Why no children?

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Limbo1

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I always keep an eye on the ponies for loan/sale as I have 2 kids and the eldest is growing like a weed. She is also very nervous so I know when the time comes for a new pony it will not be quick.

I am amazed how many people say no children when advertising a 13.2/14 hh pony! There are not that many small adults out there who want to ride ponies as opposed to horses surely. I understand there may be ponies not suitable for kids but I wonder if people are being too picy??
 
Do you think they mean no children to ring/text them? ie no kids saying they want a pony and messing seller around for a laugh, they want enquiries from the parents only, as theyl be the ones paying for the pony?
 
The problem is that plenty of ponies are not suitable for children!

Also people seem to be after a magical always well behaved one, of which I know 1! (And she still apparently got over excited and bucked at pony club when as a whole I would put any child on her)

My friend moved to Denver USA 2 years ago and her 7 year old rides horses- yes they are 'too big' but they are better behaved! 13 or 16 hands- a child can't hold them if they decide to misbehaved anyway
 
stormox said:
Do you think they mean no children to ring/text them? ie no kids saying they want a pony and messing seller around for a laugh, they want enquiries from the parents only, as theyl be the ones paying for the pony?
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No often says things like not a childs pony due to - age, sensitivity, ability, schooling, too loved the list goes on. Just read one that then said weight limit too.
 
Limbo1 said:
No often says things like not a childs pony due to - age, sensitivity, ability, schooling, too loved the list goes on. Just read one that then said weight limit too.
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Well tbh its best to know that a pony isn't suitable for a child..it saves wasting everyone's time. I think a weight limit is a good idea too.
 
cobgoblin said:
Well tbh its best to know that a pony isn't suitable for a child..it saves wasting everyone's time. I think a weight limit is a good idea too.
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I was just musing. But it did surprise me that on a site I looked at nearly all the ponies around 14 hh said no kids in various ways. Who do they think is going to buy/loan them?? There are plenty of teenagers who ride far better than me but would be precluded from these.
Not looking forward to the next pony shopping.
 
I was looking for a light weight adult to ride and loan my pony. I was pretty sure he would be to sharp for a child. The first adult who took him fell off and was scared of him And then starved him. I got him back as soon as I saw he was not being looked after. His second loaner is fifteen. She hopped up without a care and he responded to her confidence, he adores her and she him. She is still a novice but rides without fear and he looks after her, I ceased to exist the moment he laid eyes on her. My pony turned out to be a child's pony, I was gobsmacked. She looks after him with love, unlike the piece of **** that had him first. His long mane is braided and combed nearly everyday and pictures posted. Often I think these young riders and owners/ loaners are unrated.
 
I could do with finding a lightweight rider for my 12.3 at some point to do stuff that I and my 3yo daughter cannot. He won't be perfect (although I've tried and still try to make him an unflappable sort since backing him last year) but he's not in any way nasty and you can learn by falling off occasionally.
 
It's hard because just because ponies may be small it doesn't necessarily mean they are suitable for children. I have a 13hh pony who is currently ridden by a small adult but would probably be suitable for a confident, experienced child, a 14hh pony who would in all probability kill a child...he's tried it with enough adults to now be a permanent field ornament!.
 
Limbo1 said:
I was just musing. But it did surprise me that on a site I looked at nearly all the ponies around 14 hh said no kids in various ways. Who do they think is going to buy/loan them?? There are plenty of teenagers who ride far better than me but would be precluded from these.
Not looking forward to the next pony shopping.
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I wouldn't assume 'no kids' excluded teenagers, though. A child's pony is very different from a teenager's pony.
 
What makes you think that adults don't want to ride ponies?

I never look for anything over 14.2h. I don't get the appeal of huge horses really - must be such a PITA to tack up etc., especially if you're tiny like me.
 
Mine are both ponies, and most of my adult friends have ponies rather than horses tbh! 14-15hh is the most popular low level leisure horse around Essex and Driving ponies is simply different to being in the horse class (plus horses are more limited in Driving disciplines if you're more a jack of all trades). I don't plan on moving up, neither do most of my friends. Mine would be fine for children but they're schooled as teenager/adult competition ponies, they'd be pretty wasted with someone under 10 learning to canter on them. Fortunately they're not for sale!
 
