what to show a young pony?

[dottylottie]

hi guys, me again

does anyone have any fun suggestions for giving a baby pony a bit more life experience at home? obviously we’re doing the long reining/plenty of walking out and seeing things, but i’m a bit stumped on things i can chuck in the arena for some desensitising!

in the last couple of days i’ve been so impressed with how well she’s taken to her new “job”, and i want to keep things interesting for her, and for me lol. she’s not phased by much so far - she’s proving to be more chilled than lily who’s more than double her age

besides things like umbrellas and prams/bicycles, i’ve run out of ideas, will have to see if there’s any road signs that look like they want a new job

 

[Snow Falcon]

Washing lines, balloons, tarpaulins, ikea bags, water trays, flags, drums, space hoppers, streamers, footballs. I used to have 2 small kids running about kicking a football, riding bikes. Perfect, except that they are now vile teenagers instead.

 

[dottylottie]

Washing lines, balloons, tarpaulins, ikea bags, water trays, flags, drums, space hoppers, streamers, footballs. I used to have 2 small kids running about kicking a football, riding bikes. Perfect, except that they are now vile teenagers instead.

these are all really good ideas thankyou! however i don’t think i’d like to have 2 small children, and id be waiting a while for them to be old enough to ride a bike “small child wanted on a share basis: must be able to ride a bike”

the space hopper is a brilliant idea, it’s a shame they won’t bounce very well in an arena and i’ll look rather silly bouncing up the lane on one!

 

[Snow Falcon]

these are all really good ideas thankyou! however i don’t think i’d like to have 2 small children, and id be waiting a while for them to be old enough to ride a bike “small child wanted on a share basis: must be able to ride a bike”

the space hopper is a brilliant idea, it’s a shame they won’t bounce very well in an arena and i’ll look rather silly bouncing up the lane on one!

Oh I think that would make a fab video, you bouncing up the lane!

 

[FitzyFitz]

Going over and under things can be useful. Build an archway or a curtain, and a fake bridge, or tarp. I like doing a wobbly/cluttered surface too, a square of poles filled in with flat plastic bottles or something like that. Preferably something that will move or flip up a bit against the leg or make a noise underfoot

Also use sounds, like ripping Velcro or sudden music or laughter and sneezes. Jumping and skipping around spooks lots of ponies too so worth practicing early on. Get up above their backs on a block nice and early too.

Most of mine get deliberate incompetence when I introduce tack too. Start off being careful, then lightly drop a rope or something on the ground. Keep building up until you can fling grooming brushes under their tummies and remove lunge rollers by yanking on one side and letting it clatter on the ground.
Clearly this is not how you'd treat them most of the time, but accidents happen, sudden gusts, clumsiness, so it's always worth getting them chilled about it early on.
Some don't care right from the start but I've known some to jump a mile if a rug or numnah gets blown off their back.

 

[daydreamer]

With my youngster I used the following ....space hopper, gym ball, tarpaulins, empty plastic feed bags, umbrellas, cones, an multicoloured strip fly screen for a door, throwing the lunge line around. He's pretty curious about things now which is a great help.

 

[J&S]

Horse Agility, Trec, Hoops to step into, squares of poles to turn in, cones to weave through.

 

[dottylottie]

Going over and under things can be useful. Build an archway or a curtain, and a fake bridge, or tarp. I like doing a wobbly/cluttered surface too, a square of poles filled in with flat plastic bottles or something like that. Preferably something that will move or flip up a bit against the leg or make a noise underfoot

Also use sounds, like ripping Velcro or sudden music or laughter and sneezes. Jumping and skipping around spooks lots of ponies too so worth practicing early on. Get up above their backs on a block nice and early too.

