How did you aquire your pony ?

[Keepsmiling]

How did everyone here come to own a pony as oposed to a horse ?

did you go out with the intention buying a pony or just kinda get persuaded into it whist originally on the lookout for a horse ?

i was given my fell pony as a before xmas present when i was 12yrs old and she was 6months (she is 6yrs old now) and my original intention was to sell her on as soon as possible and get a real horse !

it umm never happened ;)

we kinda have an understanding these days, after all she inspired me to go to equestrian collage, when i left school at 16 :D almost 3yrs on i have an equine diploma and soon i hope a degree in equine science ;) i honestly think if at 12yrs i had been given a perfect horse/pony that i could ride asap i would have lost interest !

[Showjumper]

I've always felt better on ponies than horses, and have been captivated by New Forests for ever :D

So I set out looking for a New Forest 2 years and up. I visited loads, but didn't click with any, so I posted a Pony Wanted advert on the NFPB&CS Classifieds and got a phone call about Dolly. Two years later, and she's still my perfect pony :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/DollyMare/newcamerapics013.jpg

[notpoodle]

first time i sat on a horse was on a shetland - i guess that left a stamp somewhere in my heart :D

then i had to ride big ones cos none of the riding schools had ponies. the smallest they had was a 14.4hh or thereabouts mare called princess who i really liked riding - then she was sold. so more big horses for me :( then i discovered icelandics and ended up riding those at every possible opportunity - i just felt a lot happier on the little ones :D

then took a riding break, studied, moved to britain. started riding again and ... the smallest theyd give me was just over 14hh :rolleyes:

then i was in the fortunate position of getting my first horse and of course that had to be a pony :D angel is 12.3 and suits me very well indeed :)

julia
x

[duke]

I had riding lessons since i was about 7 but my parents could never afford to buy me a horse of my own so when i left school went straight to work saved enough and then had duke on loan for a couple of years the owner then decided she wanted to sell him i had spent so much time with him and we got on really well together. I could not watch someone else buy him so here i am 6 years later still with duke my new forest pony who i love to bits.:D

[xAlicex]

I have a pony called heather who is a 13.3hh, 7 yr old new forest mare
I used to ride her for her owner as she was quite a character and owner couldnt control her ( probably due to lack of confidence) We got on well together and i taught her how to jump and she was generally better behaved. The owner then decided she had to be sold but in the end she could not wait for her to be sold because she was moving abroad. I was really upset about her being sold and in the end i was offered her for free as i was not allowed to buy her. I wasnt allowed a horse before but she came with everything she needed like tack and this offer really couldnt be missed.
We have come on well together and she has taught me lots and lots :D
Hopefully if this works i will show you some pics of her

Heather looking shiney
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/xalicex/jhfdjhfdjrfdj777.jpg

Heather jumping at home
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/xalicex/hfjnhfdm999.jpg
Heather at a sponsered ride
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/xalicex/heatherjumpingfence2.jpg
Heather head shot
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/xalicex/DSCN0806.jpg

Shes a very special girlie

Alice xxx

[xAlicex]

wow! i cant believe i got all those pictures to work :eek: :eek: :eek:

[jinglejoys]

Decided I'd be better looked after by a mule.
Blue came from Henley Market,Amber from Butts Farm--Sarah-lee was the one I really wanted but I had to wait ten years to get hold of her and Malaga has just come over from Spain.

[Drummers mum]

I've always loved horses and ponies but I can't ever remember wanting a horse, it was always a pony!

I fell in love with all the ponies at the riding school and although I rode the horses, I never enjoyed it as much.

My last horse straw came when the YO's tb carted me round the field and frit me to death. "Thats it" I sobbed at the YO, "I want a pony!" and she made it so! (well, bit more to it than that but thats how it started!)

That was over a year ago and I've had Drummer since Feb 2004!:D :D :D

[jessie123]