I suppose there could always be legal implications with a minor riding your horse.

However as someone else has said, young riders are underrated and as much as I am not a huge fan of children I like to give someone a chance they way I was given the chance at that age!

I have a 15 year old riding mine (I have insured up to the hilt for it!!!!! But would rather be safe than sorry and pay the premium) and my mare is sensative, quirky and strong although not nasty.

The lass hops on and despite not being the most refined of riders she just goes with my mare, doesn't panic when mare has a fit or decides faster is better and infact finds it funny. My mare actually behaves for her mostly but I think she feeds off the Lass's confidence.

However, the majority of ponies I know are not childrens ponies!
 
I have a 13.2 welsh mountain pony. He is the quietest most laid back confidence giver you could ever hope for. Adores being fussed and cuddled. Bombproof (and I don't use that word lightly) in the worst of traffic and happy to plod along or give you the classic pony legs of fury gallop with a more confident rider.
I have no intention of parting with him but if I were, would I let him be sold as a kids pony? WOULD I ****!
You see before he came to me this pony was loaned to a whip happy teenager and to say he was run the socks off would be a massive understatement. I last seen him before he went on loan to the kid, back when a friehd of ours had him on trial over the winter for his daughter. He was healthy and well looked after, bright and cheeky, the way he should be. He went back to the owner in the spring, and the brat loaned him over the summer.
In the october I was looking for a new horse having lost my confidence previously. I saw this little boy was for sale and immediately contacted his owner and told her id have him there and then. I didnt even view him beforehand because I knew what a little gem he was.
Went to collect him expecting to see the same bright cheeky boy he normally was. What I got was very different; a depressed, underweight, broken little pony. The glint in his eye was gone.
It took months of careful feeding and tlc but eventually he put on weight, and his cheeky nature began to return. He still hates the site of a whip and detests jumping with a passion. Eventually people started telling me the truth about how hard the kid was riding him and some of the states they'd seen the exhausted pony in, with the kid still continuing to jump/gallop him and whacking him with the whip if he refused.
If I were to sell him I would not want to risk this happening to him again. Not all children are like this but there are plenty who are in my experience, who seem to treat horses as toys and give no thought to how the horse is coping. So for this reason I would not allow him to go to a child.
 
Actualy a lot of adults dont like riding horses. I'd far rather have a pony.

my current lad is the biggest I've ever owned at 15.2hh and TBH he is a rather overgrown pony in his outlook on life.

before him I had a 14.3 SHP, a 14hh connemara, a 13.2hh SP and a 12.2hh welsh B.

for my next one i'll probably look at a 14hh ish Connemara.

A good solid pony will take up your leg, my 14hh connie was regularly ridden by my 6ft2" brother who never looked too big.
 
Also would just like to add I'm 26 and despite having two other horses 14.3/15hh and 15.2 I still adore riding my 13.2. Im only 5ft so am definitely small enough. Theres something about riding my whizzy little pony that just puts a smile on my face :)
 
Because, surprisingly, ponies are not predetermined to be suitable for children!

I broke my 13.3hh in myself, and he was therefore accustomed to adult cues and used to the longer leg length etc. Children did ride him but he much preferred adults. I used to have a teenager jump him which he did enjoy so I wouldn't necessarily discount teens, although when I advertised him for part loan I had idiot teenagers come and try him which involved wanting to jump him on rock solid mud and gallop him for hours on end. He was a people pleaser so would have happily gone along with it but I didn't fancy a lame 5yo.
 
MileAMinute said:
Because, surprisingly, ponies are not predetermined to be suitable for children!
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Agreed, though some children are more capable than others. My aunt's family bred super-sharp Welsh ponies, real head turners but not 'child's ponies' by any stretch of the imagination.

Majority of hers were sold to children through word of mouth and thorough testing of child first. She wouldn't let any children ride without someone she knew/knew by reputation to vouch for them.
 
