Second pony for my daughter-questions!

T

tinkerflight

Active Member
Joined
19 December 2013
Messages
39
Visit site
My 7 year old daughter currently has a little 11 hh Welsh section A who she does pony club on, has lesson and hacks out with me. She is very keen and a nice quiet rider, but her riding instructor feels that she has reached her limit on her pony. He is much more of a lead rein/first pony as he can be lazy and doesn't like jumping. She is desperate to do more at pony club and do more jumping so I am starting to think about getting her another pony.
I will put her pony out on loan(hopefully to a friend who is interested in having him). This is mainly because I am a soft touch and adore him and don't want to lose control of where he goes. He'll always have a home with me!
I am wondering what size pony to go for. She has ridden a 13.2 new forest and looked just right on her, but not much room for growth, which means that she might well have outgrown this size relatively quickly. I know this is inevitable, but I can't ever bring myself to sell them so may end up with 100 ponies of varying sizes as she grows. She rode my friends 14hh Welsh section C at the weekend and didn't look really over horses on her.
Would I be silly to look for something 14 hh plus? I don't want to over horse her and risk her losing her confidence, but at the same time I would like to avoid ending up with lots of ponies.
Any advice/experiences you could give me would be greatly received.
 
I can't think that a pony that size is not too big, how does she get on it? If you get her a pony that big she will be competing against much older children or even adults. Why don't you try to loan the in between pony and then it will go home and you won't have too sell
 
Is she extremely tall for her age? my livery is nearly 10 and is only just ok on her very fine full up 13.2 show pony type, she will have at least another 12 months before she gets the best out of him and will possibly be too big by the following year, although he will hopefully take her through until she is 12.
I hate seeing children on ponies that are too big for them you have to accept they will outgrow them after a few years a sec c will potentially be a big strong pony, way beyond a 7 year old, if she were my child or a clients I would be sticking to a good 12.2 she can make the most of while she is young enough to do so, get tough and sell them on, a good pony will always be desirable or loan so they can go back but don't wish away her years of fun on little ponies.
 
With one of mine at that stage/age I went for a 12.2, and her next pony was 14.2 before she went on to horses. My second daughter went from 12hh to 13.2, then onto horses. Both of them did games to 16+ on the little ponies. Second the desirability of competing in her own age group as long as possible
 
How tall is she?

I'm just over 5ft2 and am more than happy on my 13hh pony. I can only just about get on him from the ground when out hacking (not as flexible and bouncy as I used to be!).

Don't overhorse the poor lass!
 
You could always look at loaning her something - a friend of mine has two daughters, who both compete in pony club, and they have a couple of owned ponies and a couple of loaned ponies. Means they can give them back and get something bigger when they need to.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top