When can a child start horseriding?

[SleepySuzy]

Can anyone tell me what age you can start taking a child horseriding?

I think there has been a thread on here about this recently but from my experience most stables wont let them start until they are 5 for insurance reasons.

Ah, thank you, haven't been on here for about a year, so not seen the thread.

I started at 5 (but that was 15 years ago!) but klots of children start younger but mostly if it their/older siblings/relatives/farm horse as opposed to at a riding school.

Some stables do walks at 2.5yrs

Maybe when they ask for it?

yes cristina that is a great time....when they ask!!!

Actually, I've been thinking about this since I posted (all of 2 minutes, I know). We often take children to activities before they ask, sometimes as babies.

ds1 is three and he is deserate to horse - ride. if fact he has said that he is going to have a horse to himself well as i am a horselover i though i had escaped that by not producing girls. obivouly not. fantastic excuse for me to take u riding again yipee

Where I live, they won't take children until they are 10, quite rural and don't have the insurance apparently. A real shame, DD is desperate.

dd sat in horse at 12 weeks!!!! but we have 2 horses at home and I was holding on very tightly!!

my neighbour has 2 kids who have ridden from the age of 2! they are 6 and 9 now, and tonight they put me to shame by cantering and jumping past me and my nag!! I was terrified!! their horses are bomb proof by the way and are their own kept on the farm.
Not sure about when a riding school would take them, but ring and ask- they should be BHS registered riding schools in yellow pages.

4 years at my riding school

And four at the ones I know too - I think its recent Health and Safety regs as I took my teenage daughters for walks on a lead rein before they were four.

H&S says 4

Can join ra ra Pony club from 4 years. The earlier they start to sit on a horse the better their balance will be. Ours started being led about the yard from around 2 and a half.
Quiet pony essential as youngsters put off a bit when they eat dirt.

3... is what our yard started at. My cousin sat on ponies since - forever! though.

I started at 4 but only because I was 'tall'.. I think 4 or 5 unless you know somebody with a suitable pony.

anteater - my Dh wishes i had been put off by eating dirt - spent half my childhood being dumped by unsuitable ponies, but if the children are keen they will be fine.

My ds started when he was 4, then had a long break, and has just started again. I think the very early experience made him want to do it again.

My DD has badgered me for years and we finally started - age 11. She has read all the books and has picked it up really quickly, despite going just once a month. Never too late.

Loshad, the being put off by eating dirt thing is a man (or boy) reaction, girls, do not seem to mind being dumped and trampled at all! We boys get braver as we get older tho!

Depends what you or they want to get out of it really. I think it is great if you can get familiar with horses from an early age, but I'm not sure if I'd pay for riding lessons for really small kids.
If you are coughing up for lessons, can't really see an awful lot of point before 5 or 6 years old.