Issues with Ponies!

[Bubbles1989]

Hi everyone

I've been riding for about 2 months now and have had some good and some bad lessons, when i'm on my favourite horse blackjack my rising trot just flows and i have no problems even though hes a HUGE horse! But yesterday i had to ride a pony called Smokey, he's very lazy and has to be whipped quite a lot just to get him trotting but my issue with him was that when i did get him to trot i just couldn't get my balance. My feet were sloping forwards in the stirrups and i felt like i was sliding to one side! It was horrible because after so many good lessons i must of just looked like a fool sliding all over the place. I kept getting my instructor to check the stirrups but she said its just because hes small, but surely that shouldn't make a difference?!

Any thoughts would be helpful!

Rhiannon :)

[notpoodle]

i think there is a big difference!! especially if its a slim built pony. your balance and weight distribution will be different. also, ponies tend to have shorter legs and quite a choppy trot :D

you'll get the hang of it :) ponies are great fun!

and, remember that the purpose of a riding school horse is not to make you look good, they're meant to be teaching you stuff :D

Julia
x

[shandy84]

It's well known ponies are harder to sit if you are used to horses. I was once riding with a friend on my 13hh pony and she on her 16.2hh she had a go on my girl after teasing me and couldn't stay put fell out the side door.

If you think about it when ponies decide to do something it all happens very quickly as there is less body to organise. Trust me you will get used to it ;)

[Bubbles1989]

I'm glad theres a reason behind it all! I feltl like if i moved my legs a certain way i hit one of his front legs a bit and that scared me! it was strange cause on blackjack i have very short stirrups so i can rise up on him properly but on Smokey i had to have longer ones or i'd never have stayed on! He's a lot thinner then i'm used to aswell.

[Bertie]

Ponies are almost a different species :D

As others have mentioned they are smaller with shorter legs so there trot beat is far quicker than your probably used to but as a pony lover I find riding anything over 15.1hh really hard work :eek: For example I had a riding lesson with a friend and was riding a big 16.2hh plus horse with really long stride etc and he was riding 15.3hh horse but who was very pony like in her gaits, he couldn't do anything with her and I with mine so we swapped and both horses and riders really improved there riding as a result of the change.

The more you ride ponies the more you'll get to love them I'm sure, I'm a real pony addict and would choose a pony over a horse anytime :)

[Nazdaq]

I love riding ponies and I always rode them from the first lesson I had. I can ride horses although I don't like riding anything above 15hh as it feels too big! Sorry can't help with the trotting question. :D

Bertie: Snap! :)

[LMayhewtx]

Well, I have had the opposite experience! I am pretty short (5 foot 1), and fit well on ponies 13-14 hh. Just being on a pony feels very comfortable for me. I did find when I started riding some other horses - one was like 17hh, so quite a jump! - that I had no balance anymore, and had to "refind" my balance. Walking and cantering were fine - it was at the trot that I felt most unbalanced. You also said that you lengthened your stirrups? When I have done that, I found that my lower leg became very wobbly, and I felt unbalanced and needed a few lessons with the new stirrup length before I felt coordinated again. Changing anything up - whether the horse or tack - can really affect your balance at the beginning, but I found in the long run this had radically helped my balance.
Maybe try trotting without stirrups? My instructor has us do this for balance and strength, and I think it is the fastest way to find your balance on a new horse.

[Trewsers]

Yep, pones are much choppier in trot! If I ride OH's 16.2 I really struggle to do rising trot and keep him going and be comfy, whereas on Storm - no probs at all! Tho Joe is better for sitting trot - could be something to do with the lovely deep dressage saddle he wears.......!!!

[Mistertron]

I found in my early trotting lessons that i could rise better on some horses than others..in fact that still is the case! lol

[eml]

It is really hard to do a rising trot on a horse that you don't 'fit' as the whole thing is based on balance. If your feet kept sliding through the stirrups however the most likely scenario was that the saddle and more exactly the position of the stirrup bar did not suit you. The fact you slid to one side suggests you were just too large for the pony.

The thing however that makes me go :eek: is that you said the pony needed to be whipped 'quite a lot' to trot. That to me says that the pony is either unsuitable to learn on or is struggling with you as a rider. At the worst a novice rider may need to tap a pony with a stick on the neck if they are struggling to use their legs to keep the trot.

[Brandy Snap]

It took me quite a while to get used to my pony's trot. Even though I only ever ride ponies, he had such a short choppy stride I always had to hang onto the neck strap of his breast plate when we trotted!

We're in sync now tho, I just need to work on my sitting trot without stirups! Take my stirups away and I'm all over the place!

But on big horses I find it impossible!! I feel like I have to stand up forever and sit forever, there stride is so long! With B as soon as you sit your rising again! (especially when he does his turbo trot!! None of the horses or other ponies on the yard can keep up with his turbo trot!)

[Bubbles1989]

It is really hard to do a rising trot on a horse that you don't 'fit' as the whole thing is based on balance. If your feet kept sliding through the stirrups however the most likely scenario was that the saddle and more exactly the position of the stirrup bar did not suit you. The fact you slid to one side suggests you were just too large for the pony.

The thing however that makes me go :eek: is that you said the pony needed to be whipped 'quite a lot' to trot. That to me says that the pony is either unsuitable to learn on or is struggling with you as a rider. At the worst a novice rider may need to tap a pony with a stick on the neck if they are struggling to use their legs to keep the trot.


I know that the whipping thing sounds odd i mean i would never hit him hard (i'm not really strong enough) but i'm aware he's a very lazy horse and the only reason he's really having to be ridden at the moment is because our other usual horse is lame, we're just waiting for him to get better. I don't think hes used to it, i agree i probably don't 'fit' him very well and i can feel it but i don't think it's because i'm too big for him because i'm quite a small person! I just think it was because it was my first time on a pony and i assumed it would be the same as a horse, boy was i wrong! :(