too young to ride?

[Silvia]

My neighbour's girl is four and a real sweetheart. Rather clever for her age, too. I have led her around on my 14hh pony a few times and she loved it. Now she is begging all the time to learn "riding on her own, like a cowboy". Would she be old enough to start? Or would it be bad for her bones or something?
My pony is quite reliable and used to disabled riders (but not to children, actually), so I think it would be save enough to lunge her. How long should the lessons for such a little girl be? Of course the saddle and the stirrups are way too large for her - so would it be better to let her ride bareback with a girth to hold on? Is it ok. for her to wear a bike helmet - her parents won't buy her a riding helmet (rather stupid, I think!)and I don't have one small enough for her.
What do you think? (do tell me if it's a stupid idea alltogeher to put a four year old on a horse!)
Silvia

[Sarah]

hello!

i have no idea if riding as a 4 year old is a good idea, but I can see a potential legal nightmare here!

The girl really must have a proper riding hat, bike hats are designed for a totally different type of impact when you hit the deck and wouldn't protect as well as a proper riding hat. If you don't have one that fits and the parents refuse to buy one, the I would refuse to let the child anywhere near my horse.

Do you have any insurance to cover you for giving lessons to her? If not, things could get very nasty if the child has an accident and the parent sue you.

Also, i am not sure if a 4yo would have enough balance to stay on a horse without a saddle.

It might well be worth just telling the parnets you cant do the lessons, let the girl learn elsewhere and when she is a bit bigger and older then she can come and ride your pony.

Just my opinion, I'll be interested to see what the others say.

bye!

[Maci]

My opinion is that she is too young, and inexperienced. I would think that a child could start riding at the age of six, but no younger. In the mean time, you could always have her around when you groom or lunge the pony for exersize, that way you can teach her about horses, so that when she does come to that age that she can ride one, she is informed and knows lots about them.

If I were in a situation where the parents wouldn't buy the proper riding apparal, I wouldn't think twice about letting her ride on her own!
Good Luck!
Maci :)

[luv2ride]

I agree that she is too young. The youngest person at my riding school is 6. You could always invite her over to clean the stall and teach her how to groom the horse. Then in a couple of years you could teach her how to ride.

Hope this helps;)

[Mossy]

I do not think she is too young. I cannot really. I had my first lesson on the back of a Shetland when I was three! Apart from slight bow legs, which may or may not be connected, I am none the worse for it. However a riding helmet is essential, a bike helmet is just not acceptable. Do you have or can you get hold of one of those soft felt pony pads with a child handle on the pommel. They are universal fitting, cost I don't know. At four I would expect her to have an adult with her as well as one with the horse anyway, so if she does tip she can be caught.

Are you giving lessons or is the child just sittng on your pony for a 15 minute ride. She will probably have had enough by then. If the latter there is probably something in your insurance about other riders riding with permission. Check and check with the parents. If you are working for any sort of reward, monetary or otherwise, you are walking into a legal minefield,and personally I would not even consider it.

Sorry if this is a bit blunt but I would be very very careful with this one. Not so much due to age but due to safety and legality. At least one firm make tandem saddles designed for parent and small child.

I appreciate I may be out of step with the majority on this one but a healthy discussion never hurt anybody.


[Edited by Mossy on 4th Sep 2000 at 06:35 PM]

[Flo]

I agree with Mossy that she's probably not too young to start riding, especially on a pony pad - not on an adult saddle or bareback though and certainly not without the right helmet.

I would be loathe to let her groom or be in the near vicinity of the horse other than whilst on its back though - if your pony is shod it may well be able to break her foot if it stands on it and, however calm your pony may be, remember just how little distance there is between her head and its hoof.

Sorry not to be more positive.

[LindaAd]

I think she's too young to start riding properly - she wouldn't have the coordination or the strength, and in any case a 14hh pony is way too big. But I think you could lead her around on the pony so she gets used to sitting on it - after you've thought about all the safety points that other people have made, especially the hat!

[Rebecca]

I agree with everyone about the hard hat. Maybe if you do decide she's too young to sit alone you could take her up in front of you for brief rides? You'd probably need to be riding bareback to do this, which is how I've seen it done before.

Rebecca

[Silvia]

Thanks everybody for your thoughts! Luckily the helmet problem has solved itself - the parents have bought her one. (I asked the girl to talk to her parents herself since they wouldn't listen to me and sure enough she convinced them. Those little kids can be pretty insisting!)
As to riding I have decided to keep her on the leading rein for now and teach her a few things, like sitting up straight. I would love to let her sit in front of me for a few rides, but with my disbility I have enough trouble controlling my own body so I guess it wouldn't be save.
Of course I'm not taking money for it, so she will probably be in the "other riders" category, which my insurance does cover. Your advice has been really helpful! :)
Silvia

[Silver1]

I can totally garentee you a 4 year old doesn't have good enough balance! Hayley (the 5 year old ex-terror) loves to play "horsey" (that means she "rides" around on my back) and she can barely hang on!!! She falls off a LOT off my back (always on carpet) and when she does hang on she has no grip at all and sways back and fourth...

[Sue]

I agree with everyone about the safety aspects of this but must add that my god-daughter who is barely 3 is riding on the lunge or lead rein and enjoying every minute of it. She has incredible balance and can do rising trot quite easily. She doesn't hold onto the saddle and barely has any contact on the reins she merely uses her natural balance. More importantly she loves every minute of it and is learning a healthy respect for the pony. The younger the better I say as long as the adults around are competent.

[LC]

Both my daughters were raised riding with me from birth. There was a time when I had the older in a back pack and the younger in a front pack. We got our first pony when Manda was 2 1/2 yrs old and she was riding at 3 yrs. old. I led her around the mountains, up and down hills, through creeks, etc for HOURS because she loved it so much. We stopped often to look at the flowers, catch frogs, find butterflies, eat various berries and make hats out of thimbleberry leaves. Marci, my youngest, started riding at 3 also on her own pony. By the time Manda was 5 years old she could saddle and bridle her own pony using an old wooden dynamite box to stand on -- Marci the same. By the time Manda was 6 and Marci 4, we went on long morning rides everyday. I was glad to be riding my own horse and not having to pack one of them around. Manda only fell off once in her riding experiences when she was six years old, due to a stupid, rude motorist. Marci who is hearing impaired, fell a lot, but she always just brushed herself off and got back on. There is a lot that goes with riding that is not lesson oriented. Children don't have to do everything "right" they just enjoy the moment. They learn the important things like balance, gentleness, praising the horse, discipline and caring for another living thing. When they are old enough and ready for lesson stuff, they learn eagerly. We were lucky to have two of the greatest ponies -- still have one who is now 28 years old and still teaching kids. Both kids are very successful healthy adults and neither are bow legged!

[silly mare]

I agree with everyone else on the safety aspects of this situation, but just wanted to say that I started riding when I was 3 and have never looked back!