Dd11 beginner, what kit does she need

[Starmer]

Hello. DD is nearly 11 and has just started riding, which she loves. She has some jodhpurs, and the riding school provides a hat and back protector. Her birthday is coming up soon and I was thinking of getting her some kit.

The other children in her group have crops (with horses heads, apparently- much envy from Dd!!) but I was also thinking about boots as she’s currently wearing wellies.

Any thoughts / recommendations would be great. I always wanted to ride when I was younger, and so it’s lovely to see how enthusiastic she is!

Times have definitely changed... the pony club dc in my day would have had a fit if a beginner rider used a whip! I have evented up to intermediate and I don’t/didn’t carry a whip for various of my rides. Only one big gelding needed me to hail a cab at trakheners. Any of the mares would have been devastated if I had a whip. I still think that Kids should develop a secure contact and independent hand and seat before adding a whip...
Hat, body protector and boots are the priority! Gloves and socks for stocking fillers...

This is a pretty old thread now but just to chip in on the whip thing - I do agree ideally total beginners shouldn't need to carry one and in my day 'when I were a lass' (longer ago than I care to remember) we were kept on a lunge or lead rein until we could use our legs effectively enough to not need a whip. I would never ever give any rider a crop until they can at least rise to the trot properly without pulling on the horses mouth, before then it's just one more thing to manage and the leader/lunger should be in charge of direction/speed of travel anyway!

But I do watch the novice kiddies riding at the large well run riding school attached to my yard, and carrying a short crop is a big help to them when they first come off the lead rein. This seems to happen much sooner these days (I think due to the fact that staff are in short supply and it simply isn't affordable to employ more, the school would have to price lessons so high it would exclude all but the very wealthy, as it is they charge £35 for a half hour private ). The RS ponies are well schooled and ridden regularly by teenagers/small adults to keep them that way but with the best will in the world their life is spent being bumbled around on by beginners, they are pretty dead to the leg (if they were as nicely off the leg as a competition horse children would be flying off left right and centre). It's 100 times nicer to see a child give a correctly executed tap behind the leg to remind the pony to go forward than either spend the whole time ineffectively pony club kicking (horrible for the pony and bad technique for the rider to learn) or get exhausted and dispirited and give up all together. It's much worse too in the private lessons which seem to be more popular for the kids now than in my day, at least in a group a certain amount of follow the leader helps and reduces the need for kicking. Anyway most experienced riders I know (and if you watch showjumpers or eventers its the same) do ride with an appropriate whip, if the horse is well schooled of course you don't use it often, but if for example you are teaching lateral work and horse is 'stuck' not quite understanding what you are asking for, a tickle with a schooling whip in the right place reinforces your leg and helps them understand. Coming into a fence a tap down the shoulder reminds the horse to keep straight if they are wavering etc. A whip is a useful and important schooling aid in this regard so I don't see the harm in getting kids used to carrying one and using it correctly early on - and if they feel grown up and swanky with a fancy horses head cane then where's the harm?

Also on a practical point, Covid regulations mean schools now aren't giving out communal whips to those who need them (or they aren't at my school anyway). If you want to carry one you need your own, and so even if a child isn't yet at the level to use it, it's not the worst idea to buy one and have it in readiness so as and when instructor says it would be useful you have it there.

I agree but it seems a bit forward to just assume your pony will need a crop. These riding school ponies need protection from whip wielding divas.

Most of the riding school horses (and especially ponies) are well aware if you have a stick and go much better if you have it in your hand and hold it competently - I've been handed a crop by the instructor and from then on had obedient response to gentle leg aids, without even using it once...

Most of the time I've used my stick on RS horses it's been to rest on a wandering shoulder while I work on improving my general position - a short cut so I only have 3 things to think about rather than 10!

A hat and silk and boots/chaps. Gloves.

Definitely not a whip - she has no business using one as a beginner.

