Horse Riders EXPECTING help from Pony Riders ?

[Lightfoot]

Person at the stables told me had her own pony as a child, kept it a a livery yard. She often rode out with 2 girls whose parents had "pots of money". Then eldest girl got a big flashy TB for her 16th birthday. Instant sibling rivalry / complaints from 14 year old sister so to end the tantrums they bought her a "proper horse". In the space of a week both sisters had gone from 13hh & 14hh ponies to horses that were over 16.2hh. Neither girl needed horses like these - they only did hacking out ! Initially they didn't want my friend's company any more - her little pony wouldn't be able to keep up, but a few days later they started to ask her to ride with them. Turned out they didn't really want her company, but they desperately needed her help. To get off and open gates for them, or to give a leg up when they fell off. Neither were experienced/strong enough to control the big horses properly. The eldest girl fell off, was unhurt but couldn't remount because the horse was too tall. Her sister couldn't dismount to give a leg up because she wouldn't be able to get back on her horse.

To be fair this may not be absolutely correct (the passage of time plays tricks with the memory sometimes) However, there must be some truth in it. I was just wondering whether any of the Adult Pony Riders have similar experiences when in a group ride and all the others are on horses. Expected to be the one to get off to deal with gates etc, because its easier to remount a pony than a horse.

[happyhorse]

. i am 5ft 1 and 24. i have a 16.2 dutch warmblood and i generally always mount from the mounting block (, as it is better for his back, and stops the stirrups leathers streaching. ) however i can mount from the ground, open gates etc ,etc. i often ride with my mates and most of them have ponies who have no trouble keeping up at all. Maybe your friend had a problem with some indivduals but think thats as far as it goes.
When we go on group rides there is a broad specturm of riders and abilitys and we all just club in and work together and have the most amount of fun!

[anuvb]

Hmm - I'm beginning to feel a little victimised for having a horse on this board! :)

I think your friend has had a bad a experience and I don't think the of the the story is really one about height, but the fact that the parents were silly enough to out horse their children. I've ridden all sizes of horse over the years and can open gates without having to dismount - even on the most unco-operative pony/horse.

I think a lot of it is to do with your confidence and a lot of people make the mistake of thinking a big horse can improve your confidence, where in fact it can actually reduce it significantly. If you don't have the confidence to lean down and open a gate whilst your horse is messing around, or the confidence that you can stretch that little bit higher and remount from the ground it's not going to make much difference the size of the horse.

I certainly don't expect someone to open gates for me and neither do most of the people I ride with. I enjoy riding horses because they suit me much better than smaller ponies, but if I couldn't ride them properly then I would either stop riding the size of horse I currently ride and downssize to something much smaller. Please don't think we're all alike just because we happen to prefer larger animals.

[happyhorse]

Hmm - I'm beginning to feel a little victimised for having a horse on this board

i don't think your the only one, as this is not the first post of this nature.

[Mehitabel]

to be fair though, this is the forum for adults who ride ponies!:)

[tasha]

I never had a problem like this when riding Dips..whoever was in front opened the gate, and whoever was behind closed it!

Its a very important skill...Kally and I are experts! We can open the double 5 bar gates at the entrance to the yard with a lift over thing between the two, and have just mastered the skill of opening and closing the electric fence gate consisting of the fence tape and a plastic handle-all without letting go! (the fence is never on at the time, and I do admit the fact that Kal will quite happily lean 3-4feet into a turned-on leccy fence helps quite a bit!)

[Sue Carnell]

Oh dear, do I have to admit that when I ride out with other people, the one on the relative to them, shortest horse/pony is the one who gets off if anyone needs to get off for some reason? ie: If I (5'4") ride out on my 16.1 with my friend Lesley (5'6") on her 15.2 she always does the honours, even if it's me that's dropped something, or I get to the gate first. Not all gates in our area can be opened from horseback, they might need a lower bolt opening and then the gate lifting to move it. If our friend (5'1") on her Welsh 14.2 comes with us, it's between them who gets off, as the shorter pony has a shorter rider and a rounder barrel, so the saddle is more likely to slip, but I'm still on the taller horse, so I still don't get off. OTOH, if her 6' son on his 16.3 comes with us, it's his turn, he's younger, fitter, more supple and quicker and he has to do as his mum tells him. :)

If I go out on my own, I make sure I don't drop anything and don't go through any gates I need to get off to open. :)

Sue Carnell
sue@eclipse.co.uk

[Kerry's Partner]

BUT I bet that Sue WOULD get off if she were out with Kerry and I - even 'though I'm a bit taller than Sue and Kerry is shorter than Sunny.

