Buying daughter's first pony - help please!

[XelaM]

Hi, I hope someone can offer some advice.

My daughter (12) has been riding for years, is a member of Pony Club (D+/Silver level 1 at the moment). She is very confident and does low-level jumping and dressage competitions (although nothing major).

She volunteers at the yard where she rides and the yard is both close to our house and her school, so she could be there every day (she already is anyway even without her own horse).

She is desperate for her own pony, but I have been speaking to the yard for many months now and they say that the prices have gone up significantly in recent months and that I should budget £8-12K minimum. In any event, even with that budget (which to me sounds huge) they are still struggling to find anything.

We are just looking for a placid happy hacker/Pony Club type of horse. We are in North London, but obviously willing to travel. Does anyone have any recommendations of reputable places to approach and where to go if the yard can't find anything? I would of course get the yard to check the horse etc etc once we find it, but I wouldn't even know where to start.

Sorry forgot to add

Buy whatever rugs you need for now and next summer now. Stocks are very low and several tack shop round here haven't been able to source any new stock for months and don't know when they will be able to get any.

Thank you all! Off to have a look at the recommended sites. Absolutely agree that I'm now in a world of never having any money ever again

Daughter is continuing with Pony Club plus there are additional private lessons that come with the (gold-plated ) full livery and I am in the process of arranging for her school bus to drop her off at the yard every day after school, as it's very close. So she should be there every day taking care of/riding our new girl. I'm already quite smitten

So exciting!! We still have our old pony. Children long gone, he's on DIY livery and guess who's out there come rain or shine catering to his every whim
He's retired, but I mess about with him and take him for walks, and groom him and plait his tail and generally behave like a 10 year old! I have no interest in riding but he's cheaper than gym membership as a way to waste money keeping fit, he soothes my soul with his sweet nature, and I've retained my horsey friendship group. I still occasionally help out with friends' horses and volunteering at shows too.

@WatchWait Awww!! I expect this will be me in a few years!

@WatchWait we still have our childs pony her and our son are both now 28 , she’s on full livery so just costs a lot

Just looking for a happy hacker and pony club type costs money. You're asking for a safe, sane, well trained, experienced pony, that will cost money and that is the result of lots of time and effort from the loving home of others.
Seeing an ex race horse sold for 8k means its going to cost thousands in its new home - lots of mileage on clock so wear and tear/vet bills, not trained for domestic use (only knows to gallop and its as soon as a hoof touches grass, gallops off as soon as foot is in stirrup and before arse is in saddle), vets bills etc.
OP if youre not experienced with horses please get help from an instructor or someone at your yard re purchasing. I learnt the hard way sadly and lost thousands plus massive heart ache with a horse that wasn't fit to ride

[quote Floralnomad]@WatchWait we still have our childs pony her and our son are both now 28 , she’s on full livery so just costs a lot[/quote]
I can imagine! I work part-time and have DIY, but would need to work full time to pay for full livery.
Luckily I adore him and enjoy looking after him

@LadyLolaRuben Yes I realised that a safe Pony Club all-round pony is really what almost all kids/teenagers are looking for, but we now found one (touch wood)!

The original plan was to keep her on full livery for 3-4 months and then switch her to a working livery, but (a) this thread put me off working livery and (b) now that we have her I don't think I would want anyone else to ride her on a regular basis. She has a very sweet temperament, so already the yard told us they can see her being well-suited to novice riders. It sounds like she would be in a lot of work. I also see other nice working livery horses doing a lot of work (as my daughter used to ride them in various lessons). So I will have to live on beans for the rest of my life to keep her in full livery

I love the early days of owning a new pony/horse. It's so exciting.

My DP runs a full livery yard and used to import Irish ponies and horses, so I've seen a lot. I have a tip to tell you. You probably already know this but just thought I'd put it out there incase anyone else didn't.

So all the Irish cobs were all as good as gold for about two weeks until their true behavior started to come out. Then some because very testing to see what they could get away with. My DP thinks it's because of having a much tougher life in Ireland, when they come over here it's heaven for them.

It might be handy to find a tough (as in not easily scared) but sensitive rider who can ride well to school it once a week, just to stop any issues before they start.

Work her six days a week. They love a routine.

I'm with your daughter on the feathers. Clip them off. I hate them.

So far (touch wood) she has been absolutely lovely and extremely patient with my daughter's constant fussing over her. My daughter now gets dropped off by her school bus at the stable every day after school and spends time with her/rides her before coming home. Can I just ask - how many days break should we be giving her? The yard normally says "1 day rest from riding", but some people say that's way too little and she should be getting at least 2 days rest.

@chocolateorangeinhaler She gets taken into staff lessons regularly, so a member of staff rides her. Hopefully that should prevent the behaviour issues

When we had horses as a teenager my thoroughbred only ever had 1 day off a week and that suited her best as she needed quite a strict routine , my sisters ID x was perfectly ok with 2/3 days off , although that probably says more about my sister than her horse ! We generally gave them Monday off ( and Tuesday for my sister ) .

Generally dd’s horse gets one day off a week if she’s not been competing at the weekend but she gets two days off after an event.

With your pony it would depend what she’s been used to and how hard she’s working on the days your daughter’s riding her. And how sensible she is after a bit of time off .. is she getting plenty of variety so hacking, pole work etc not just endless schooling or jumping as they can get pretty fed up of doing the same thing very quickly!

