Training a Small Pony

[Horsey Chick]

I was wondering how to train my small pony to be childrens mount. She is such a hand-full she needs to be trained by an adult. She is 450 lb. and 10 hands tall. Could an adult train her to be ridden? Or would they be too heavy? She seems very strong and sturdy. She doesn't have very thick legs, but she is pretty round and solid! Any thoughts?

Also what are peoples thoughts on when to start ponies. Like how old...2yrs...3yrs...more?

[Showjumper]

I wouldn't start riding a pony properly until they were at least 4. I sat on my mare and let her follow her friends on a hack when she was 3, but that was pretty much it. She's almost 4 1/2 and will be starting a proper work regime next month :)

As for your youngster, I'd try and do as much groundwork as possible to get her manageable, responding to pressure, and accepting of new things.

I don't know how much experience you have with young horses, but if not a lot, I'd send her to a professional to be backed and trained. As for her being suitable as a child's pony...it depends largely on temperament. I trust my girl implicitly with my boyfriend's 7 year old brother, but there are other horses who I wouldn't let him near.

The fact that you say she's a handful makes me think that she may not be a good child's pony - unless they were experienced enough to cope with anything she may throw at them.

Good luck! :)

[Horsey Chick]

I know she is still a youngster and will need a few years to settle down, but my main concern is the size thing. I mean if she is trained to ride is she going to be too small for me or a trainer to train? Should I plan on her never being ridden? Is she too small for me to be planning on her being a riding pony for anyone? How big does a pony have to be to be considered ridable by child and adult?

[Showjumper]

I've ridden 10hh ponies and I'm 5'5. Ponies tend to be pretty good weight-carriers. I've ridden Shetlands that have bolted with me...As long as she isn't a spindly little thing, a small adult shouldn't have a problem riding her :)

If you do decide not to ride her, you could have her trained to pull a cart :)

[Horsey Chick]

I've already trained her to pull a cart. She is one smart cookie! She learned in just two days!! She is such a good girl!

[FreedomStar]

like showjumper said, ponies are very hardy! They can carry weights that you didn't know they could, and they're surprisingly hard to ride. There is a small pony that I ride sometimes in lessons, and she's run away with me a few times. She doesn't do it anymore, but it's still hard to control her because she's such a nervous, speedy thing, and it doesn't help that i'm a little too big on her!

[shandy84]

From what I can tell of carriage driving, a pony needs to be steady and sensible in order to pull a trap, you sound like she is a little bit bolshy and full of herself so really she needs bombproofing up so lots of walks out in hand firm behaviour and introducing her to scary objects is a must.

Also from owning my own youngsters I would say to get them properly broken to ride or drive takes a lot more than a couple of days, what you got from her was acceptance of the cart not of driving in all situations.

To be honest I would send her to be finished when she turns four at a schooling yard where they can get her edges polished ridden and in cart.

I would suggest she may not make a suitable first pony as she isn't like many who are sensible young and this is a desirable quality in a childs pony

[Horsey Chick]

Whoa there all you horsey friends...When I said she is a handful I only meant that she is full of young energy, not that she is a mean untrained pony. She is kind at heart and she is ground trained. She's just stubborn somedays and full of energy the next. I mean she's a handful when I'm driving her and she wants to trot and I want to walk. But, she turns well and can do all the patterns that I ask of her. She can pull me and an adult friend like the cart was empty. She is pretty natural at it. Like I know some horses have trouble getting use to turning and stopping, but she is really smooth at everything.
We brought her home in my parents mini van. She was imprinted at birth and has been taken in to every imaginable situation. She isn't spooky and she isn't shy of anything or anyone. My older horse has instilled in her a healthy respect for authority. She is trained to stand without restraint of any kind while she is groomed. She is trained to stand completely still while hooked up to the cart and when you take it off of her she will walk right to her tie post to be untacked(without anyone leading her). She is the smartest pony that I have ever met. And I'm kind of perfectionist so she is thoroughly ground trained-like she will probably go insain if I worked her anymore! She is a dream in halter excercises! She can stop and turn on a dime. But, it wasn't easy to get her to that point. I worked for many months to establish the respect that I have from her. Ponies aren't like horses you know, they take awhile to get to listen, but when you have their attention they learn quick.