At least, that is, until Sue felt I was comfortable/able to manage all the obstacles as well as my anxiety!!!!! Then it would be my turn and I would be more than happy to oblige.

[Jay.o]

im not an adult but i have a pony - when i ride out with my friends they have 16hh+ horses and my friend which is the same age as me has a 17.3hh TB - beautifyl horse but she cant mount with out a chair or leg up !
i can mount him fine and a few inches shorter than her !

i always open the gates from upon my pony as i can just reach - he is one of the higher ponies at 14.2hh !

like you said they had pots of money and they think that the bigger the horse they have the better they look and the horse looks !
not always true - you can get a good pony but you can also get a bad horse !!!!

[Sue Carnell]

Hi Kerry's Partner,

I'd bet I would be the one to get off too, cos more than likely, I'd be the one riding Kerry! :)

Sue
sue@eclipse.co.uk

[Kerry's Partner]

Well that's about right Sue - you have made me laugh - it's only logical isn't it!!

[anuvb]

Es - you're absolutely right. It is the board for Adults who ride ponies, but I'd like to point out Lightfoot did try to attract us "giant" riders to it by posting on the General board!!! LOL :D

Plus - anyway it is always healthy to have balanced "mature" (seeing it is a sub-forum in the mature riders section) other point of view :)

And by the way, my Mum used to ride a 13.2Hh pony and she always made me get off and open the gates so Sue, I can appreciate the whole Mother dominance thing! Poor boy!

[Yann]

This one sounds familiar...

When I shared Ben (16.2) I used to hack out regularly with a friend who had a lovely old 14.2 dales mare. And yes, they did tend to deal with the gates more often than not:o

(Mainly because I was rubbish at them!)

[anuvb]

I'm shocked - you're letting the side down! There was me trying to fight our corner....

[virtuallyhorses]

I can't comment as I never get off to open gates - I'm too terrible at mounting from the ground. ;) - Fortunately we don't have gates with low bolts here. But then no one else does much either - its a job we teach all horse's and ponies to do anyway. Its excellent practise for precision manoeuvres and teaches your horse trust if you're asking him to approach a tape (which is normally electric) exit or go into a strange position so you can get some leverage on a peculiar gate latch.

As for whether I would expect a pony rider to do this? Yes and no, I would hope (but not expect) that the more limber rider would offer to do this, if we're all equally old and decrepit then the shortist horse\pony rider and if we're all much of a muchness then we'd take it in turns.

Short legs keeping up? The thought would never occur to me - we usually talk about the sort of ride beforehand - is anyone on a nervous horse? Is anyone a bit slow today? (My barefoot boy can be a bit slow in patches and he's 16.1!) Do any of the riders feel a bit nervous today? Then everyone knows what to expect and we make sure that the slowest or most nervous horse or pony is ok

Sounds like these girls are just a bit mean by nature (normal teenagers?). Sadly the problem is that people's basic natures don't change just because they've got a horse\pony, so if they're vain or arrogant or nice or fun they'll be that way no matter what.

I often envy the pony riders, they always look like they're having a lot of fun without some of the complications of dealing with a big horse (like getting on, or dealing with 1/2 tonne of horse flesh that's full of itself! :)) - but there's a real lack of ponies for bigger people here in NZ its not an option for me (we don't have many of the nice chunky cobs or native ponies you guys do).

[Mehitabel]

ah - i must have missed the thread on the general board! mind you, it's the rule on my rides that whoever's on the littlest pony or is the most athletic has to do the gates - seems perfectly reasonable to me! the pony i ride most often apart from petal is 12hh though - so it's usually me!

[chapsi]

AHHHHHHHH, would anyone be kind enough to explain to me how can I mount my horse, unaided? There is no mounting block, my foot does not reach the stirrup, I'm 5'.1'' and my horse is 16Hh. Happyhorse, how do you manage from the ground? :(

[Lightfoot]

Thanks for al the replies. Hope I didn't offend or annoy anyone with this. Your replies have confirmed my suspicions that the "alleged(!!!)" circumstances related by the person at our stables was a rare isolated incident. Those 2 girls were just unpleasant and selfish. I expect that's the real explanation behind all this.

My experience of group rides (both in a small group of friends or a riding school hacking out entourage is that everyone is very friendly, wanting to help each other, and not plotting and scheming to get someone else to do the awkward jobs. In most instances it makes sense for the person who can remount the easiest does the getting on and off - but this may not necessarily be a pony rider. Person on the smallest horse/pony may be the least experienced rider, not so agile, and the pony not very co-operative at standing still whilst rider remounts.

