Teenagers and horses

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ABC

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Don't mean to stereotype, as I'm a teen too! :D

I have 4 horses, all above 16 hands.
I have one who is out on loan who is 16.2, when I put up the advert for her loan I got ton's of texts and emails from teenagers asking to try her.

The advert did state she was not a novice ride, after all she is a 5 year Selle Francis mare (she is lovely, but I would not stick a beginner on her).

Anyway, I responded to each email/text/phone call I got and spoke to each "applicant". Most of them, didn't have a clue. I wouldn't loan a fish out to them, never mind a horse :D

Don't get me wrong, there were a few who knew what they were talking about, and came and tried her, but why (in general) do teens over horse themselves?

I know, to an extent I'm a hypocrite because Im having trouble with my four year old :o

But out of the 8 teenagers who came to see my mare, I would only have considered one. The other seven were either nervous, or too confident, to the point that it came across as arrogant. :rolleyes:

I offered one teen a chance to ride a 15.2 cob I had at the time and she laughed in my face and said "cob? no thanks!" before bursting out laughing again.

Is there "prestige" with riding a TB or a warmblood? :confused:

I understand there are some great teens out their who defy all their stereotypes, but I don't understand it...

What wrong with riding a 15.2 cob? :D
 
I don't understand some of them either (trying to not be hypocritical as I'm a teen) I dislike the ones who never take any really good advice as they already know it all.

I had a loaner a couple of years back for my 'normal' pony whilst I was focused on my games pony and she thought she'd just come and ride, she quit after a week because she realised she needed to much out and poo pick and all the other chores.
 
One of my big hates too! Straight off a 13hh to a 16hh something (usually TB or TBx) with the bigger the better attitude, thinking it must prove they're a better rider or something due to having a bigger horse.

When they do have problems & realise they're overhorsed, never admit it & gradually you see the horse covered in gadgets from gags & martingales to draw reins & market harboroughs!

There's me 24 years old, just shy of 6ft on my 14.3hh section D that I broke in myself & loving it!

Idiots!
 
I'm a teenager too and it is the one thing that gets my goat, im at a very well known equine college and see SO many people who have more money than sense here, buy these big young warmbloods with a lot of blood and spirit in them and SO much potential, ride it in spurs feed it alfalfa and comp. mix and wonder why its hot?!!! so then on the draw reins go and they think theyre winning, they then turn their noses up at my 16.3hh thoroughbreddy ISH (who is the of love of my life alongside my welshie i might add) and then they see him under saddle, in a snaffle no martingale, no gadgets a schooling whip at most which he is rarely touched with and all go ooooooo doesnt he work nicely *smug me* and it is something i will NEVER understand....sad isnt it :(
 
Well I cerntantly dont count, I am a teen but I have a 14.2 connie :D. I was the opposite when horse searching as I knew I would have little support from parents not because they are not supportive but they are not horsey and decided I would be better off getting a pony that I could enjoy and would do most of what a flashier horse would but without as many difficulties. The ammount of people I see that are my age that are over horsed but think they look good because they are on a flashy horse that they only ride once a week or if there is some one there to help them, its not worth it they all cost lots so you might as well get one that you can enjoy (ok maybe my boy dosent cost as much as he has no shoes and minimal hard feed but shhhh).
 
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i'm a teen and i must say i have ridden my friends 16.3hh horse but i felt very over horsed and woudnt want to have to ride one everyday! i do like my smaller ones, but as i'm only 5"1 i am small with short legs so i look too small on 16+hh horses. i like riding 14hh as it isnt that far to fall either :D
 
The joys of humans :cool:

As a teenager, I rode anything with four legs. Was just happy to be able to ride :D

D1 rides everything from 13.3hh Traditional cob to my 16.3hh DWB, and that includes cobs, NF, and TB. She's just happy to ride :D. She has the Trad cob and a 16.1hh-ish IDxTB :D
 
All of my horses are big, but I didnt buy them for their height whatsoever, infact I wish they were smaller.

I'm 19, and I know when I was 15/16 I would not have been able to handle a 16.2 ridden and on the ground.

Kokopelli - That is so cheeky! I would have been fuming!

Elliecjno1 (hope I got it right ;) ) - Thats the thing, all these horses end up as "problem horses" or overloaded with gadgets, when really if they went to a responsible adult, or teen, who knew what they were doing they'd most likely be fine.

