Young riders young horses

[muddybay]

Just wondering what everyone's opinion is on this, even green riders on young horses? I think it's an interesting discussion as I'm not very strongly viewed on it as long as no one gets hurt!

 

[Lillian_paddington]

It can be done well but is often done badly. I school a couple of young horses for novice riders and actually it works out nicely - the horses do ‘proper work’ with me, but are clever enough to dial it back a notch for their owners. I’m very aware I’m not making a horse for myself so I school them with their owner’s goals and ability in mind.
But you need someone teaching the horse and the rider individually as well as together. A lot of riders want to ‘put their stamp’ on a young horse without realising they’re going to teach the horse all the wrong things.

 

[honetpot]

Young riders may ride well, but not have the thinking ahead skills to avoid trouble, so even if you are not on top you have to try and think ahead and control the environment to reduce risks of failure, or miscommunication. You can not really expect a young rider to teach a horse something they have no previous experience of, and sometimes they can get angry when they think they have done something correctly and the horse has done something unwanted.
It can be really rewarding for them to know they have done it themselves, but it takes time, and young people have very little time in the terms of school work, and the time available before they progress to the next stage in their life. If I had the money I would always buy a made horse for a teenager, I have never had the money, I did buy an old horse, which while not perfect, did the job.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Normally I’d say no, but I’ve seen it be a huge success.
My daughter when she was 7/8 i think absolutely fell in love with a young unbacked pony at the yard we were on. She spent hours in his field, he followed her everywhere and she put objects on his back to get him ready to carry her ?
Her pony died and the owners gave her the youngster. They broke him in and helped her learn to lunge etc.
They were the most amazing little partnership. She spent ages just leading him over the middle of poles so he “knew where to jump” and round the car park to learn about cars. Amongst loads of other slightly weird things!
So he had a not conventional but in fact quite thorough education and hacked on the roads, hacked with her alone (round fields at the yard) jumped beautifully.
It was just lovely to see ?

 

[White Horse2]

After unsuccessfully trying to find a pony for my 11 yo D, I bought a v green rising 4yo, I taught the pony, then I taught her how to ride it. They won everything together, sadly lost him at 20 yo

 

[oldie48]

Totally depends on the horse, the rider and the level of support on offer and the ability of the rider to accept help. We bought a 5 year old connie mare for our 7 year old daughter, super forward going fun pony, green as grass but a quick learner. We took it slowly and had lots of pro help and she had an absolute ball on her but sadly outgrew her and moved on to a 5 year old 14.2 connie x TB when she was 10. Three years later her pc team won their area HT and she was at Sansaw and did OK. I have to say it took real guts to ride that course as it was huge. The following year aged 14 she did FEI pony trials. It wouldn't have worked for everyone but it worked for her. She learned a huge amount from both ponies but she had pro help in keeping them on the right track, had regular lessons herself and worked hard. I never saw her lose her temper and both ponies tried their hearts out for her. When she was 15 she had a 5 year old Ricardo Z gelding and took him up to novice before giving up riding when she went to uni. She wasn't the most naturally talented rider but what she lacked in natural ability she made up for in determination and pure grit and the trainers she worked with loved training her.

 

[Shysmum]

If they can learn together, under strict supervision, it could work.

 

[scats]

I’ve seen it work with a few young teens. What they lack in experience, they often make up for in confidence. Though they rarely produce particularly well schooled animals- you can get quite a useful horse come out the other end who is happy doing a bit of everything.

 

[muddybay]

I think as long as they have a support network of adults willing to school the horse sometimes and are dedicated it can work! I think it also depends on the horse! Saying that you only hear about the success stories does it ever go wrong?

 

[J&S]

My step daughter moved on from our very experienced NF mare to the coloured mare when they were both novices. Our instructor said at the time, "what a pity the old mare could not go on just a little longer", but the out come was absolutely fine. Young pony and young rider were a great team at PC and I also rode her and did RC clinics and comps. I beleive we were lucky with the excellent temperament of the younger mare and the fact that the older mare had already put the young teenager through her paces!!

 

[paddi22]

I've only ever seen it go wrong unless the child had a good trainer and had a sensible, patient personality.

Just from yards I've been at it usually ends up with an unbalanced, strung out horse that ends up with bad jumping habits like rushing, veering out of jumps, bad stops or a bad bascule over the jumps. the horse stays stuck at a 'green' level. Unless they have a good instructor and sensible guardians to guide them on the right path and step in when needed.