Most of mine get deliberate incompetence when I introduce tack too. Start off being careful, then lightly drop a rope or something on the ground. Keep building up until you can fling grooming brushes under their tummies and remove lunge rollers by yanking on one side and letting it clatter on the ground.
Clearly this is not how you'd treat them most of the time, but accidents happen, sudden gusts, clumsiness, so it's always worth getting them chilled about it early on.
Some don't care right from the start but I've known some to jump a mile if a rug or numnah gets blown off their back.

i’m going to have to have a dig through the garage, there’s plenty of tarps and flappy stuff in there!

we’re acing the incompetence so far, today whilst i was putting the roller on i had it the wrong way round multiple times because i couldn’t for the life of me see the middle or figure out which side the “girth” bit was attached to (i promise i’m competent enough to have a 4 year old lmao), and then i got it right but let go and it slid off the other side

i can’t believe i didn’t think of the jumping around! that worked wonders with lily in about 10 minutes, i can’t see diva being overly bothered in the first place though haha

we’ve been doing little bits with the block each day, again she stood there like a rock whilst i draped the rope over her back and jumped up and down on it, i’ll have to introduce plastic bags in each hand haha

 

[FitzyFitz]

i’m going to have to have a dig through the garage, there’s plenty of tarps and flappy stuff in there!

we’re acing the incompetence so far, today whilst i was putting the roller on i had it the wrong way round multiple times because i couldn’t for the life of me see the middle or figure out which side the “girth” bit was attached to (i promise i’m competent enough to have a 4 year old lmao), and then i got it right but let go and it slid off the other side

i can’t believe i didn’t think of the jumping around! that worked wonders with lily in about 10 minutes, i can’t see diva being overly bothered in the first place though haha

we’ve been doing little bits with the block each day, again she stood there like a rock whilst i draped the rope over her back and jumped up and down on it, i’ll have to introduce plastic bags in each hand haha

That's exactly the sort of mistake that happens! Some horses don't fuss but you don't want to find out they hate it at the wrong moment haha.

Best way to prevent spooking in the future is to expose them to as much as possible. Gradually, so you don't over face them and get them shut down. I like to get them to chase/follow scary things. Most of my ponies now will pause if they see something scary, then march forwards and stick their nose on it because that's what I made them all do when they were green!

 

[dottylottie]

That's exactly the sort of mistake that happens! Some horses don't fuss but you don't want to find out they hate it at the wrong moment haha.

Best way to prevent spooking in the future is to expose them to as much as possible. Gradually, so you don't over face them and get them shut down. I like to get them to chase/follow scary things. Most of my ponies now will pause if they see something scary, then march forwards and stick their nose on it because that's what I made them all do when they were green!

that’s what i started doing with lily to stop her being scared of her own shadow - was working brilliantly, until we moved to the new yard and she shoved her face onto the arena fence, and got zapped by the line of electric tape on the top

 

[dorsetladette]

along with all the above suggestions, tarps and big sheets of wood to walk over. I used 18mm OSB as it came free from OH work. we walk over anything we can find, under 'stuff' etc. My babies are both really inquisitive so everything is fun and interesting.

 

[Trouper]

Wheelie bins - if you don't already meet them out long reining. And if you can find a way of recording the sound of bus/lorry air brakes going off..............................!!!

Edited to add - and the sound of empty rattly trailers

 

[Love]

you could try and recreate all the "dangers" we meet out on hacks - although if this was my horse that would equate to a medium sized leaf on the road, a rogue bluebell minding its own business and a cat

In all seriousness though, definitely flappy things that blow around, rustley bags, maybe work up to someone with a lawn mower/strimmer switched on and off?

 

[Titchy Reindeer]

I second the desensitizing to sounds. I once fell off a youngster because I sneezed at the wrong moment! You'll now sometimes hear me riding around coughing if I ever happen to be on a youngster (I promise it's not covid!).
If you're planning on competing / going to events one day, flower pots or small shrubs in pots (that can fall over!) are always good ones to look at.
People! people do the weirdest things! For both horses and the dog I try dancing (YMCA and macarena, spring to mind), jumping up and down, sitting down on the floor. I suppose you could throw in handstands and cartwheels if you really wanted...
You could also try one of those gym ribbons on a stick to twirl around.
Scarecrows / very large cuddly toys. They don't bother my horses but really confuse my poor dog.

 

[cloverlea]

Bring back Clackers, failing that a football rattle. Something that starts up suddenly and does not stop. Has she seen pigs, cattle, sheep, goats or chickens. Emergency vehicles can come out of nowhere with lights and sirens blaring.

 

[Dasher66]

Take wheelie bin for a walk in her field. When safe to do so hold her in a head collar and lead her to follow the bin. If they think the scary thing is moving away from them they tend to be less scared. Also in the field you can stop/start at will or even switch quickly to another activity if she gets too fearful.

 

[SantaVera]

Umbrella velcro and pushchair