaviour like that once before - also with a Connemara.

So - perhaps they RE one-man horses. And the dumping of other riders is your pony's way of telling you so. You may just have to live with it!

 

[shannonandtay]

Thanks for your replies, I will get his saddle checked and the physio is booked already.

Rose folly - this brought a tear to my eye when I read your story. He does seem devoted to my daughter she also has him following her around without a headcollar and in the summer grooms him outside without one on. I keep telling her put a headcollar on him, but she says he likes it . He's a good lad for anyone to handle but does follow her around like a puppy. If its not a pain issue I might just have to accept I won't be riding him daughter has already been told not to let the kids ride him at the moment.

 

[maree t]

You did say that one of the other riders was lighter than your daughter so doesnt make sense if it was a pain issue.
I would still do all the basic checks but perhaps you will need to accept things the way they are.
As for being rounded balanced etc they arent machines and some do have very strong characters and likes and dislikes.
My old cob would go for my OH, he had never done anything to him but he tried to grab him by the throat once. he was the mildest mannered quiet coblet but hated my OH until the day he died.

 

[moodymare123]

my boy is a connemara and panics alot when im not in his eyesight, alot of people have said that me and him just seemed to of 'clicked'.

 

[Spotsrock]

my mare is polite for anyone but really won't jump for anyone but me, not any significant height anyway. Funny really as I'm not great or anything, I just trust and love her!

 

[shannonandtay]

oh yes jumping he can be a bit quirky and I would never jump him myself.

maree t - The last little girl was tiny I doubt even seven stone so quite a bit smaller than my girl.

Moody mare 123 - Funnily enough he can be nervous too and seems happy and content in daughters company. Will see if anything turns up when he's checked out if alls ok then the pair of them are on their own when it comes to riding

 

[Littlelegs]

Mines a connie x tb & very much 'mine'. Anyone can do anything with her, she just goes that extra mile for me, & expresses affection that she doesn't for other humans. I have had her 22yrs though.
Daughters pony is undeniably 'hers' though. I believe because I bought her as a fear aggressive yearling, & daughter being only 3 was never perceived as a threat like any bigger child or adult. So they had an instant bond which just grew. These days pony is fine, but even whilst there's no doubt pony trusts me & likes me, she worships my daughter. And when we still had issues, my daughter could do stuff I couldn't. Ultimate test is the fact I can be feeding pony her fave treats & if my daughter shouts her she'll abandon the food & race whinnying to her. Pony did cope when my daughter was ill once for a week, but their reunion made it clear that however happy pony appears to be, the two of them just have a special bond.

 

[Rose Folly]

Apart from my Connie (see earlier post in this run), at the same time we owned a cob who was my father's 'one man horse'. The cob had been bought for me (I was 13) but he was tremendously strong, and bolted (and I mean BOLTED) with everyone except my father, who rode him in the old-fashioned forward hunting seat, and with the rains always flapping like washing lines. My father hunted until he was 82, and one day, when he was in his late 70s, he took a crashing fall out hunting,when the cob made a very rare mistake while galloping on moorland. My father was unconcsious for a considerable time, and the horse was led away and held at a distance.

Once my father had been got off to hospital with a broken breast-bone (no air ambulance in those days) I hacked home, leading the cob from my pony. He seemd none the worse for his tip-up, but he refused his dinner - and his hay - and his breakfast the next morning, though he did graze in an abstracted way when we turned him out. My father developed bronchitis and became very poorly. The horse steadily was losing weight and was completely lacklustre. So we called the vet in, who could find nothing wrong with him at all.

After 10 days we called the vet back, as what had been a stout old-fashioned cob was now a shadow of his former self. The vet asked suddenly had the horse seen my father since the accident. When we said 'no' he asked if there was any possibility that he could see him. So we led the cob over the lawn and under my father's bedroom windo where my father was helped out of bed and talked to cobbie out of the window. Cobbie's head came up, he stared fixedly at the window and started to whicker. His head was nodding as if he was trying to say something. Then he turned smartly round, dragging me with him back to his stable, where he fell on his haynet and proceeded to eat solidly for the next 24 hours. "My Little Man" as my father always called him, was another 'one man horse' to his dying day.