Jay.o & Happy horse - got to ask. How do you manage to get on those tall horses ? Did you have to exercise to get fit and agile or could you get on OK the first time you tried ?

[anuvb]

I know this question wasn't directed particularly at me, but when I mount from the ground, I tend to lengthen the stirrup slightly and sort out bounce/bunnyhop on one leg into the saddle, so that the majority of my weight stays on the foot on the ground until I swing it over the horses back. I'm really not sure there is a technique in it, more of a case of luck that I haven't got stuck half way up!

[Hels]

There's a thread somewhere in this board about mounting from the ground that helped me hugely - I was using the wrong technique and making it a lot harder. Basically the advice involved getting your weight over the saddle as quickly as possible during the process by reaching over to the other side of the saddle with one hand and leaning your head over the saddle as you push up / haul yourself on. Before I was just pushing upwards not up and over, if you see what I mean, so all my weight was on one side of the horse and the saddle would slip round. I won't say I have got it off to a tee, but I am much quicker and more effective at getting on now!

[happyhorse]

chapsi and lightfoot. - to mount from the ground i lengthen the stirppup on the side i am mounting from so i don't have to lift my leg so high, like i said i don't often do it, and if i can will always find something to stand on to get back on , ie. if i open a gate i use the gate to get back on,or if there is a slightly higher piece of ground. but if there is a emergency i am able to mount form the ground.

[Gemma R]

I have never had a specific 'pony' problem with other riders. I find it awkward getting on and off Lib's out riding but will do it if I have to - like if I'm out on my own and want to get on the toll ride!!! She is a nightmare to get back on because she fidgets and her saddle slips so if I don't have to get off I won't!!!

I had a 'cob' problem once, When I had Sampson on loan I asked to hack out with a group of women from the yard all had slimmer ponies of about same size (was most amusing I must say three dark bay ponies the only diference being there facial/leg markings skinny as anything - then me on big fat white/cream cob!!) anyway they said yes and off we went. Much to there surprise Sam walked faster and trotted covering much more ground than there ponies (all equines around 14 - 14.2hh mark). One of them was so shocked she apologised to me for assuming becasue he was big and fat that also meant boring and slow!!! I did leave them behind when we hit the field for a canter ;) hehe

[galadriel]

I usually have no objection to being the one to get off/get back on (and the one I usually ride is 17hh). A lot of times I go riding with my husband, who just isn't as used to riding as I am--and my horse will stand still for me to mount when I tell her to. Unfortunately, I occasionally have major hip pains, at which point I don't want to dismount until I'm DONE! I just can't use the darn things to get back up in the saddle, and would need a mounting block or leg-up on a pony, much less onto my big mare.

[Lucy J]

can I just say that i resent pony people that have a bee in their bonnet about horsey people. its a bit like ethnic minorities getting angry with people because they think they will be racist even if they are not! I have a horse because I prefer horses to ponies, i just get on better with them. my horse is 16.2hh. i can mount from the ground or a block, i have problems with gates as my youngster is not accustomed to them, we can open them but are still working on shutting them. if i was to ask for help i would ask whoever was there regardless of what they were riding, but generally i do everything myself anyway.

the case discussed to me sounds like an isolated incident.

[suki]

When I first got my 16.1 TB I had problems getting on. I hated having to get off on a ride but usually managed to position her on a slightly lower bit of ground. But when I had had her a very short time I took her to a hunter trials that included opening and closing a gate that was too low to do mounted on a big horse so the majority of people were dismounting. The only way I could get back on was to stand on the gate - I was mortified.

[CobNut]

I have found that at sponsored rides and the like, which I tend to go to by myself, I soon have riding companions because people appreciate someone who says they're happy to deal with the gates.

Mind you, because I do Le TREC, I always try to work the gate WITHOUT dismounting. But at only 14.2 hh, Whisky is easy enough to remount if (sorry, when) plan A fails and I have to dismount.

But like Lucy J - I don't perceive any particular "attitude" thing here. I've never yet had anyone EXPECT me to do gates for them etc (I've had them expect me to get out of their way so they could take a jump - when I was waiting for the folk the other side of the jump to clear the landing area before I tackled it myself. But that had nothign to do with my being on a pony - more to do with their being pig ignorant. LOL) But I've had people ask me perfectly politely whether I wouldn't mind - and the answer has always been that no, I wouldn't mind at all.