Riding lessons "V" loaning small pony for my children.

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SALLYT

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I have 2 boys, my eldest just adores animals particulary horses and is proving to be a lovely little rider and so enjoys his riding and coming up with mum to do hers at the weekend and nights when he can.My youngest has now also started to ride . At the moment I am paying a tad under £40 per week for them to ride for 30mins and the quality of teaching is not all it should be , buts that's a different issue.

I could for £75 per month have a pony on loan at my yard ,if I could find one .with my horse and give them lessons myself and maybe once month let them have a visiting instructer, they could ride certainly more than 30 mins a week and I know it would be loved to death. I wouldn't expect them to come up every night with me because they want to play with friends etc, but certainly every other night and at weekends.
I would be happy to be the main "owner "for the little ned if it meant they would get more out of it then the 30 min they do know.

Is this thought unreasonable?

I know there are other costs involved , ie feet, food, etc, but that just goes without saying.
 
I was taught at a riding school, where I then became a helper, helping out after school and weekends. I think that gave me the opportunity to ride tons and tons of different horse, ploddy, naughty, young, bronkers, etc., and therefore I became a braver better rider. I always thought when I have a kiddy, this will be the way to go until they are an established rider and know how to look after horses before they get their own, However I realise that times have changed.. A LOT and the £15 which bought us a whole day at the stables doesn't go anywhere now and there isn't the same opportunity for kids to learn the stable management side of things, so I am now thinking that loaning/owning a suitable pony might be the way to go financially and to get that hands on experience of looking after rather than just riding. however, I think it would need a lot of teaching input from you.
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It's not unreasonable - I did it

How old are they?
You do realise this is a very slippery slope. Currently you can withdraw lessons should the need arrise. the pony on the other hand still needs to be looked after and at this time of year especially worked to keep slim.
Small ponies become big ponies, or even more than one pony if both stay keen. then you need a nice horse to be able to escort on hacks, then you find you never ride as your forever the ground crew, chauffer etc.

Can you manage a pony without comprimising your horse time and ambitions?
 
ongo247- I totally agree with what you are saying especially the riding of different ponies etc. But by the time the lesson starts etc we've lost a good 5 mins and I have taught him about riding on the correct diagonal etc as this has never been mentioned.

I don't mind doing the bulk of it as they are only young, but the financial side of things has got me thinking of a better way. I certainly would loan a pony out to start with rather than buy to see how things progressed.

We have a lovely yard with great facilites and would love to share my hobby with them rather than just watch them for the 20 mins I do now.
 
I am really just jealous as I'd love to be in your position but my daughter is not keen on ponies at all, so bear in mind that anything i say will be tinged by the green-eyed monster
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....I think its a good idea assuming your boys are genuinely keen and WILL put the work in, as well as persevering with the riding. At their age, much of the balance stuff is second nature to them, and they will find it much easier than learning when they are older, plus as you say, the sheer length of time they can spend in the saddle will be more beneficial than just lessons.

that said, Tigger_Alfie makes a very important point. What if your boys REALLY get the bug? What if they want to PC, show, hunt, jump, etc? Are you a competitive rider? Are you happy to give up your own hopes of competing, to be chef d'equipe for the boys ?
 
Tigger_Alffie.

They are 10 & 7, and it would be one pony only. My horse is very sane out on the roads and to be honest if I wanted to trot off alittle while and walk back my OH would be happy to lead or walk with them, often if I go for a hack in the evening its a family affair anyway, we hack to our local, have a drink then bobby off again.

My OH would always help out, but I appreciate its would be more time consuming than just mine, but tbh I do faff around with mine, so do waste alot of time.
 
I got my son a pony on loan last year, he also comes in useful for a companion, he is 12.2hh and costs literally nothing to keep in the way of food! Infact i have to watch his weight, i already have nice rented facilities so i have no extra livery costs, just his maintenance. Miles cheaper for me than taking him for lessons.
 
Trundle- when I was pregnant I was hoping for the girls , so we could do pony club etc, so If I can do it with the boys then great, but we are along way off that in reality.

No I'm not a competitive rider really, just starting on the dressage front , but just local level.

I am keen on this idea because my eldest son has never ever ever asked me for anything even on his birthdays or christmas's and cannot show any signs of excitement of any kind in any situation, all except his riding he loves it, so I am so keen to encourage him , and I don't mean push him,as it is so nice to see him show some emotion.

I have the backing and support of my OH, but alot will depend on finding the right pony, if I go ahead with it.
 
I did it for my daughter when she was 11 shes now 14 it was the best thing I ever did we both ride 5 or 6 times a week.The instructor at the riding yard told people she would never be any good .Last week she competed on her 14 2 and took two rosettes from 16 h jumping horses at our local show.She loves pc club and has just completed her c test.If you have the time to look after 2 horses go for it its hard work but the benefits are great.The first pony we had was 12 2 and we had some fantastic hacks out with him.You are very lucky with your oh mines not interested so I have to look after both our horses apart from in the hols. Unfortunately my tb is just not suitable for her at the moment but the way she is going I will probably lose him to pc next year.Have fun!!!!!
All the ponies we have had have been on loan and the last one has just been extended for another year
 
Sounds like you have already convinced yourself!
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Go for it. If it's a loan pony then it's not the end of the world if your sons decide, in a years time, that girls and footie are more interesting. But I'd personally relish every minute of them wanting to play with ponies!
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I am a bit biased as I got my 3 year old daughter a pony last year and she absolutely loves it. She's not great at mucking out yet, but she'll gladly scrub water buckets and try to sweep up.
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I think you should go for it! I started off at a riding school when i was 7 and found that I didn't get enough from riding for 30 minutes once a week but my parents couldnt afford to let me have more lessons at the time and having my own pony was out of the question as we didn't know enough to look after one. You are lucky as you are in the position where you know enough to look after the pony and teach the boys yourself - if my parents had been able to do all that they would have got me my own when i was much younger - I got my first fat hairy monster when I was 9.

