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The tack room

Discuss horse riding and ownership on our Horse forum.

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Original poster

do you have boys that ride?

24 replies

CUnexttuseday · 09/05/2013 12:24

i always wanted a little girl so she could come riding with me and we could look after the horses together, however I have two boys.

my eldest (2.11) is happy to brush and feed the horses but will not ride, the youngest (1) is too small yet.

does anyone have boys that ride, i have dreams of doing pairs competitions together and going to pony club rallies

OP posts:

marialuisa · 09/05/2013 12:36

My friend's boys do, they have a dad that rides though, as do all the other boy riders I know. Get your DH involved?

ohbuggerhelp · 09/05/2013 12:39

Yep. My eldest son is a superb little rider, has his own pony, competes, jumps - loves it .Done it since knee high.

Dh never sat on a horse in his life.

froginthepond · 09/05/2013 12:51

I have 1 boy 3.6 and he loves horses! He is a bit obsessed with the neighbours 2 horses and names everything and anything after them. He has gone for a little walk on the back of a little pony. Im going to take him to a riding school in a few years time and see how he likes it. He is and will be an only child so i would love to share days out out with horses with him. He is very confident around them too.

SaggyOldClothCatPuss · 09/05/2013 12:51

Maybe you should discourage them! Nothing makes my DCs want something more than being told they can't have it!
Otoh, even your oldest is young yet. Give it time.

Littlebigbum · 09/05/2013 14:51

Ds rides and is magic with horse 'all animals' but will never compete. And with Saggy on both.

Eve · 09/05/2013 16:13

both mine do 13 and 10.

13 year old now doing XC at 3ft plus looking at BE 90 next year. My heart is in my mouth!

carabos · 09/05/2013 17:51

Dh is a horse pro, we have two sons, neither rides. One doesn't like animals and the other rode intermittently as a child when we got a pony in to sell that he liked the look of but hasn't sat on a horse for about 10 years.

I wouldn't encourage it tbh - horses are nothing but expense, heartache and disappointment and I say that having had a great deal of competitive success!

Pixel · 09/05/2013 18:13

I wouldn't necessarily expect a girl to be any better, mine is a complete disappointment . When she was born I had a vision of a darling little girl on a dapple grey pony, as you do, but though she rode a bit when she was small and had the makings of a nice little rider she completely lost interest. She doesn't even go near them nowadays.

Luckily I now have ds who loves ponies .

Original poster

CUnexttuseday · 09/05/2013 19:09

"I wouldn't encourage it tbh - horses are nothing but expense, heartache and disappointment and I say that having had a great deal of competitive success!"

you don't have to tell me that twice, i have two lovely beasties and i have had hardly any competitive success

i'll just keep letting them be around the horses and see how it goes. my mare will be put in foal next year so they will have a baby to play with

OP posts:

mrslaughan · 09/05/2013 19:25

DS rides - he's 8 - started only because he kept begging me when he was 6 (I had just gone back to riding). He just loves it, loves being around horses. I don;t think he will ever be competitive though, I may be proved wrong, be he smiles, like no other time (like a 1000000 watt) beam when he has had a great ride..... and even when he had a fall the other day - when he came back to the yard with his instructor and I asked how the ride was, I got a huge smile then, " It was great, apart from the little fall" I thought he was joking he was so blase about it, but then I looked at his instructor and realised that it had happened.

I honestly wouldn't push it - have them around the horses, and wait for them to ask/beg....thats my plan with my Daughter, she is only 3. and if she does take to it, she will be competitive.

Mirage · 09/05/2013 20:20

My cousin rode all her life,qualified to teach,team chased,hunted until her 2nd child was a toddler.She has 3 dc,none of them are interested in riding.2 are terrified of animals,including horses and one likes to pat them and that is it.Her 2 girls love dancing instead.My dds,born to non horsey parents are both pony obsessed,started at 4 and have ridden almost every day for the past 2 years and are pretty fearless.Ironically,my sister is a dance teacher and both of mine hated dance classes,typical!

