Christmas present for horse mad 12 year old

[NotBodenAgain]

DD is in Year 7 and has been riding for about 2 years. She helps out at the stables and loves everything horse-related. She’s built up a good Schleich collection and still plays with them now and then. She has a few LeMieux bits already and is fine for clothing at the moment.

She is due a new helmet and boots soon so that's an option but what other horsey gifts would your tweens/young teens enjoy?

Oh she does need riding gloves but I have no idea which ones are good? She generally hates gloves and tries to avoid wearing them but will when she is riding in this weather. She doesn't have her own horse btw.

I am selling a bundle of le mieux mini horse stuff that my horse mad dd played with until 14!!

I'd get the really thin leather riding gloves. It's harder to ride in thick gloves. Mark Todd do some nice ones. They're surprisingly warm too.(Most proper riding gloves have sizes though due to being close-fitting, so you'll need to measure her hands).

Alternatively a basic grooming kit? Hoofpick, body brush, comb sorted of thing? Even without her own horse, I would have loved "my kit" at that age and they're all universal things

Or maybe a personalised kit bag for her boots/hat?

Does she have her own grooming kit?

How about a book about horses eg Pony Club manual of horsemanship or similar?

Horse pendant necklace ?

Victoria Evéieigh novels about ponies?

Do you have a high res photo of her on a horse? You can turn it into a jigsaw puzzle. On eBay you might be able to find an original copy of The Observer Book of Horses and Ponies. If she has a school locker, then a key ring from Etsy.

Actually I'd introduce her to Jilly Cooper novels. I think I was about 12 when i started on her books and still have them now...

Jilly Cooper for a 12 yo? Gosh, I was sheltered 🤣

IKR. Dd is into Hunger Games and dystopian YA fiction so no JC although maybe a naice special edition for SIL?

Leather riding gloves are a good call.

I guess in the 70s there wasn't a rich seam of YA fiction😀 I started with the novels Imogen, Harriet, Octavia, Prudence and Bella then the others came later but interestingly, Taggie, the heroine of Riders, was always 20 years old throughout. Gloves are a good choice.

@Mum5net have you considered starting a thread in the What We’re Reading forum to talk about your literary interests?

Back to the original question, bumping for additional present ideas. She doesn't have her own grooming kit yet but they usually have everything they need at the yard, not sure she needs her own kit at this point.

A pony 😈

A voucher for private lessons/different type of riding experience (side saddle/mechanical horse etc)/a hack somewhere different with friends (beach/woods ride/picnic ride etc)?

Hat silk to go with new hat . Agree with the riding experience. We’ve done vaulting and trick riding in the past. An equidry or similar jacket. Do they ever have shows or have the chance to compete? Show shirt or jacket? Lots of horsey books aimed at that age - NOT Jilly Cooper. Dear me! 😅

Also a subscription to pony magazine?

Does she play computer games? You can get horse-related ones. Not something I do so I can't recommend any personally.

Star stable! Dd12 loves it. You can get star coin packages that can buy loads of horses and tack to get started

Tickets to a show or event? Depending on where you are in the country there’s lost on throughout the year eg:

• London International Horse Show (SJ, dressage, showing, driving and display classes), December
• Liverpool International Horse show (SJ and displays), December
• HOYs, Birmingham (SJ, showing and displays) October
• Windsor Horse Show (dressage, showing, driving, jumping), May
• Your Horse Live (shopping & displays), November
• Badminton (Eventing), May
• Burghley (Eventing), September
• Bramham (Eventing), June

All of the above will also have lots of shopping to browse as well for next years gifts!

As a pony mad child, top of my list was always ‘a pony’ but I never got one 😢

A subscription to a magazine is a good previous suggestion.

How about a riding holiday?

i always had my own pony BUT i do remember getting a gift of a brand new grooming kit with hoof oil, mane and tail spray etc. I even had a new pony for my 13th birthday but that grooming kit sticks in my mind - it pleased me for so long! i can remember every brush in there.

I have a a 12 year and I'd think about the following:-

• long thin riding socks to go under long boots. Le mieux do nice ones.

• boot and hat bag by le mieux

-Equidry coat

,- le mieux saddle pad and matching hat silk /ear bonnet/base layer etc (I'm sure she could use the saddle pad on one of the horses she borrows). We went to a show at a riding school and the children using the RS ponies were using their own saddle pads.

• plaiting bands (really cheap) by my DD loves plaiting manes and tails

There’s a new tour of War Horse, I think. Would she enjoy that?

Yes, all the socks. Thin ones for the boots and a thicker layer to go on top when in wellies. Dd likes her heat holders for that

DD21 is still playing it.

There's a horsewoman publishing more up to date pony books on Amazon called Elaine Heney. Could be worth a look, I met her at a BETA exhibition. She's clearly an experienced horse person. I seem to remember a horsemanship book aimed at this sort of age group, and a lot of fiction, including for dyslexic children.

A pony.