Horsey people your opinions would be very much appreciated

[Sonnet]

My friend has a youngish pony in need of some schooing. She has tried to sell the pony 3 tinmes over the last year but has not had any luck.
DD1 has been riding the pony intermitently - she can ride a bit but is not great and would benefit from riding lessons.

I wondered if somehow the friend and I could combine the 2 - schooling for the pony and riding lessons for dd and split the cost- would this be a good idea? - how couild we go about it

This is what my mum and I are doing as we co-own a young cob. Although we have both owned horses in the past we have neither of us had formal lessons so we are combining our lessons with making sure our youngster gets proper schooling from the beginning. We have a freelance instructor who comes to us once a week and teaches us and occasionally gets on herself and does a bit of schooling when she feels the pony is ready for the next stage or if we are being particularly wimpy!

Should that be 'wimpish'? .

I should add that we think it is working really well, we are learning a lot and enjoying ourselves (all three of us!), plus it's not costing us the earth. But we are in no rush. You'd have to understand that progress would probably be slower than if your dd had lessons on an experienced horse and the pony was schooled by an expert because you have to be very patient when they are both learning together. It's lovely though, and schooling a youngster is an education in itself.

Although I completely understand your reasons for wanting to do this (ie riding lessons are very expensive nowadays) I don't actually think this is a good idea either for your dd or for the young horse but I am ancient and come from v. traditional/stuffy riding background so feel free to tell me and my advice where to go!!

Always preferable for a young horse to be schooled by an experienced rider and a young/inexperienced rider to be teamed with a school-master/experienced mount. There are good, practical reasons for this.

As Pixel has found, it can work out but I know of situations where the wrong sort of pairing has stuffed up a horse's future (ie horse has learnt irreversible bad habits) and a child has been seriously put off riding for good. Does partly depend on temperament of both though.

If you do go ahead, I would definitely get help from an experienced trainer. Hope your dd enjoys her future riding whatever you decide.

Fio, cost will vary considerably depending on how you choose to keep a pony and what is available in your area. We keep ours at grass livery and do all the work ourselves and despite the fact that we live in an area where grazing land is expensive to rent, the total cost of keeping our pony is certainly no more than it would be if mum and I went for an hour's hack once a week at our local riding school. And that's including insurance cover and routine vet fees.

Countingthegreyhairs (know the feeling ), you make a good point, but if Sonnet's dd is riding the pony anyway then surely a bit of professional help can only be good for the pair of them? If pony and rider are unsuited and are going to be the ruin of each other then a decent instructor will be able to tell them.

Generally novice rider + green horse = disaster.

Really, a youngster needs an experienced rider (plenty of small children or teenagers who are talented riders for smaller ponies) to learn correctly and turn out to be a nice riding pony. They need to learn a lot more than just accepting somebody on their back! They need to be taught to go in a nice outline, on the bit, tracking up, weight on the hindquarters, light on the forehand etc!

A novice rider will also learn better on a schoolmaster/mistress horse who is calm and quiet but forward going.

It is unbelievable that there are so many dead-to-the-leg ponies are used in riding schools when she should be either put in retirement or given to a competent rider. I don't see how children will learn to be good riders being told by an instructor to kick kick kick because the horse won't even move forward never mind anything else! sorry for the mini rant lol.

Thanks for all your messages.

I originally posted a longer message and then lost it. Kept with this young pony is an old "schoolmaster" who is on loan to my friend.

CTGH and CG2007 I have to say that my gut instinct is also that novice rider and novice horse do not go together which is why I posted....so thanks for confirming that.

I am not doing it to save money as I pay for feed and shoes for two ponies. My friend is unwilling to send this pony away to be brought on as she was quoted £160 per week. She needs to sell him and having no luck and I fear he will end up at the horse sales.

Pixel - your arrangement sounds just what I wanted to investigate. How did you find an instructor in your area and if I can be cheeky nad ask how much does she charge? . the idea being that my friend and I split the cost>

Thanks for all your replies...

Hi Sonnet -

I am not doing it so save money
yes, pls forgive wrong assumption on my part - when does anything to do with horses turn out to be good for the pocket?

hope your friend manages to save the pony from the sales ... it's a tough one ...

Has she tried advertising on-line? Trouble is, the magazine advertising is so expensive it could easily mount up (excuse unintentional pun) to price of horse itself ...

One way to find a good instructor for your daughter would be to contact the British Horse Society in your area and get them to supply a list of accredited teachers local to you. See www.bhs.org.uk and look under 'Education' then 'Register of Instructors'

(I assume you have already asked around at a local riding school with good reputation ...)

Good luck with both!

Sonnet, we were lucky as our instructor was recommended by the lady we bought the pony from. She was the one who backed him originally and had already spent a lot of time working with him doing Parelli etc so it was ideal. Dpony adores her and is always on best behaviour when she is around .
She charges us £15 and spends around an hour working with us. I think it would normally be more but she takes into account that I collect her and take her back as she doesn't have any transport on the day that mum and I are both free.
I think if we had had to find an instructor for ourselves we would have asked around at local livery yards to see who they had going to them. If someone seemed popular then they would be worth a try!

Thank-you pixel and counting the grey hairs!

DD1 got on really well riding him on Saturday.

I have be given the number of one instructor and have found another - so fingers crossed!!