Floralnomad · 09/05/2013 20:27

I'm with carabos , I've got a son and daughter , both rode regularly as small children and both stopped by the time they were about 8 . As we don't sell on we still have the pony but I'm grateful that we've not ended up with several ponies !

Butkin · 10/05/2013 21:28

We're lucky that DD is (still at least) very keen. We've seen lots of boys dabbling at riding but they often go off it when they start team sports at school.

The boys who seem to stay keen are usually (and this is a generalisation) the ones who are allowed to do "exciting" things like show jumping, cross country, hunting etc rather than just hacking.

I've never seen an older boy yet that wants to plait and just do happy hacking.

Littlebigbum · 11/05/2013 10:39

I remember my instructor saying, any girl can ride and with time can ride quite well but a boy is either a excellent rider or a crap rider. Needless to say he was a bloke very old school.

Eve · 11/05/2013 10:47

I've never seen an older boy yet that wants to plait and just do happy hacking.

Pixel · 11/05/2013 18:56

I'm pretty sure if ds was NT he'd be the same. Took him out for a nice long ride today and despite being on the lead rein all he wants to do is trot. He can't actually say so but drops heavy hints by putting his hand on my shoulder, nudging me with his foot or rising up and down in the saddle. The fact that the little mare can get rather strong and poor old Mum is getting her arms pulled out is neither here nor there to him .

CMOTDibbler · 11/05/2013 21:42

My ds loved horses as soon as he saw one, and begged for a ride on any pony ride thing. At 6 (7 next week), he's got his own pony and loves riding.

He issues instructions for plaiting - dpony has a v long, full mane so its running plaits - but picks out hooves, grooms. But is more of a get on and ride boy than the girls on the yard who like to titivate.

I feel your pain Pixel - I was long reining dpony today as ds was away, and I'm working on his canter transition. Everyone was having a good laugh at me legging it round the big field with him in canter

miggy · 12/05/2013 21:30

DS1 rode and did pony club but was never much good, dd (my big hope) rode enough to have a little show pony, bit of dressage but was very nervous and now has a couple of little miniature shetlands to show in hand, she is great at helping and love the titivating side of things. DS2 (16)is the main rider now. He does mounted games which is great for boys, lots of other boys, lots of girls, a team sport and basically just galloping about. this year his team is four girls and him (not a lot of complaining there lol!). its also a sport where we go away for the whole weekend and he gets to socialise with all his mates in the sport.
He does hack out with me and we have done some endurance together which he quite likes but as far as horse care and management goes, I expect very little of him.

olibeansmummy · 13/05/2013 20:43

Ds will be 4 this month. He's been learning to ride for a few months now and we plan to get him a pony in a few years when he's learnt more and we know if he'll want to continue. He loves it though and is already doing rising trot etc albeit on the lead rein.

dappleton · 14/05/2013 10:43

My DS is only 2 and loves horses and riding but i don't force it, if he's with me at the yard and wants a ride then fine, if not then that's also fine....As others have said, boys like speed so sometimes it's best to wait until they're a bit older so they spend less time walking about on a lead rein.

octanegirl · 22/05/2013 18:28

If you want a boy to ride, hand him a polo mallet..... ;)

MrsTomHardy · 02/06/2013 00:07

My DS age 11 rides and has done since last summer. He shares a gorgeous cob and rides 3 times a week. He's just done his first show and is doing another next weekend....he'd spend every waking hour at the yard if he could

Dumpylump · 02/06/2013 00:13

Ds1 is nearly 16 and has been riding for a few years, I bought him his own pony in February. He loves all the horses at the yard, and will happily muck out, fill hay nets, and clean tack.

Ds2 will only come up with us under duress and moans nearly the whole time!

MrsTomHardy · 02/06/2013 00:56

My other 2 DS16 and DS14 are not interested at all in it and never come down the yard with us.....

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