What is the issue here - is it just that they are boys and not girls? All you have to do is go to a local show and you will see dozens of small children, some as young as 2 or 3 on their own ponies. By getting one on loan, if you find yourself in the position where they move on to proper 'boy' stuff then you won't have the problems that go with selling a family pet as it is usually fairly easy to find a new loan family. What about talking to the ILPH or Blue Cross for a loan pony? They often have small ponies that could be suitable for your boys and again, if the boys outgrow riding then there will be no problem with returning the pony.
 
There are pros and cons - for instance your child will benefit from riding all different ponies at the riding school - however, if you have your own, they will come on faster as they will be riding several times each week.

My daughters had fortnightly lessons at a riding school for about a year, then we moved house and they rode a local pony once a week - it cost me £40 for them to have a lesson with a local instructor on this pony.

Anyway, looked around for a loan pony and got 'Tom' a lovely steady 13.2. We had him for 18 mths and my girls just learnt so so much on him. Also it cost me around £20 per week livery and we could ride him every day if we wanted to (and the children DID want to). They also learned to look after him and their tack too which they may not have done at the riding school.

However, it is a slippery slope - we now have a trailer and are looking for a JC jumping pony and so the original idea of 'a pony to trot round the lanes on' has expanded no end !
 
I think you should go for it....

if it makes you feel any better I have "aquired" for want of a better term a section A for my kids!.... the fact that "my kids!" do not even exist yet is in my mind a moot point. I will get to "play" with the little chap and break him to drive in readyness for the day when the "non existant" become existant.
 
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Trundle- when I was pregnant I was hoping for the girls , so we could do pony club etc, so If I can do it with the boys then great, but we are along way off that in reality.

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My neighbour's sons both do PC. The elder one is about 14 or 15 and has been in PC since he was about 8 or 9. He went off it for a little bit, but then it suddenly dawned on him that he was one of very few boys in a VERY girly, hormone-driven environment, and I suspect he has never been happier !

If you can keep them into ponies through that "girls are stupid and i'd rather play footy" stage, they usually relish being that rare creature, a horsy boy, once puberty kicks in.
 
[ QUOTE ]
It's not unreasonable - I did it

How old are they?
You do realise this is a very slippery slope. Currently you can withdraw lessons should the need arrise. the pony on the other hand still needs to be looked after and at this time of year especially worked to keep slim.
Small ponies become big ponies, or even more than one pony if both stay keen. then you need a nice horse to be able to escort on hacks, then you find you never ride as your forever the ground crew, chauffer etc.

Can you manage a pony without comprimising your horse time and ambitions?

[/ QUOTE ]

You never know you may then need to borrow a nice cob to hack out with the kids too!
 
Panda2007 the girl/boy thing isn't an issue at all , i was just trying to say ,obviously not very well ,that as a mum to be I wanted to do the lead rein/pony club thing , and I had an image in my mind of a cute girl with pigtails on a pony- strange I know.

The fact that I was blessed with 2 lovely boys with no pigtails is fine, the fact that they enjoy horses is even more fine .
I wonder if I could get them to wear pink jods !!
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ETS the pink jods are a joke.

 
Having two, is not a lot more work than one, its when you step up to three or four it gets tricky! In my humble opinion having a pony will teach your kids loads about responsibility and hard work and will be worth every penny.
 
Go for it and join the Pony club - cheaper than paying for private instruction and is nice and social for them too!
 
sorry not keen on riding schools. IMO you'll learn loads more witha pony of your own. my friend whos a skinny little 16year old has been riding my jack whos a 17hh irish draft whos v. strong she went for a lesson last week at local riding school and was told that she needs to be more forward going thinking ?!?! sorry but she had to kick repeatedly the poor horse to get him to move you only have to squeeze jack. says it all.
 
My eldest wanted lessons but looking at the prices we worked out it was cheaper to buy a pony. So we did.

The only thing i find is having time to do everything. With kids in tow everything takes longer, and so trying to muck out, tack up, get them riding and make sure the pony gets a decent amount of exercise takes ages... they will also always know better than you lol.

Mine don't come down during the week in the winter to ride so pony tends to get the winter off. Even on weekends though sometimes it's hard to tear the eldest away from the telly.. so he's told he doesnt get to ride unless he does his chores.

I've also found having two kids having a meltdown at the yard because one wants to do the feed and the other won't hand over the scoop gets tedious, as does both fighting under the (weary) pony's belly over a dandy brush... One pony soon becomes two....
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My daughter started at a local riding school aged 5, progressing from sitting on our ILPH pony at home. I soon became fed up of paying quite a lot of money for her to be led around by 12 year olds. I bought a pony for £300 (this was some time ago!) and taught her the basics myself. Every few weeks she had a lesson at another, better riding school. This worked out brilliantly as she had all the fun of messing about with her pony at home, but I had the reassurance of qualified instructors taking her on through the stages. It must have worked because at 20 she competes regularly and has her own horse. We also still have that little £300 pony
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i
 
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