My 17.1 is ridden in a martingale, in all honesty, he probably doesnt need it, but I have it as a safety precaution. the rest are ridden in a bridle and saddle. they seem to be fine ;)

The thing that gets on my nerves the most is the arrogance. I want advice on things, I need advice on things, I listen to advice on things. I can't understand why anyone wouldn't want advice? :confused: you never stop learning, and everyone has different methods which may be suitable for your horse so its worth having a try!

Glad its not just me picking on teenagers :o :p
 
MrsMozart said:
D1 rides everything from 13.3hh Traditional cob to my 16.3hh DWB, and that includes cobs, NF, and TB. She's just happy to ride :D. She has the Trad cob and a 16.1hh-ish IDxTB :D
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I was exactly the same! All my current horses are big, but I did have a 13.1 NF at the same time as my 17.1 , TBH I think I had more fun on the NF than I did/do on the giant! :D Ponies are the best! (Except from my lot...obviously :rolleyes: :p )
 
I'm a teenager and I have a very naughty 13.3 cob who can jump but nervous so not exactly a showing off type. Last year I went down the route of getting a 15.2 TB x and hated it. All he wanted to do was gallop and buck with no character to him in anyway, I hated it. So went back to me cheeky, fun, loving cob :D
I don't understand some people, I think they should be grateful for what they've got, if it were up to me they wouldn't even have a pet rock the amount they care for animals.
 
I do wonder why people want these huge flashy horses when they aren't capable.

My dream pony (apart from Koko) was my old 12hh mounted games pony (sorry Andy) he was so cheeky and so much fun. He reared on command and bucked and would bolt and I just loved it! Miss the little guy so much but would rather have 100 Sparkys than one 16.2 WB. :p
 
I don't know, at our yard they seem to be pretty sensible. There were a couple who did proper competing who had horses at 16.2+, but I wouldn't have said they were over-horsed by them. Most of the teenagers at ours now have horses in the 14.0-15.2 height bracket. Except my sister, who's 15 and has a 16.2 ISH - but she's tall for her age and he's the most quiet, laid back beastie I've ever met.

I got a 15.1 when I was 14, he was PTS six months ago, I'm now 22.
 
I have a 15.2 cob advertised on loan. If I had a pound for all the times Ive had a 13 year old email/call me wanting him on loan I'd be rich!
 
im 5ft 6 and feel small on anything below 16hh mainly because i ride stupidly long lol, but if i wasnt capable of handling a particular horse i wouldnt hesitate to own up to that fact simply because i thought it looked impressive to have that particular horse, at what point is that fun???

i agree with OP that is the 'no advice' attitude which is the worst, im 18 and im under no illusions as to what i do and do not know, i will always ask people more knowledgeable for advice or opinions if i am unsure, ill read things, ill research things. we all learn all our lives after all!
 
Kokopelli said:
I do wonder why people want these huge flashy horses when they aren't capable.

My dream pony (apart from Koko) was my old 12hh mounted games pony (sorry Andy) he was so cheeky and so much fun. He reared on command and bucked and would bolt and I just loved it! Miss the little guy so much but would rather have 100 Sparkys than one 16.2 WB. :p
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Not quite the same but I have 4 horses. 1 mare (the one on loan) competing in dressage. She's big and flashy etc, but not for me.
I have a 17.1 who jumps like a stag and hunts like their no tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I love him to pieces, but if someone came along who could offer him a good home, he'd be gone.
Same with my TB X mare, who jumps 1.30 easily (I dont have the guts to go any higher :o )
However my unrideable 4 year old TB - I would never sell.

My others are "perfect", perfect ground manners, perfect ridden, but not perfect for me!
My TB, there's something about him, I just love him. Just wish I could ride him :rolleyes: :p
 
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It's not just the teens, it's their parents too. Last year I was selling a horse that was too much for me, big flasy IDx. Beautiful lad but I had a couple of falls and lost my confidence, anyway, placed ad, said all I'd done was hack him,not done any jumping, would benefit from more schooling etc, etc. So, a mother calls me and wants him for her 13 year old daughter coming off ponies and wanting to compete, jumping was her thing, will he jump a course?... I don't know, ok my daughter is super talented, she'll teach him...ok. Can I guarantee he'll be safe, no I can't as he's not a machine, super hack and safe but no guarantee's. At which point I said he probably wouldn't be suitable for a young girl as he's a big, strong boy and he doesn't sound like what she wants. Oh but she'd really like him beacuse he's so handsome and would be a real head turner for her daughter at shows! Goodbye.
Oh, just recently same lady has placed an ad selling the horse they must've bought instead, it's too much for her daughter!!!
 
