Daughter always on laziest pony - is she learning anything?

[emlu67]

Hello

My DD is 6 1/2 and has been off the lead rein since about Aug last year.

She is a very keen rider however she is put on the oldest slowest pony at least three weeks out of four. This pony is particularly lazy and wants to do as little as possible! DD's focus of each lesson is just to make it go and I worry that she is not getting much of a chance to take in the other things she is supposed to be learning.

I am not sure who decides which pony they all ride but when I asked one of the staff in the office she said it wasn't her or the instructor but it is probably because she is usually the smallest child on the lesson.

They do have a few other ponies of a similar height and when she does get to ride them she rides much better.

I'm not a pushy parent or anything but riding lessons are expensive and she wants to progress to the next level which is unlikely at the moment. She also has short legs for her age which doesn't help on an unresponsive pony.

Just wondered what your thoughts are, I don't want to make a big fuss and it is a good riding school so wouldn't want to move her away but am considering let her ride somewhere else every other week just to get a bit of variety.

I agree with you and would raise concerns to the riding school and ask the instructor why your DD always gets this pony.

It may be that your DD is best suited to this pony but it may be that the riding school do not have enough of the go faster ones to go round.
It is a lot easier to learn to ride a pony that is going forward.

I would turn into a pushy mum for a few weeks and see how it goes

Although it's good to build a relationship with a horse over a number of weeks, a bit of variety, and having to think about how to ride different sorts of horses, adds to the learning experience.

I agree with Abbicob that you should raise this with the instructor.

Be a bit pushy if you're unhappy. I worked at a riding school throughout my teens and the stock response to people who expressed dissatisfaction with their horse was that it went well if you rode it properly. It's cobblers for a learner - you do need a moderately responsive animal if you're going to progress.

Five years of hard labour left me with the ability to propel practically any reluctant horse along, but it's very disheartening for a novice if they just can't get a response out of the horse and end up kicking ineffectually all the time.

Thanks for your responses. Prior to her last lesson even her instructor couldn't believe that she was booked on this pony again and asked her if she wanted to swap but DD is now quite attached to this pony and seems quite oblivious as to how hard she has to work on it and said no!

So there were two of them on the lesson the other child riding a young responsive pony who neaded no encouragement whatsoever and DD made to be lead file on the lazy one!

If they had booked her on the other pony in the first place she would have happily ridden it but asking her to choose between them (she is very indecisive anyway!) is another matter entirely.

I'll just have to see how it goes as I think I am more concerned about it than DD is and if she wants to stay on the lazy one I can't really complain about it!

Just wanted to add a positive story about riding lazy ponies or in my case, a lazy stubborn horse.

I constantly rode this horse and developed a good bond with him. When I began to progress, I rode a different horse for a while, and then one week, my instructor took me aside and said "L, I know you have been riding M recently, but would you please ride S today? You're the only one who can do anything with him."

I looked on this as a bit of a triumph as S and I had progressed together. Could this be the case with your DD?

Good for you LLKH well done!

Don't think this will be the case for my DD though as the pony is at least in her mid twenties and would much rather have a doze than work so progressing days are behind her!

I also think that as DD has such short legs they are not ideal for a very round pony. I will take her to watch some other classes a level up from hers, hopefully she can watch better children ride it and learn a bit from that.