She is only 2 years old. I think her behavor is pretty natural for that age. I don't think I need to send her away to a trainer either. I perfected her ground training in only a couple of months. She trusts me and I would never send her to a stranger when I could teach her myself.

FreedomStar, how much do you weight? And how big is the pony you ride?

I weight 109lbs and I am 5'5' as well. I don't know how to give you my weight in stones? is that what you weight with?

[shandy84]

I do know my friend I too own a two and a half year old pony!

She is a lot better than your mare by all appearances she was wild off the new forest as a yearling so as you can imagine she was a handful. Now you don't get her being overexuberant when working as this is not allowed it is something for the field, she is not allowed to be stubborn as that will make her a pig when she gets older and she will learn habits like planting etc.

Also you HAVE missed bits in the cart if youn did it in two days and there is no way in hell I would have a two year old pulling a trap and definatly not with people in it's classed as very hard work and a baby up until three and a half should never be in hard work especially not the slow growing small natives

The reason I say to send her away is that you do not sound like you can back her as in your ability to do it, she has not had sufficient training and groundmanners in the trap from what you are saying, I mean even when you are alking out no pony should trot when you want to walk and this needs to be established before they go in front of a trap with a novice driver.

Have you longreined her out and about, how about walking out in hand?

If you haven't done these things you really need to as her training is incomplete and then when she is physically not at risk from the work bring her back to harness

I say what I do as a friend has a gelding to drive that has only been put to and not actually long reined and walked out enough to be a safe driving pony and that is all having to be done now

[Esther.D]

I would be not be putting any pony in a cart until they are at least rising 4, especially a small pony, as their bones are not mature enough even to pull a light weight. I break my driving ponies at rising 4 (if they are physically mature enough) and then turn them away again for the winter and start to train them properly at nearly 5, and they are 9.3hh Shetlands so very similar to your pony. She sounds to be doing very well so far, but I think you really are pushing things on far too fast, I am quite happy for you to bring her on yourself, however do be very careful you are not letting yourself in for physical/behavioural problems later by working her too early. Driven training can be very basic - put them into a cart and drive away, but it should ideally be as sophisticated as ridden training in order to get them responsive to the aids in a balanced and controlled manner. This is the same whether they are 10hh or 17hh, my shetlands can achieve lengthening and collection in a driven dressage test so size does not make a difference to the amount of schooling. They do not have to be schooled up to this level but it makes their work so much easier for them if they are balanced and in a proper outline, none of which can be achieved at 2 years old as they are nowhere near physically mature enough. If she is pulling you and an adult (even a very light one) I would be very worried about longterm damage being done to her still developing and fusing bones....by all means do this when she gets to 4, but not at two...:(

As for weight carrying, yes your mare will carry an adult but not before she is 5 (expect an extremely light one) as her bones will not have fused and a heavier rider is risking longterm damage.

This is only meant as friendly advice - I assume you are in the USA and I know it is standard in some areas to break ponies in much earlier than in the Uk as this debate has arisen before on this board, I am just advising you of my opinion.

As for the youthful high spirits - yes I would expect them in a small pony at 2, but they may get worse before they get better! You may find a change in her amenable behaviour when she gets to 3...mine nearly always go through a teenage phase that starts about 3 and goes through to 5 or 6 in certain ponies :rolleyes: I have left Bobby til 6 to break as he was such a little hooligan (despite having beautiful manners at 2 and loads of ground work) that I did not believe he was mentally ready for the job of driving, and after all..I have all the rest of his life ahead of me. I am breaking him now and he is going beautifully as he is mentally and physically ready for the work. I am no way suggesting you wait this long though with yours it was just an illustration of how they can change between 2 and 5 :) Good luck and take care, whatever you decide to do, she sounds a nice little pony.

[chev]

I'm not a fan of imprinting, to be honest. Lots of studies done on horses who were imprinted at birth have shown some very negative effects that appear later in life. One is in ponies who seemingly react very well to all kinds of training early on, who then become very unpredictable in certain situations - some to the point where they become unmanagable. The problem arises from interfering with the way the foal first adapts - imprinting, even when done 'by the book', means holding a new born foal down and subjecting him to all sorts of 'procedures' (sticking fingers in his mouth and rectum, tapping feet, touching all over) and restraining him until he relaxes and accepts this behaviour. It interferes with the normal processes of standing and finding the mare and her milk since it has to be carried out within the first few minutes of birth. In theory it means the foal readily accepts training and human contact later on. Lots of owners swear this is the case.