A true childs pony is a very rare animal, that why the good ones are passed by word of mouth.
They have to be switched on enough to listen to little flapping legs, but ignore wobbles and hanging on to the mouth. Most children are not taught well enough to ride a well schooled pony. My daughters trained their own ponies, it they did not have the skill or understanding to teach them something I would send them away. They would often come back too switched on for a child, and it would take a week or so for them to settle again.
I once had a lesson on my daughters pony, I was told the pony would be really good at dressage if I rode her, I responded that then she wouldn't be suitable for my daughter, who was only about nine at the time. As it was with supervision they learnt together.
I think size has little to do with it, we had a 14.2 that you could put any child on, my daughter rode him from nine to fourteen, in every situation. I only wish he could have been cloned.We were very lucky.
 
By 'no children' I would suggest that they actually mean 'no novices or small children' - unless the pony can only be controlled using brute force. A larger child can easily be the same height and weight as a small adult (and as strong, tbh). And older children can easily be as capable riders as adults. I can quite understand not offering part loans or shares to children, however - having minors riding, and all of the associated issues, would put many off.
 
I have an 11 hh welsh pony who is the sharpest thing I've ever handled... he's too small for an adult and too sharp for anything but the most skilled of child jockeys... hence he remains with us and is totally wasted as a companion to the others! But I wouldn't be able to suggest selling him as a child's pony cos he's not. He's sharp and sensitive, Hates people crawling over him and is quite stallions in his behaviour. Would I sell him to the right child, yes. Is he a ' child's pony' absolutely not.
 
I have a 13.2 New Forest pony, and she is certainly not a childs pony! I would never sell her, but I would specify no children for sure.

I think there are more and more adults looking to buy ponies, especially as more people are aware that they are more than capable of carrying an adult.
 
There was a child (she's now 22) in my riding club who was the best rider out of everyone by the age of 10. I would have let her sit on my 16.3 if she'd wanted to and I bet she'd have done a better job than me. She started and schooled so many ponies for people as she was small enough for the tiniest of ponies but also very capable and gentle, just a complete natural. If you're good enough, you're old enough!
 
annagain said:
There was a child (she's now 22) in my riding club who was the best rider out of everyone by the age of 10. I would have let her sit on my 16.3 if she'd wanted to and I bet she'd have done a better job than me. She started and schooled so many ponies for people as she was small enough for the tiniest of ponies but also very capable and gentle, just a complete natural. If you're good enough, you're old enough!
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Whilst I agree in principle nothing can make up for experience and as a life long horseperson and a now parent, what *i* would have got on at 12 is totally different to what I'd let my kids get on at 12... if your child is that exception that proves the rule then there's nothing to stop the conversation with these sellers... if your child is Charlotte or WFP At 7 so be it but the other side of that coin is that hey are unlikely to stop on a 13.2 for very long and progress quickly on to big horses - which leaves the pony you are trying to sell being passed on fairly quickly which I as a seller may also want to avoid if possible.
 
Can I just say (sorry to derail slightly OP) this thread has really made me smile. The amount of adults who ride ponies. I thought I was very much in a minority. Ive wrestled with the idea of showing my 13.2 but have always been put off by the thought some people have that "adults should ride horses not ponies". Nice to see so many adults who enjoy riding the little demons to :D
 
For me when I'm loaning our very sensitive 13.1hh pony it's easier to say no children than to say no little humans that can't ride, will be noisy around him, haul on his mouth and then loose interest. He's a therapy pony specialising PTSD and autism but too sensitive to work at a therapy centre - he can't cope with all the comings and goings. He's currently thriving in a PTSD home where he and his early 20s loaner are feeding strength to each other in a very moving way. In six months they've gone from cautiously riding in the school to hunting!
 
This thread made me smile. I spent 3 happy years riding a 13.2 Welsh sec C for my friend. She showed him in hand & didn't want the responsibility of having kids ride him. Pretty much bombproof - when he wanted to be. For a short fat ginger he could buck like a rodeo horse!

The riding school where I keep my horses has a Sec A in her 20s who will still dump a child if she feels like it (sneaking respect for her!)
 
I must be heightest then!lol. I think being 5'9 and even at my too skinny size 8 was not under 10 St. Been out of ponies so long. Glad people have fun riding them. I very occasionally get on one of my kids ponies usually when being a nappy little whatsit. The lack of shoulders and anything in front makes me feel quite unsafe.
My daughter is only 9 and already looking big on her 13hh. Will b looking for one of those gold plated big ponies next.
 
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