I suppose I'd never thought of the parents because mine are non-horsey and just kind of go along with whatever I say..:o

Saying that at my yard there is a 13 year old with a 17.3 black warmblood, who they paid 15 k for :eek:

I've had 7 horses, I've paid less than 5k for all of them put together:o
 
its not just teenagers its kids as well when i used to help at a riding stables as a teenager there were kids of under 12 getting 4 yo because they were cheap and the parents thought they could grow up together, 16h horse because they could jump really big and their parents didn't want to keep having to buy new ponies when they grew out of them or child was tall for their age ?! Encouraged by the kids who wanted bigger and better horses then their mates to show off.
i got asked to go and ride a pony for a 10 yo as it was getting out of hand. the mother was totally unhorsey and seemed to think that everything her child said about horses was right. The pony was a very lovely but very strong, uneducated young fell pony that walked all over them as they had absolutely no idea i was absolutely amazed
 
Sharer is only 15 but she is almost 6ft tall and learnt to ride in Poland where they don't seem to use as many ponies as we do. We tried for ages to find a loan for her but people did not want to know mostly due to her age and partly because although she is tall she is slim and does not look very strong. She looks ok on a 15.2 but much smaller and she looks very leggy. She is phenomenally strong (lifts the 50K hayledge bales like they are nothing) and very capable. Says she feels more confident on bigger horses. Having seen her jump a strange horse of 16.1 1m30 the other day yet bottle out of 50cm on a pony yesterday I believe her!!

What miffs me as much as overhorsed teens (sisters horse came to us being jumped and ridden exclusively in a market harborough as it was 'mental' is actually a very sweet horse but not right at 16hh as a step up from a 13.2 BS pony for a 14 y/o girl, now on loan to Sharer!) is tall pot hunting teens on 13.2's who refuse to move up because they can win in their age group. Ponies may carry the weight but the height unbalances them and you see some very creative positions as they crank the stirrups up to avoid hitting the jumps with their feet.
 
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My YO's teenage daughter was a 'cob snob'...then she had a go on my 15hh pocket rocket and she begs me now to have a go!! She cannot wait to get her hands on him for XC..she keeps saying oh those jumps will scare you let me take him round!!! Lol!! She's already started on nagging me to let her take him hunting this season...no chance he's mine!!:D
 
LaurenM said:
I have a 15.2 cob advertised on loan. If I had a pound for all the times Ive had a 13 year old email/call me wanting him on loan I'd be rich!
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Oh yes absolutely, usually in 'text speak' and wanting to know how high she can jump and how fast she can go! :rolleyes:
Not to generalise you understand..!!;)
 
I do think its a teenage and young adult thing - swap boys for girls and cars for horses and you see exactly the same thing. All young people think they are going to live for ever and are invincible which is why so many come to grief big style. Throw in the showing-off factor and look what you've got. A friend of mine years ago advertised for a sharer on her older but Arab (!!) mare. One teenage girl turned up saying how she could do everything then proceeded to mount up and nearly fall off in canter, and refuse thereafter to go above a very wobbly trot. I think alot of people who reply to ads for loaners or sharers are people who have been riding in a local RS and are looking to "go independent". Trouble is they don't realise that most riding school inmates are totally institutionalised and a horse outside of that life is a whole different ballgame.
 
hmmm my parents always said i was an odd teen lol, i was never happier than when i was messing about on the 13-14hh ponies lol, didn't want to ride the big horses at college, i was happy with the 15hh tbx that no one else wanted to ride 'cos she was too small':)
Now i'm not a teen:( i have a 17hh and a 15hh, 17hh girl was gifted to me and i love her to bits but she's not what i would have chosen to buy, the thing is aftr riding her for so long now if i get on anything under 15hh i do feel like i'm on a shetland:o
 
When I was a teen I rode what was available to me, and those were mainly ponies and TBs. When I was 14 I rode a 16.3 TB, 'cos that's all that was available at the time! I only ever rode two cobs as a teen, there just weren't many about, and one of those was one of the best hunters I have ever ridden.

I really didn't care what I rode when I was a teen, as long as it was forward going and would jump!
 