Congratulations, sounds a lovely pony. Wrt to the days off, I'd say 1 day a week is plenty, if anything given (knowing the yard in question) I expect she's on quite limited turnout my worry would probably be her not doing enough exercise rather than the other way around - I don't like the idea of horses standing in boxes not moving around at all for 12 hours+ at a time, so ideally as winter approaches I'd try and get her into a routine of going on a walker or some other kind of gentle ground work most mornings, then if your DD rides most evenings and she also gets at least some daily turnout that will help - with cobby types it's vital to keep a close eye on their weight as they usually enjoy their grub (a bit too much sometimes!). I assume your DD is being fairly sensible when she does ride and isn't charging round mindlessly for hours on end, does she know the basics of horse fitness and how to notice the signs your horse is tiring and needs a break? If not then she should certainly ask her instructor to explain... As Please says it's good to keep the work varied with polework, hacking etc intermingled with schooling/lessons...

Go outdoors had a sale on rugs - my natives need wider rugs so shires/ horseware etc . Got a shire for £39 - thrilled

Thank you so much guys as always! My daughter only does low level flat work/hacking/pole work/ Pony Club on her. She will jump her on cross poles next week (has only done it once so far). My daughter can definitely tell when she's tired and she gets very sweaty, as she is very furry and will only get clipped in a week or so as she's still in isolation and they have to disinfect the clippers, which they don't want to do now. I wonder if I can just buy new clippers or if good ones are expensive? Probably not worth it for the sake of a week.

I agree that they don't have good turnout which is definitely a worry, and she can only go into the walker once she's out of isolation I believe (although could be wrong?). At the moment she goes into staff lessons and then gets ridden quite lightly by my daughter in the evening. She does a variety of things on her but nothing exhausting. We give her 1 day off per week for now.

It would be much cheaper and maybe better to keep her elsewhere, but the problem is that this is the yard where my daughter has been riding for years and all her friends are there. It's a really close group of girls and one or two boys who are liveries and they all ride/socialise together.

What is a staff lesson? Are staff riding her or teaching others to ride on her? I don't really understand what it is, and how do you know how much work she is doing? Does it make your livery cheaper?

The set up sounds very similar to the riding centre where my dd learned. A staff lesson will be where the staff members are being taught, usually on riding school horses but sometimes on livery horses too - I’d be amazed if it made the cost any cheaper for the OP, they’re probably charging her for the privilege…. The staff will generally be competent but not brilliant riders unless it’s the head instructor if it’s anything like my dd’s old yard.

@XelaM I would still look at other places as the lack of turnout would bother me - it’s why we didn’t join my dd’s friends at the riding centre when she got her first horse and went somewhere else with much better turnout at a much lower cost. None of the friendship group at the first stables were still there after a couple of years - they all gradually drifted off to different yards as they all got fed up with the restrictions, they needed less hand-holding and their parents realised quite what a bad deal they were getting! There are some yards where children/teens are not particularly welcome, but plenty where they are. I wouldn’t move immediately as you don’t want to unsettle your pony too much at first, but definitely keep an ear out for somewhere better (and cheaper!)

We kept 3 of ours on Full livery at a riding school for a while which sounds like a similar set up . The staff rode them on weekdays as part of the livery if you required it ( 1 of mine was retired) , often that was in the staff lesson so all competent riders doing their BHS exams . The full livery’s had their own yard and turnout separate from the riding school horses / working liveries .

If the turnout is not great, then she doesn't really need a day off riding. I'd be aiming for something like 3 schooling sessions, 1 or 2 jumping sessions and 2 hacks a week if poss? I mean, for the horse's benefit, the more hacking the better, but it's not really practical in the winter when it's dark etc.

She could do one session a week in hand maybe? Not pounding the pony round in circles on the lunge, or ridiculous Instagram style "free schooling" or "liberty" work (this is not so ridiculous for professionals, but is not something teenagers should be messing with!) and definitely not just teaching the pony to rear (this is all I see teenagers doing on social media!) but old fashioned, lead rope leading. Lots of walk-halt-walk-trot-walk transitions, lots of vocal cues. Maybe walking some poles.

This would mix it up for both of them, and give her a good leg stretch and make her think a bit whilst also giving her body a bit of a rest.

It’s not so much how often the pony is ridden but how they are ridden…

@ViceLikeBlip I entirely agree with you re treating horse to rear

Teaching!

If the turnout is lousy, I’d be inclined to remove her from some of the staff lessons and either pay to get staff to hack her out a couple of times a week or have her used as a staff escort for hacks because it’ll be dark by the time your daughter gets there after school. Alternatively, take £30/ week off a small adult who will pay you to hack her out….

(Actually best solution is for YOU to hack her a couple of times a week! Can you do that? My mum used to ride my pony out in the week)

Thank you all so much and I'm so sorry that I completely forgot to come back and reply. You are all absolutely right about the turnout and the cost! She is on full livery and we will keep her on full livery I think, as I'm concerned with her being overworked/whipped/kicked by novice riders, as she is of a very nice temperament so will be given to inexperienced riders (the riding school already told me this was the plan). Staff lessons don't make the full livery cheaper at all, but at least she gets ridden by more experienced riders a couple of times a week. She has been wonderful so far (touch wood) and is very forward without needing much/any prompting but not excessively so. She is very keen to do what she is asked and is generally lovely. Thankfully at this yard I haven't seen any teens doing "liberty work" or teaching the dreaded rearing (as I have seen on tik tok). They all appear to be quite sensible. They do swap ponies and tide each other's ponies all the time though. I need to figure out whether insurance covers this. I will definitely talk to the yard about hacking her out more