outgrowing yr pony - sad litle story

[rubysmum]

i'm posting this to get ideas form other parents on how to deal with the tradgedy [for my daughter] of outgrowing yr pony - the lovely & much loved sam - all 12.2 of him is getting too small for my sturdy & tall 10 yr old we have to sell him to part fund next neddy & she just cant cope - wont look at other ponies & is soooo sad - we cant aford to kep him as pet & my wory is tht she willl have nother growth spurt but wont let me sell sam - any advice:confused: :confused: :confused:
ps i'm quite sad about it too

[Whatanejit]

Oh, that is heart breaking!

Is there any chance you could share him and therefore getting some money in for his keep.

Or, what about her sharing a bigger pony until she gets used to the idea of what she would do with the little man?

Awful decision for you both.

(((((((((hugs)))))))))

[incognito]

Such a sad scenario which we have found ourselves in, we were lucky enough to be able to buy the new pony, which is a great distraction for the jockey and also very useful to see if new pony is going to work out.

Six months into it and she was the one that said the first pony needed a rider.

Still very very hard and finding the right home is very important.

Good Luck.

ETA
We also sold the first pony out of the area, the new pony was bought from somebody local and they have poked their nose a little bit to often..

[jinglejoys]

Suggest you look on the Adults who ride ponies board:D

.....or else.....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y190/jinglejoys/cid_001e01c702cbb9e4e1707a1a8351you.jpg
:)

[cloang]

Agree with Igcognito, if finances allow, perfect scenario would be get new pony, wait for daughter to fall in love, then find new home for first pony.

Am dreading a similar time, daughter is just nine but very very tall for her age and growing out of her much loved pony far too quickly:rolleyes: .

Do not want to face thought of selling Auds as I have come to love her as much as daughter does:D

Good luck with your decision:D

[doris]

How about breaking to harness and doing a bit of driving, then perhaps the family could still enjoy him and it could be more of a joint effort to fund a new pony as the outgrown chap would still be useful?

[Maddison's girl]

we nearly had that awful moment, he got advertised for loan on the web. Gosh did we have major tears! Fortunately at the last moment a family member asked to share him! what a relief, to be honest I think I would have cried just as much as the children.

Unfortunately I have tried to take him off the horsemart website and they havent taken any notice of my emails so I keep getting phonecalls and messages. I feel really bad because these people get their hopes up! (sorry waffling)

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c392/maddison07/Horses/db76c2fa.jpg

heres the little monkey :D

[NoviceNic]

I went through this last year. Daughter 9yo outgrowing not in heaight but in experience lead rein pony that was too bloomin strong off lead rein........Pony dragged daughter to first bit of grass, daighter got angry.....

Basically we put Bonnie on loan to a family we know very well. Then moved yards and Jazz wanted a new pony so we had to sell Bonnie to finance new pony. It was the most heartbreaking decision my daughter has even had to make and still upsets us both very much to this day. We went searching for another pony even had one on loan for a short time. But daughter then lost interest and pony went back. Now she goes and see's her ex pony and rides it off lead rein with no hassles. We come away and I have to hide my tears.

The moral to this story is dont sell your pony unless it is the right time. I regret what I did and I know my daughter does as well. Our ex pony is now ridden by a 11yo well built boy and he doesnt care what he looks like. Bonnie is happy to carry him so at the end of the day it doesnt matter if your child is too tall for pony...sorry rambling on a bit but dont make the same mistake I did......**cries**

[Wally]

If you train him to drive you can all have fun with him.

Get a little exercise vehicle, and a set of synthetic harness and Bob's your Uncle!

[Mehitabel]

remember though, that selling a pony is not always an awful thing. if nobody ever sold these fantastic first ponies, none of us or our kids would be able to have them and love them.

try couching it as 'pony can go and do for another lucky child what he has done for you, would you want to deprive some child of the chance to be taught what you have been'? i was heartbroken when we sold my first pony, but it was for the best - he was a first pony by vocation, he was mid-teens and i was outgrowing him, and he needed to stay a first pony and pootle round slowly with a small child. eventually i made the decision - i adored him with all my heart, but also wanted to ride, and wanted to do the things he wasn't able to do. i do think it's a decision the child needs to make/understand themselves though, i knew in my heart that i wasn't happy sticking to what snowy was able to do, and he was not able to do what i did want to do.

if we hadn't sold him we couldn't have bought my next one - many families don't have the finances for two.

[joey_olop]

Aw how sad :( If she is only tall on him I wouldnt worry about it too much as long as he can take her weight. There aer a lot of people that ride ponies that are tall for them-Im 6 foot & ride a 14hh pony.

Good Luck :)

[monique]

Ok I am going to be no help at all, we were in the same situation. Whilst looking for a new and bigger model we went to see a horse that sounded just what we were looking for but turned out to be a bit of a project, daughter fell in love, so had a mad moment and decided to buy Indie. Because he needed time off to grow( sold as a three year old, found out he was only just rising two:eek: ) we decided to hang on to Syd so she still had something to ride. Anyway when it came to the crunch we couldn't part with her so I now ride a 13.2 and am having a blast. See no help what so ever:D

[Trewsers]

remember though, that selling a pony is not always an awful thing. if nobody ever sold these fantastic first ponies, none of us or our kids would be able to have them and love them.