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I understand there are alot of teenagers like this but its not always true and actually gets pritty annoying that because your a 'teen' you obviously are not as capable of handling or riding horses and you should just maybe ride something 'safe' for novices.
I started riding at 5 and am now 16. I rode all sorts of horses/ ponies anything that nobody else really wanted to or was scared too. The second pony i loaned was a youngster and i managed to teach her things like basic schooling and eventually to jump, she was a little stubbon new forest pony.
The first pony i owned was a whizzy 12.2hh pony who nobody else wanted cause he was strong and fast. I loved riding ponies but out grew him.

I ended up jumping straight for 12.2hh to a 16.1hh TB because my parents didnt want to go through selling horses. I was only 12 at the time which to most people might sound abit strange to have such a big animal but i would always ask for help if i needed it and always willing to learn. Never have i felt over horsed even if he played up and i think its a personal choice. i didnt go looking for a big horse to buy he just came about by chance by a friend. However it is annoying when teens think they know everything and that having a bigger/ flashy horse makes them a better rider.

When i got my TB i realised how much you need to adapt to a horses needs and how much more work they are compared to ponies, but i wouldnt change a thing. I would love to have a pony though. :)
 
showjumper16 said:
I understand there are alot of teenagers like this but its not always true and actually gets pritty annoying that because your a 'teen' you obviously are not as capable of handling or riding horses and you should just maybe ride something 'safe' for novices.
I started riding at 5 and am now 16. I rode all sorts of horses/ ponies anything that nobody else really wanted to or was scared too. The second pony i loaned was a youngster and i managed to teach her things like basic schooling and eventually to jump, she was a little stubbon new forest pony.
The first pony i owned was a whizzy 12.2hh pony who nobody else wanted cause he was strong and fast. I loved riding ponies but out grew him.

I ended up jumping straight for 12.2hh to a 16.1hh TB because my parents didnt want to go through selling horses. I was only 12 at the time which to most people might sound abit strange to have such a big animal but i would always ask for help if i needed it and always willing to learn. Never have i felt over horsed even if he played up and i think its a personal choice. i didnt go looking for a big horse to buy he just came about by chance by a friend. However it is annoying when teens think they know everything and that having a bigger/ flashy horse makes them a better rider.

When i got my TB i realised how much you need to adapt to a horses needs and how much more work they are compared to ponies, but i wouldnt change a thing. I would love to have a pony though. :)
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I certainly don't think all teens are incompetant. In fact I know plenty of teens that are much better riders than me I'm rubbish. My own 13 year old daughter regularly handles my 15.2 4 year old, but I wouldn't have let her even be around my previous 16.2 11 year old as he was big, sharp and strong.
I think the point was, certainly in my experience when selling, some teens wanted a big, flashy horse regardless of it being the right horse for them and whether or not they'd be able to ride/handle the horse.
 
I'm 17 and have a 15.2hh tb x Appaloosa although looks breed didn't come in to it when I was buying it was temperement and safeness etc and something suitable for what I was planning on doing
I admit I ride in spurs Martingale and flash but for a reason
Martingale for jumping and my safety device :) my spurs as sometimes he needs perked up a bit and he responds to spurs 10 times better than a whip
And my flash Noseband because he opens his mouth when Turning to evade bit
I would love to ride in a plain cavesson he looks so much nicer!

I had originally looked for a 16.2hh however I felt more comfortable on a 15.2hh even if I am 5ft 11"!
I admit my last pony was 13.2hh however I had had a 5 year break from Riding to do athletics at national level so I had grown a bit !
 
Hehe, I went from 13hh ponies (on their tip toes) to a 4yo 16.1 that as a 6yo is now bordering 17hh and yes I'm a teenager ;)


(I had been riding a 15.2/3 for their owner for over a year though :p )


As for the cobist views I love welsh cobs and there's a 16.1 chunky monkey I would love to take hunting (not keen on traditional coloured cobs though :O)
 
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I can't understand anyone who is over confident of their ability or who buys a much bigger horse than they actually need and end up with something completely unsuitable. In fact one of my biggest pet peeves is people who think they're better than they are!
Rather cocky 14yr old boy on my yard has been riding about 10 months now, has a cute little pony on loan who he has clearly out grown size wise and now plans on getting something 16h+ because he's a natural and is better than everyone else on the yard because he doesn't even need lessons! If I didn't think he'd tug her mouth out I'd get him to sit on my 15h 6yr old appy x to prove that even she would over horse him!! (Not that I want to sound cocky about my own ability- I have weekly lessons and a basic standard of riding and she's very sensitive to the rider's seat!)
 
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