Getting my first pony Magic was fate! I had been exercising a friends racehorse and had come to the conclusion that I now wanted my own, every week I used to look in the local rag for a loan pony and dreamily circle the ones that I liked:o
One week there was one particular one that I was drawn to, he was for sale though but I thought that I could persuade the people to allow me to have him on loan so I put the advert in a draw so it was safe and the next step was to try and persuade my husband to allow me to have a pony!
2 weeks passed..... he agreed...... couldn't bl**dy find the paper could I!!!:(
I searched the internet of the paper he was advertised in, everything, but to no avail:mad:
My husband suggested I then put an advert in the paper stating what sort of pony I needed... HA that's a laugh as I needed a 14.2 BOMBPROOF family pony, like anybodys going to answer that one..... well 2 days later someone did answer and lo and beholld it was the very one I had circled in the paper weeks before!:D
So I went along to see him, took one look at his face and fell in love, and he was only 14h, I didn't even try him out, didn't know what he looked like under his rug, but that face, I wouldn't have cared whether he only had 3 legs I still wanted him!:D
I was told that they had sold him but the lady returned him saying he was a horrible little pony and that he tried to roll with her whilst she was on him, they told me that they think she must have been nasty to him for him to do such a thing.
So I took him home, he was wonderful in the trailer, let him settle in for a week and get used to me before I rode him.
End of the week came, tacked him up expecting to go out for a plod and whoa speedy gonzales... he was great!!! and then I thought 'I can't put the kids on this!' but when I did..... what a quiet, kind and gentle soul he was... the minute you sit down in the saddle he assesses how well you ride and adjusts accordingly!!:D
6 months later my husband buys him for me for my birthday!!!
Cyddie my mare was given to me as her owner could no longer afford her as she was a headshaker, I was doing all the looking after and when her previous owner asked me if I wanted her, I said yes as I had become very attached, I carried on her treatment with success, so she no longer headshakes and is becoming a PC pony soon.:D
And that's how I acquired my ponies, bit long winded but there you go, you did ask!:D :D

[AnneS]

Like many others here, I prefer to ride ponies. My first riding experiences where on a pony. Then I went to riding school that had Haflingers and now I am at a pony riding school. I rode horses too but for me it feels better with a pony or even a small horse.

There where many circumstances how I got Ginger. I met an old school friend some years ago who worked for a fun fair on weekends. They had a lot of ponies and my friend cared for the biggest one of them, a gorgeous paint pony mare with blue eyes. They had stallions too (see my thread about mature height) and in the lap of Nature she got a foal: Ginger.

I met her first when she was 4 days old and I totally fell in love with this cute little thing. Since this I always wanted to have her…and then 2 years ago I gave myself a Christmas present and bought her. :D

[Angiebabe]

I was fed up with work about 6 months after leaving university so I answered an add in the local paper for horses and ponies for loan. They were mainly ponies and the lady who owned them breeds Fell ponies. After a few years she was selling Spirit who at 2 was very cute and I couldn't resist. I rode all of her ponies, enjoyed competing on them and never wanted a horse.
I am lucky because the riding clubs round by us aren't BHS affiliated so adults can compete on ponies in any of the classes. One of the reasons I sold my pony when I was 16 was because I couldn't compete where my parents live, otherwise I might still have her now.

[SkyLady]

I'd been searching the classifieds for a horse and over a couple of months I kept noticing the same shetland pony advertised and his price kept steadily dropping so I thought I'd wouldn't be getting into too much trouble if I just went and had a look.

I saw him and that was it, he was coming home with me. The problem his previous owners had with selling him is that he was an hour or so out of town and he had been broken to harness but not to saddle.

The only problem I have now is stopping myself from buying him two or three paddock mates. ;)

[eventerbabe]

We got our welsh cob coz we wanted something my sister and i could ride and something big enough for my mum. hence we got our 13.3hh section D. 13 years later both mum and i still ride her :)

[Gabrielle]

Hello I am a new user.

I have been involved with horses and ponies since I was 6 years old, I am now nearly 40! I had a long time without owning one from 21yrs to 33 years old. I had a 16.2hh retired hunter on loan when I was 13 - 14 yrs but other that working with show jumpers in Switzerland and at D Broomes I have always had ponies. I am the fortunate owner of a 5 year old Section D filly called Blaengwen Gabrielle. I went looking for a plod to hack out with my then 8 year old daughter and ended up buying a 2yr old filly. Ponies are so much more fun. We entered all our Riding club rallies and I was the Senior Champion on her, she excells at everything. I even did a chase me charlie on her towards the end of last year and jumped 3ft 3", the same as our Section A and came joint first with my daughter. Ponies are the best. My husband who has never shown any interest in ponies now hacks her out and jumps 2ft with her. He wants her to be his but he can't have her.

[Gabrielle]

Seem to be unable to load this picture as its too big. How do you do it?

