schooling a shetland - advice please

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Field04

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I have a shetland type pony for my children. She is great on hacks, which is mainly what we do. But when I have tried lunging exercises with daughter on board she is not so keen. To be fair she is not keen on the lunge with no one on board as does not really seem to understand what to do. I am going to set up an area fenced off in the field which will be a designated work area for her. What other exercises could I do with her to get her used to being schooled so my girls can do ground poles etc with her and not just hacking out. As my girls are young and at school I would like to be able to work her while they are at achool as well.

Thanks
 
Well they say practice makes perfect.. So maybe practic lunging without a rider until she knows what she's doing solo? Then put your daughter back on when the pony knows how to handle herself.
You may be able to progress to free-schooling? My pony (although not a Shetland) used to be very difficult - skittish, uncooperative, nervous.. So she didn't really like to be lunged. But when we moved to a yard with a round pen, I had a lot of success with free-schooling :)
Maybe if you persevere with lunging or free-schooling her without a rider, you could introduce the things you want your daughters to be able to do with her in one of those ways first? Then it won't be such a shock to her when she's asked to do it while ridden :)
 
I have a 10.3hh Sec A whos 6YO and if she isnt exercised every day becomes very sharp. I started her lunging and she didnt understand it at all, she would rear and bronk, in fact she would try and throw everything she had at me! I took her day after day after day, I taught her the commands of walk, trot, canter in hand, and then over the days allowed her to move away from me, until about 10 days (yes it took a while!) she trotted around me. each day after that I went through everything from the day before, but let her trot 3 laps of me, and so it went on, after about 3 months she was happily lunging over poles and fences, and I would take her out on the long reins as well for a change of scenery, and via the long reins she learnt not to follow a human handler only as so many lead rein ponies do, and to listen to the voice and commands she was getting from me along her sides via the reins, but a word of warning be very aware that when you are long reining you are connected directly to the ponies mouth. in order to continue giving her nice strong leg commands along her sides via the reins, I attached 1 heavy pair to a lunge caverson, and a light weight pair to the bit so that I didnt muddle them up, and didnt sock the pony in the mouth when I was asking it to move forward or away from the pressure of the rein on her side.

Sorry a bit long, but I hope that makes sense :confused:
 
Perhaps get another mum involved to help you to lunge or longrein.
Longreining will prob help the most in reinforcing commands & getting a mouth.
Whereas lunging will be best for the child to progress on board.

My daughter aged 5 would happily help me out with lunging & lungreining the shetties & small other breeds. (as long as the pony was a sensible type) she knew if I said let go, that I meant now & do not question what I said :)

One thing to be very aware of with small childrens ponies is to please not get them too fit for those little ones who are just going off the leadrein.

Hope you find a happy medium :)

edited to add: My mini now loves 'doing' things - lunges & longreins - and will be coming out hacking on a tow rope soon off FLF ;)
 
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Some interesting points and advice so thank you. I like the idea of long reining, not so sure she will though!! Also good point to not get her too fit for my young children. Your right, its finding a happy medium of keeping the weight off, keeping her schooled but not overly fit. We had a go at lunging today, then me next to her over some poles and voice commands of stop, forward and back.

Well she was not happy but we did get a couple of times round on the lunge until she decided to head for me and turn her back on me trying to buck at me. It was a bit of a battle to see who is boss today, which left me with one very cross pony. However, I feel like I won. We did get a bit of lunge work in, even if she was having to be sent back out a lot. We did get over a couple of poles on the floor but that was with me running next to her. The forward command was ok but she was refusing to budge with going backwards. I rewarded her even when we got one step going back, so hopefully she will get the idea. I am going to work with her everyday, whether it be walking over poles, voice commands and will give the long reining a go.
 
It sounds like you are literally running before you can walk. I'd take the pony back to basics, teach the pony to stay out on the circle, halt and walk, trot when asked. It sounds like he has never been lunged and they need to learn the ropes and be balanced

I don't mean any offence if you are experienced with lunging but I get the impression you aren't
 
WelshD said:
It sounds like you are literally running before you can walk. I'd take the pony back to basics, teach the pony to stay out on the circle, halt and walk, trot when asked. It sounds like he has never been lunged and they need to learn the ropes and be balanced

I don't mean any offence if you are experienced with lunging but I get the impression you aren't
Click to expand...

Thanks, but not sure you understood what I had typed. She only did walk and trot on the circle a few times. Of course at first she kept coming in, but I did get her out on the circle and finished on a good note. The rest of the work was not on the lunge. The poles on the ground were a seperate ground work exercise and the other commands were also a seperate groundwork exercise. Hope this is clearer now.
 
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