 

[paddi22]

the main issue from what I can see is that (without a good instructor) the horses are never taught how to balance themselves properly, or turn/bend correctly. add to that an unbalanced rider who typically uses only the reins for steering and you end up with a crooked unbalanced horse. I absolutely hate schooling horses like this. either the horses fall in off the track, or else they have their quarters in because the rider is pulling the outside rein to keep them on the track. they also have horrible transitions as the head usually goes up for balance especially in canter. so many basics have been skipped.

 

[Ambers Echo]

I think Katie has done a fab job with Dolly who was 4 when we got her. She's had plenty of training but no-one else really rides Dolly. I've probably sat on her 5 times total.

A child on our yard was 7 when they bought her a just backed 4 year old section B. (For £300!)They had 3 years together and had a brilliant partnership. That pony has gone on to be a superstar For another little girl now. So yes it CAN work with a dedicated child and good training.

But actually, the same applies to adults. Plenty of adults lack patience too.

 

[oldie48]

I’ve seen it work with a few young teens. What they lack in experience, they often make up for in confidence. Though they rarely produce particularly well schooled animals- you can get quite a useful horse come out the other end who is happy doing a bit of everything.

TBH most of the horses and ponies I see around at RC and PC are pretty poorly schooled I'm shocked that so many people who have ridden all their lives are incapable of improving their horses, however, you can't teach what you don't know so regular good quality training has always been important to us. We've hit problems with all our horses and ponies, established or not, but with good advice and sometimes a pro doing some schooling, we've always managed to get through. Tbh I wish a few more adults would have pro's sit on their horses to demonstrate well their horses could go. I have a lovely friend who has ridden all her life and is still hunting in her late 60's. She sits like a sack of potatoes, is lop sided and unbalanced but she does have very good hands. She had a lesson on one of my horses and for the first time ever she could sit to a canter and was amazed at how comfortable he was. He was just well schooled!

 

[muddybay]

TBH most of the horses and ponies I see around at RC and PC are pretty poorly schooled I'm shocked that so many people who have ridden all their lives are incapable of improving their horses, however, you can't teach what you don't know so regular good quality training has always been important to us. We've hit problems with all our horses and ponies, established or not, but with good advice and sometimes a pro doing some schooling, we've always managed to get through. Tbh I wish a few more adults would have pro's sit on their horses to demonstrate well their horses could go. I have a lovely friend who has ridden all her life and is still hunting in her late 60's. She sits like a sack of potatoes, is lop sided and unbalanced but she does have very good hands. She had a lesson on one of my horses and for the first time ever she could sit to a canter and was amazed at how comfortable he was. He was just well schooled!

I think all owners should let others school their horses sometimes!

 

[J&S]

Ha Ha! Depends on which discipline you choose to do........ when I was a Trec competitor one of the very senior ladies in our club said that my coloured mare was one of the best schooled trec ponies she had known, but what a pity I couldn't read a map!!!!
I agree with oldie48, many trec horses and ponies can't get the canter MA (control of paces) when a circle/ or 1/2 circle is included, or even keep their canter around three sides of the school. When I used to bring up the subject of flat work training at club meetings people would prefer to have obstacle training instead.
Sigh!

 

[EventingMum]

It definitely can work. I was bought a supposedly 4yo, poor condition horse to replace my 13.2hh pony when I was 12, he was probably younger in fact and very green. I was lucky in that I had a very committed coach and very encouraging parents. From such an unlikely start that horse did everything; PC teams in all three disciplines, team chasing and show jumping. We ended up pursuing a sho jumping career, winning the Foxhunter at our first ever affiliated show when I was 14, going on to the Foxhunter final at HOYS and ended up Grade A jumping Area International Trials. Not bad for a £450 youngster.

Likewise, my son always had youngsters, the oldest he had was 5yo when we got him. He was under strict supervision and had a fair amount of success winning quite a lot show jumping with ponies including a class of over 100 competitors at Scope and went on to event successfully with his young horses up to 2* (now CCI-L 3*) with one.

With correct training and the right mindset, things can work out well but equally, without it can be disastrous if not dangerous.

 

[ihatework]

I think it very much depends on the temperament of the horse/pony but also the ability of the rider (in terms of basic ability and ability to learn) plus access to the right support network.

It can work. But in most situations it’s not advisable.

 

[JoannaC]

I think it can work as you tend to be that much braver when you are young and sometimes all a horse needs is someone confident rather than a marvellous rider. I question more novice adults getting a youngster as your confidence becomes more fragile as you get older!