.

Yep, my thoughts exactly - its a really positive way of looking at it. I always think how lucky I am to have bought our Joe - sometimes I wonder how his old owner could sell him, but I'm jolly glad she did, cos he's taught us so much!:D

[rubysmum]

first a HUGE thank u to everyone who took time to read or comment on our sad dilemma- lots of useful advice & equally inportantly ,listening virtual ears,
keeping pony boy is sadly NOT an option as i simply cannot aford to pay livery on big hoss, new pony AND existing pony so he will have to go & to further complicate issues we only have max £1,200 to spend on new pony & the expensive category of 13 to 14 hh ponies that will mean buying something which has a few issues or limitations so the newpony will be less lovely than existing boy so its hard to sell it to daughter as you are getting fab new pony .if anyone knows of sane pony in next size up who will only be used for hacking - non-competattive home - pls let me know - daughters' current stance seems to be if not current pony than none - my fear is that existing pony will start objecting to lugging her about & may start misbehaving and as a single parent she has to come to yard with me while i work sat & sun am [to help pay for big hoss] & then hang around while i do stuff with the big girl so her having a pony gives her a focus & makes it fun for her too - pls can people in east mids keep their ears open & if any family would like to own our lovely but on-jumping & non-competative pony pls et in touch - would still welcome any ideas feedback from all u lovely people:) :)

[leno289]

I know just how you feel on this one having been in similar situation recently. I was in a fortunate eneough situation be be able to put our boy out on loan locally and purchase for her a "new pony". Problem solved you would think - heck NO. Her beloved barney (who on loan) who she has ridden for last 4 years was according to her absolutley perfect - never did anything wrong etc etc - she cant remember us getting him as an unschooled, bargy, bad tempered little devil who had her and others on the grass more times than on his back - had never hacked out - hated feet being picked out - would not stand still - you get the picture. well she has a most adorable 14'2welsh D now - ok a youngster and needs more schooling but is not silly or dangerous in any way. Is she happy is she heck - ok she rides him but to be honest her heart not in it -with barney she was out cantering across the beach - hackin without a prob - with the new boy i lucky if i can get her to trot in the paddock let alone ride him out. (had him 9 month now) When asked y all i get is because it not barney. There is no easy way of doing this i'm afraid. To be honest on hind sight it may of been better if barney had been sold and moved away from the area - she is 14 now and was given option of getting another pony once barney outgrown without pressure from me - if she had not got her new pony i would of got a youngster so in a way i was indifferent to her decision. I support her in her riding, do all the poo picking etc but heck i have no idea what to suggest to ya
but i will keep a look out for a pony for your daughter - - - - good luck

[Fillygal]

Oh I really feel for you this must be a heart wrenching decision for you.

Carn't offer any advice I'm affraid but I hope you manage to work something out that works - do you have any local riding schools close that may be interested - that way your daughter could still pop and see the pony and you could praps explain that her Pony is now helping other people to learn to ride as a confidence giver.

Really hope it works out for you - I bought my first horse 6 years ago when I don't know who at the time was greener me or him:rolleyes: - I parted with him as i lost confidence and the riding school who I had livery with took him for me - but I wish now I had tried to work through the issues - seven years on and I'm a different rider now but I will always regret the loss of my first horsey pal:(

[Bronya]

For some children it really is 'that' pony or nothing, and they lose interest once it's gone. On my old yard there was a lad about 14 yo who had a lovely coloured pony. He was a little leggy on the pony, and had started to ride his mum's horse on and off. They decided to sell the pony, sold him, and the lad doesn't ride any more. In his words they were 'best mates' and without him, what's the point in horses?

Maybe work out what your pony can physically carry happily weight-wise (20% of the pony's bodyweight is a good guide). If your daughter isn't too heavy, leave it for a while. Then if it really is 'that' pony or nothing, perhaps she could learn to drive her pony rather than riding? Or perhaps in time she herself will suggest getting something bigger.

[Sammii]

I can relate. A pony I used to exercise...I can't anymore because i'm just that bit too big, if i was to lose some weight (something my mum is adamant that I don't do) then it would be a different story.

I'm starting to dread whether I will be growing out of Red soon. :(

[rubysmum]

sad daughter tried new pony this week end - hated it - then genius YO looked at her on pony boy - got another bigger saddle & guess *** ,she suddently doesn't look so massive - so we are off to buy bigger saddle in next few weeks & hopefull can keep pony boy at least for next few months - all hapy in our house :) :) - altho if anybody does come across a safe & sane 13hh plus pony for loan in east mids do pm me

[Mehitabel]

that's good news. do get her to think about the future though, so she can have time to come to terms with it herself. with my first pony (11.2) i had a growth spurt almost immediately after we got him so only had him for 18 months - but for the last 6 months we had discussed it, and i knew it was coming and had time to get my head round it myself before it became an rscpa ponysquashing matter