Sorry to derail here but this exactly is what my daughter is having, she is very very nervous. She's only gone to probably 20 lessons in her life, the rest of the time has been her having fun at her own pace with the pony. She probably could have been pushed on with a good instructor as her pony is a good sort (now she has been schooled) but one knock back would have her right back to the start. She does a LOT of ground work/leading and in hand things with the pony and I have to say this has increased her confidence in the mare considerably. But a lot of children her age (10) are more interested in getting on and jumping / games or bombing about. Mine isn't she enjoys her ponies company.
I think this has come from myself being an influence, I had mine and I rode for the majority of the early time I had him but he was a patent safety sort - for me. However after I had her, time out of the saddle and a love of donuts saw me out of riding and into driving
, through no longer riding my horse I got to know him on another level and whilst a lot of the older school sort (my OH included) scoffed at the ground work or in hand hacks but it increased my horses confidence in me by the truck load. There are a lot of inhand resources out there now and I highly recommend it.