Unfortunately, the 'lesson' learnt at birth (that a horse must yield to everything since he has no choice) doesn't always last. There are plenty of cases of imprinted horses who have gone on to develop serious aggression problems, towards both other horses and people. Fans of imprinting insist these cases only happen where imprinting is carried out incorrectly. A number of studies have shown that imprinting of any kind can have these results.

Not saying that's the case with your filly, but it's worth pointing out that imprinting is far from being a fantastic answer to all training problems, and in itself has no guarantees.

I do think that your filly is doing rather too much at two though. It can be very tempting to do more and more with a youngster who's coming on so well, but it is very often to their detriment later on. I'd be inclined to slow down a little with your filly.

Not sure about the idea that you can break a horse to drive in two days either - not safely anyway, and especially not if you're a perfectionist. I've seen plenty of two year olds 'broken' to drive here (it is, sadly, commonplace to break them to harness at two here, too) who have been a dream for the first year, and then, through a combination of growing up a bit and the lack of good preparation beforehand, become rather difficult to work with. Again, not saying this is what will happen, but doing things so quickly and so early will certainly increase the chances of things going awry.

As far as training goes, I'd be inclined to see if you can find a good child rider to school under saddle - round here we have a couple of really good ones who are ten and eleven, and more than experienced enough to start small ponies under supervision. It can be quite difficult to teach leg aids properly on small ponies, since an adult's legs generally hang a lot lower than a child's. I've been schooling our 11.2hh mare for my daughter, but when my daughter gets on she's quite a different pony because of the difference in weight/leg position/ rider strength. Either way, you'll have a couple of years before she'll be ready to ride anywyay.

Good luck with her. She sounds really nice :) .

[Horsey Chick]

Okay I didn't actually mean she was completely finished in cart in two days! I only meant that she accepted the shafts and the cart in two days. I worked her not with actual long lines, but with just her harness and reins (with me walking behind "driving") for many months before I put her in cart. We went on many trail walk/drives. We went on the road, through the forest, into my parents garage...etc. She had been in harness doing very well for a while before I could afford a cart.

Also, she is not a slow growing native. She is a very overgrown mini/american shetland. LOL. She looks like a little bit too tubby, very overgrown, very hairy mini. She's not unhealthy fat-just normal pony roundness.

Shady84~Do you think just because she is eager to trot that she is being naughty? Every horse questions whether you might want to go faster once in awhile. Even my OLD horse who was owned by several trainers until I got him does that. He loves to run and he knows I will let him only when we are trail riding, sometimes. But, I certainly would not be upset at him for getting a bit excited about his speed. I know he's not perfect(but he's close!). My pony is young and as long as she is just asking to go faster, I know that complete obedience only comes with patient training. I have been working on the harness thing for more then a year and the cart thing for just about 6 months. She is improving everytime. She is learning to listen to the reins and to my voice. I have many friends who are very experienced at harness for pleasure and racing. They are all very impressed by my filly. They all tell me that she is doing well. Besides I don't have an extra $5,000 bucks to spend on a pony who didn't cost $600? Trainers in my area cost quite a bit. Maybe when I am old and rich I will be able to send my babies to school, but not anytime soon.

EasterD.~I do not drive my pony very frequently, now that she is used to it. She is driven maybe twice a month for 10 minutes each time. I only trained her to an extreme with the ground stuff so my mom would be able to take her to the pasture from the barn easily. She went through a huge brat stage at 1 yr. and I had to do something. We only have two horses and the grandpa horse comes in at night, so the baby has to too. She had to be trained or be sold. I was at college during the week and my parents couldn't handle her. So, I trained her a few times every weekend. That got boring, so I came up with the interesting training things like standing to be groomed without being tied-up. Anyway now that she isn't such a brat everyone loves her again and life goes on.

Chev~Her "imprinting" I think, was just being played around with once in awhile by her owner/breeder. When they sold her to me they tried to make it sound like she was "imprinted", but I have a feeling it wasn't very thorough. The teen girl who was helping out at the farm said that she held "Dollie" a lot. You may laugh at me, but she was held. I've seen pictures of her when she was born and she was tiny! So, I don't think I have to worry too much about her having problems with being imprinted. Thanks for advice Chev!