At long last-we have a new boy!

[Mirage]

After 7 long months of looking and being let down,we have a new boy on loan.He is the sweetest thing ever,a little 12 hh Welshie and he is 10.We went to see him last week and I daren't post on here in case I jinxed things.He needs a confident rider as he worries if he is off L/R with a nervous child,but when we went to try him,DD2 got on and rode him with no problems-his owner was a bit at how confident she was,as was I because in the past she has always wanted me next to her when riding a new pony.

His only minus point,is that he isn't keen on jumping and his owner's DD can't jump him,but her friend can,and his owner admitted that he has mainly been used as a show pony so they haven't asked him to do much of anything else so it may just take repetition and practice.We went to see him at a show last weekend and he did a lovely L/R and F/R and will go from voice commands.

His owner is a lovely mum from PC and she says we can keep him until we find something more suitable or if we get on ok with the jumping issue,keep him for as long as we like.If for any reason it doesn't work,she is happy to have him back anytime as he is her baby.Cross your fingers for me that he does work out ok and if anyone has any tips on getting him more used to jumping,I'd be grateful.I'll try and post a picture later.

[marialuisa]

Fantastic, welsh ponies are lovely!

DD has been helping to school a section A flat show pony so he can do workers, it's been lots of trotting poles and raised trotting poles, taking it very slowly and a little at a time. Am sure your instructor will be able to help.

[TheQueenOfDiamonds]

My first pony was a bugger at uprights. He'd jump anything with a cross on it (Literally, the daft pony would do an upright if there was a cross pole under, or a board with a cross on it!) and it just took time and patience starting with ground poles :)

Congrats on your new boy x

[limepickle]

Fantastic news Mirage, so pleased you have found a pony!! I'm sure you'll crack the jumping! (I've been following your hunt for a loan pony as I think I may be about to go through the same thing
Good Luck!

[Mirage]

Thankyou all.DD2 rode him today at his owner's suggestion and he was very good,DD2 did have a wobble as she had forgotten how fast he is compared to what she is used to,but I went round and round the ring with her practising trotting and then asking him to walk until she felt more comfortable.3 friends came over on their mares and the poor boy had to contend with 4 excitable ponies racing around and jumping,he wasn't bothered though.

Happily dpony,who can be very grumpy, has taken a real shine to him,which is surprising.Tomorrow we are either going out for a hack,or putting DD2 on a lunge and familiarizing her with him in a controlled way.

Thanks for the advice about jumping,we are going to take it slowly and get her 100% confident on him before we try anything 'stressful'.

limepickle Is the pony for you or your dc?

[horseylady]

Brilliant news!! Hell hopefully get the jumping!! I love welshies :)

[limepickle]

Ah, tis for dds (8 and rising 6)- I took the plunge and got myself a welsh d 6 weeks ago :-)). We've heard of a loan coming up so fingers crossed, although after following your search i'm not going to get too excited!
What happened to the nf?

[frostyfingers]

At last! How exciting for you all - next project is one for yourself.....

I hope he works out, it might help with the jumping if you use dpony1 to lead him over.

Have fun.

[Mirage]

Good idea about using dpony to lead himfrosty.Sadly there is no money left for me to get anything and we can only keep 2 at home,plus I think DH would spontaneously combust if I suggested such a thing.

limepickle I was having reservations about the fact that the NF was always ridden in a gag or a pelham,my worry was,that there was nothing to 'move up to' if she was too strong for DD1,so I emailed the owner asking a few questions and on the day I was to pick the pony up,she replied saying that she was worried that the NF would be too strong for DD1 and didn't want to put her off riding,so I thanked her for being honest and that was that.DD1 cried,of course,but I was secretly relieved.

Good luck with the loan pony.You may be lucky and find the right one straight away.Dpony was the second pony we viewed and she has been a star.

[Callisto]

Ahh, I bought DD a 12hh 10yo Welsh a couple of months ago (who couldn't really jump) and she is doing brilliantly on him - and happily jumping 1-1.6ft now. Is yours grey?

Goog luck with the new boy and keep us posted.

[Treblesallround]

Get yourself a horse mirage, and get one for your dh, and really if he wants to see his family he's gong to have to get horsey. If it's a present it would be churlish of him to refuse

How lovely for your dd that she's getting a pony. Good luck!

[Mirage]

Callisto thankyou for telling me about your boy-well done to both of you for getting him jumping.Yes,our new chap is grey-or was until yesterday,when I took his rug off for my neighbour to admire him,and the little monkey nipped off and rolled.

Trebles Sadly DH is allergic to horses.He isn't too bad outdoors with them,but in a school or if they are being groomed,he gets very sneezy.I did say that you'd all reccomended that I get one for myself,but that we can only keep 2 here,and he asked why I didn't ask my dad if we could put a shelter on one of his fields for ponies.

We went for a 3.5 mile hack yesterday,with DD2 on the lead rein,just in case,and he was very good,no problems with traffic,excitable beast or sheep.We are really pleased with him so far and DD2 is besotted as he loves fuss and cuddles,whilst dpony doesn't.I have loaded a couple of pictures of him onto my profile,but can't get the best ones off my phone.

[Mirage]

Forgot to say that DH has bought himself an ipad as he forsees a summer spent at various horse shows and wanted something to amuse him whilst he waited for us.

[frostyfingers]

What a lovely looking pony - a matching pair! What a shame the weather is so grim as I'm sure they'd love to be out and about. It is utterly vile here, and I've had to put dhorse's winter rug on (luckily I hadn't taken it to be cleaned) - when he came in his feet were clattering on the concrete as he was shivering so much, poor boy.

[Mirage]

Thankyou frosty they are a little and large version of each other and we got a lot of smiles and waves on our first hack out.Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow-our brook has burst its banks and flooded the fields,fortunately not the pony fields.Can't wait for a bit of sun to dry up this everlasting mud.

[Mirage]

We've had him a week now and things are going well.He's an absolute angel to deal with,not a nasty bone in him.DD2 has had a few wobbles trotting him as he is very fast and prior to him she has had a few naughty ponies bomb off with her so she was worried the same thing woulkd happen again.But we took it slowly,put her on a lead rein until she felt confident and today she just clicked with him and was trotting around and over the poles with him.He refused a few times [he seems genuinely scared of them] but she turned him around and made him do as he was told and even managed to get him over two poles in between jump wings.After an hour we hacked around the block and over one of my dads fields.DD2 was happily trotting off ahead of me all the way.I'm shattered,I must have hacked about 20 miles this week and I've lost 4lbs since he arrived.

[Treblesallround]

I lost two dress sizes before I got my horse from taking GD out hacking. You need a nice Mum's happy hacker Mirage (in a few months, when she's off box rest )