Leading first pony

[DreamingofItaly]

I need some help. I've managed to secure a share in a lovely little pony for DS to see if he likes riding properly. He's 3.5 now and has been getting on my 17.2 and 16.3hh horses with me or DH since he was about 1. All he wants to do is ride them with or without us so I thought I'd try something more his size.

First try with the owner a week ago and he loved it, she just seemed to have this knack of keeping the pony walking on as well as being far enough back to be close to DS to keep his confidence. At one point I was walking on the other side (thankfully), pony did a shake and DS slid off! Caught him, made a joke of it "he shook you off hehe, haha, silly pony", DS fine, back on.

My first try today, just DS and I and I struggled to keep pony walking on while trying to be close to him. Cautious of the fact she might shake again and I may not be close enough to catch him. As it happens, she did it again and he ended up on her neck rather than off the side. Back in place and loving it "faster mummy" 😂.

Obviously he's got his hat and back protector on...trying to instill this ethic in him, hat always around the horses, back protector when riding.

So, any tips/videos I can watch to learn from? I really want this to be as successful as possible so he enjoys it, and I'm as relaxed as I can be, we all know how important that is around horses!

Lots of in hand work without ds, working on start/ stop, turn. Voice commands. Long reining if you can. Get a competent wee rider to ride occasionally. Get someone to help sidewalk or lead, it's much easier.

Thanks. Yes, I think someone else helping is the way to go.

or an inky dinky saddle?

Thing is, good lead rein ponies are (a) trained to follow the leader walking at their shoulder and (b) have 'stop' rather than 'go' installed as the default option, so it's quite natural that if she feels you drop back to her side to hold onto your DS and/or anything she feels is out of the ordinary happens, she'll stop. She's just being a good nanny and keeping him safe so don't get cross with her for it . You could embark on an extensive retraining programme to get her to walk forward with an aid coming from behind and/or a voice command rather than from the lead rein attached to her head (per pp, you'd have to use long lines and groundwork without the child on board) and to train her out of the default stopping, but as she's a share pony it's probably not worth the investment in time/effort to completely retrain her, and her owners might not thank you for it in any case! I second the suggestion of a second helper so one of you holds on to the child and the other leads the pony, and/or a cub saddle or a grab strap for him to hold onto would make him more secure (if you can trust him to keep hold of the strap of course, 3yos not always the most reliable of course!).

As a mum +LR pony with practice you do develop a strange body twisting ability where you can have one hand on child's leg, one on the lead rein and somehow manage to keep level with the horse's shoulder whilst facing/walking forward at the same time which oughtn't physically to be possible but I promise it is, I've 'showjumped' a round of crosspoles with small child and recalcitrant welsh A in tow so it can be done! It's just obviously you have to trust the child has enough core strength and balance that they aren't going to bounce straight off the side which obviously at just 3 your DS lacks so you'll just need to take it steady for the time being!

Thanks for the comments.
@Namechange800 I did consider that, but it's a massive investment for once a week on a shared pony.

@maxelly you're right, I'm not going to retrain, she's a fab little pony and I know it's me that needs to learn a new skill, not her! There's a grab strap the he holds but yes, at 3, he's not that reliable!
Second person for now, practice for me and fun for DS!

Have you got a handle on the saddle? Mine have been lead rein since they were about 18 months old (as I have older girls as well with ponies) and they have been taught to hold on tight. Even when a pony shakes they manage to cling on!

I wouldn't pay out for an inky dink at 3.5. They are more than capable of supporting themselves at this age. Maybe a cheap cub saddle at a push. I'd say he'll learn to hold tight pretty quickly though - you won't need a second person for long

@Matilda1981 yes, it has got a handle on the front of the saddle. He sat the shake a lot better on the second time so I know he's going to get better. It's a learning curve for us both!

If you're leading from the shoulder, then you should still be close enough to grab DS but the pony should keep moving forwards. If you drop back so you are level with DS, the pony will likely stop/slow.

You're probably also spending a lot of time looking back at DS as well- perhaps more than the pony's owner, which may discourage the pony?

If you really want to hold on to him, IMO, the best way is leading with your far hand (e.g. left hand when on the near side) holding the whole leadrope under the pony's chin, and your closer hand (so in this case the right) holding DS's leg. This means you can encourage the pony on, whilst helping DS balance- but it is awkward- normally I only do it with small children eg trotting for the first time- I couldn't keep it up for a 15 minute ride.

If DS is holding on to the balance strap most/all of the time, then he should be okay if you are slightly further ahead.

@liveforsummer good point. I've got a 6 month old as well so it could be used by her sooner if I take the plunge and actually get them a pony to keep at home with ours, but I'm not ready for that yet!

I was just going to suggest an Inky Dinky saddle. I know they cost a bit, but they hold their value really well and you'd easily sell it when you're finished using it. Then get the pony's owner to show you how the leading from further back thing is done.