@Any1846399

I agree but it seems a bit forward to just assume your pony will need a crop. These riding school ponies need protection from whip wielding divas.

Oh totally but that's the job of the instructor, surely? My instructor will cast her eye over each class (from total beginners through to competition rider clinics) before she starts to check tack fit etc and that everyone is suitably/safely clothed, and if anyone has a whip who shouldn't do, will happily say 'oh X just drop your whip, 'Polo' doesn't need one' or 'I'd leave your whip with your Mum Y, see how you get on without it' or similar, no offence given or taken, no drama? Just the same way she'd gently correct if someone has a flapping jacket or dangling earrings or their bridle tangled or anything else? Surely that's just normal teaching practice?

Any teacher/member of staff who stood by a child (or an adult for that matter) 'wielded' a whip in a harmful or cruel manner just because they own one would be out of 'my' riding school, sharp-ish, and for that matter of any school I've ridden at. I'd go so far as to say the school that allowed such a thing to happen has much bigger problems as they clearly don't care for their horses at all. I'm not being idealistic here, school ponies usually have a hard enough life and it's certainly not all polos and cuddles, but they are the school's asset at the end of the day so it seems poor business sense as much as anything else to let a 'diva' child beat them up just because an unhorsey mother unwittingly bought them a crop off the back of a MN thread?

I'm sure you're right but we were given a crop as a concession and admission of defeat, it was never assumed as an accessory and I would hope that doesn't change.

Ie the crop becomes an assumed essential aid rather than a back up, at beginner level (the OPs daughter is a beginner) . Totally agree that this is not a big deal unless it's become so widespread that it does actually influence who carries a crop and how often it's used. But not a big deal in a reputable school.

Yeah I think we are in violent agreement here really . I do think it's somewhat lazy/quick fit teaching to go straight to giving a beginner who's struggling to get their pony moving a crop, personally I would say really its' better to pop them back on a lead rein or lunge and focus on position and effectiveness of their aids until they don't need it, but the reality is not all teachers have the time and energy to do that with a school sour pony and novice child, plus the parents often complain if their child is kept on the lead "too long"/lunging is 'boring', and I would say the majority of kids here do carry a whip routinely once they're off the lead rein and past the absolute beginner stage and it doesn't seem to do the ponies any real harm, except that they do notably back off if you don't carry one so it is a vicious circle I suppose...

I hesitate to tell this tale as it really I suppose shows why you shouldn't let bratty kids have a whip at all, but I will never forget the bollocking I got at PC one day aged I guess about 7 or 8 for hitting my pony in anger, he was a little toerag to be fair who was being nappy and reversing towards his mates rather than going forward, but my god did I ever get my hair blown backwards by the very old-school DC and told in no uncertain terms that if he ever saw me do that again it'd be me who was getting walloped with the crop not the pony and I wouldn't be riding at that PC again. I daresay he'd be done for bullying/child abuse if he'd tried that today but it was a very valuable life lesson about managing my own emotions and using the tools I was given responsibly, I often think about it today when managing people never mind horses!

Riding boots and a hat, properly fitted at the shop is all she absolutely needs. Then add leggings for riding and a sensible waterproof ( I regularly have riders turning up for an hour ride out in the rain and nothing but a jumper!). Then I would add a hi-viz if possibly doing any road work. She shouldn't be borrowing anything during C-19 and you should check that the stables are sanitising saddles and reins between riders. Don't need to buy anything else unless the coach suggests. Body protector would be needed when starts jumping.

Riding boots and a hat, properly fitted at the shop is all she absolutely needs. Then add leggings for riding and a sensible waterproof ( I regularly have riders turning up for an hour ride out in the rain and nothing but a jumper!). Then I would add a hi-viz if possibly doing any road work. She shouldn't be borrowing anything during C-19 and you should check that the stables are sanitising saddles and reins between riders. Don't need to buy anything else unless the coach suggests. Body protector would be needed when starts jumping.