[can't_decide]

i had a couple of ponies on loan from the age of 8-9, then i got my own when i was nearly ten . . . i bought him from a dealer near my old yard and when i rode him the first time he was a complete little eejit, tried to bolt back to the yard, drop his shoulder etc . . . every trick in the book. thankfully i was used to naughty ponies!! and had him on a week's trial, where he was again not very nice to me, but when it came down to the choice between a 13hh 5year old chestnut show pony and this little dun hairy thing, it had to be donny . . . :) bless him. for the first two years he was horrible, would take off and turn in and generally throw his weight around, but eventually i got him sorted out, with the help of my brilliantly patient instructor. god, i think he did everything that a pony could do in those first years . . . but when he's good he's very good, and now he jumps 3ft6 easy peasy, hacks out, has a fantastic gallop, lovely and we've won a fair bit together . . . getting the impression i love him to pieces?!:D

i was always going to have him then have a horse when i outgrew him, and it was always going to be the horses that were sold on. he's with us forever, and thankfully i can still ride him because he's a little beast sometimes, then when i get on he behaves beautifully . . . however, glad i have poppy (15.2hh!) now, so my legs don't ALWAYS have to touch the ground!

[Miriam]

Through the Ad Trader which advertisers all sort. She was advertised as a quiet 14.1hh mare. Wenyt to see her and fell in love with her. Dragged my friend who I used to ride for to see her and voila she came home to me :D


Kito was a different matter. Gems tiger said she wanted to go look at one so I went with her and we bought him together :eek: Second horse I did not tell hubby about :eek:

Others before that were loan horses a part from Finny who was bought between two poeple and one pulled out so I was given the chance of buying in so I did. My first foal which we unfortunately lost.

[NoviceNic]

I bought a horse first and really struggled to cope when handling her from the ground. Eventually I sold her and then swore I would never buy another horse again. Anyway I got the owning bug again and was told about an ex riding school cob. I went to see him and on the first day he groomed me.

I have bought him and we are getting on famously. He is a heavy weight 14 2 hh cob. Everyone else thinks he is massive but I don't see it. I sit there shaking my head saying he isn't big at all. After all he is my BABY.:)

[JustJas]

I went looking for an arab but bought Peps a 14'2 an arab x (other half a new forest). Her colour (dun) drew my attention to the advert in the Yorkshire post.
She was a "naughty" pony bought from a riding school who washed their hands of her. So unfair she is just avery opinionated pony- she likes challenges and schooling bores her. As a hack she is not a novice ride but the best thing I ever did was buy her!

Jas my arab I aquired from the internet on a "help wanted thread".

[Wez]

Just out of interest...to everyone who has a pony under 14hh, how tall are you?

[Gabrielle]

My girl is 14.2hh and I am 5ft 1.5 inches.

[larri]

I was actually given my pony Merlin by the riding school I used to work for. He'd always been my favourite there and I used to ride him in classical dressage displays. They were closing the school to concentrate on Classical dressage training and the Lusitano stud, and as he was already an old lad they wanted him to go to a semi retirement home. They knew I loved him to bits, so home he came!

He's 14hh and I'm 5' 8", as he's quite round I don't think I look too big on him - somewhere I have a piccy of me wearing classical 18th century dress coat and tricorn hat waiting to start a display...just can't find it!
He's a real superstar!

http://img77.exs.cx/img77/6328/handsomeboy8wu.jpg

[H & Bailey]

Id always pictured myself with a dales type but my first horse was a 16.2hh Tb,she taught me alot including how to have a secure seat:rolleyes: etc the cost and expense of a big horse.When i had to sell her I wasnt going to get another straight away but was helping someone look for a horse or pony and they told me about bailey.He was chained up on a playing field in a council estate.Owned by gypsys and broken to a headcollar and 'ridden' by the kids bareback.He was alot smaller than i was used to but he was unsuitable for the woman looking and the gypsys made the fatal comment 'never mind he is going one way or another-the meat man will give us £400'Oh that was it .well i couldnt leave him on his chain with his floppy lip!
ive never looked back he is now about 14.2? and in an ex wide saddle so I dont look daft...im only 5 ft 3.Ive been offered money for him time and time again as he has a bit of cheekiness in him that can only be welshy so holds himself well but honestly couldnt part with him.
I got rose from my friend a year ago,I felt sorry for her-yes Im a sucker for a sob story .she had been bought by my friend in a state covered in diahorreah and no energy her belly was so bloated she looked pregnant,on closer examination she was absolutely riddled with worms and had a bad gut from this.my pal kept her but never had done anything with her and only went out for a hack with me and wouldnt go on the road as she was terrible.the local kids were harrasing the horse throwing rocks at her and fireworks!she rang and told me she was selling her so i bargained her down and bought her.it has took a while but have got her tummy sorted (fingers crossed) and can hack out alone....but she is terrible in traffic so you need your wits about you.She is a scardy horse and she is now just brave enough to be my pal for a cuddle,i think she has had a rough start,from a gypsy type home(she doesnt understand fencing at all) probably battered and most probably been hit by a van as she is petrified.she is a nice steady type and am hoping i can get her road proofed so I can let my kids ride on her.