Young pony, young rider schooling motivation help

[fardens]

My daughters pony is very difficult to school as he seems to have no motivation in the schooling field. My daughter is 9 and the pony has just turned 5 and we have been breaking him in through the winter and she can now ride out on him with no problems. On rides he is bouncy and transitions are easy but when schooling he makes no effort and she has problems even getting him to trot. She uses a schooling whip as I dont like constant kicking but he ignores this. When he does move into trot it is for a few strides and then all momentum disappears. Even the vocal trot aids that we used when lunging have no effect.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

 

[Booboos]

Sorry to say this but how can a young child hope to school a young pony? If at least one of them knew what they were doing it would be fine as they could teach the other. The pony is clearly taking the mickey, albeit in a safe and boring rather than naughty and dangerous way.

The way to resolve this is to apply a soft, tiny aid, when the pony ignores this follow it sharply with a stronger aid be it with the aid of spurs or the back-up of one sharp tap with the stick, making sure the rider remains in balance through-out and gives with the hands so that the pony can shoot forwards. Repeat as necessary until the pony learns to react to the soft aid. I can't quite see a nine year old being able to do that though, sorry.

 

[tinap]

^^this....sorry!!
I did have the loan of a 5 yr old pony for my 6 yr old daughter BUT the lady I loaned him off was an instructor who also rode & schooled him & was there when my daughter rode him.

 

[fardens]

Sorry to say this but how can a young child hope to school a young pony? If at least one of them knew what they were doing it would be fine as they could teach the other. The pony is clearly taking the mickey, albeit in a safe and boring rather than naughty and dangerous way.

The way to resolve this is to apply a soft, tiny aid, when the pony ignores this follow it sharply with a stronger aid be it with the aid of spurs or the back-up of one sharp tap with the stick, making sure the rider remains in balance through-out and gives with the hands so that the pony can shoot forwards. Repeat as necessary until the pony learns to react to the soft aid. I can't quite see a nine year old being able to do that though, sorry.

Thanks for your advice. Could we perhaps practice this on a long line using a neck strap to allow her to let him go forward?

 

[Brandy]

If she is very very secure in her seat then yes maybe you could. You could also try to enlist the help of a more experienced rider once a week. Or maybe you could lunge her - is the pony responsive on the lunge and safe with the lunge whip - ie moves forward from it but not in a crazy way?

 

[fardens]

If she is very very secure in her seat then yes maybe you could. You could also try to enlist the help of a more experienced rider once a week. Or maybe you could lunge her - is the pony responsive on the lunge and safe with the lunge whip - ie moves forward from it but not in a crazy way?

The pony has never been particularly responsive on the lunge but it could be worth a try. He has no problems with the lunge whip - perhaps I could be firmer with it though to encourage forward movement. I will certainly give this a try ( if it ever stops raining!!!)