If you have a super keen riding DC.…

[Huffingood]

When did they become super keen? My 4 year old DD rides regularly on her pony but seems to be fairly take it or leave it, she never really asks to ride off her own back but always enjoys it when she does. But I always have to instigate it, and she will around 40% of the time say she doesn’t want to when I ask her.

I am very keen myself and have had horses since around 10 years old and was begging for one for as long as I can remember before then, I still ride most days now as a busy 40 year old, and have done a lot of competitive riding in the past. I don’t want to be one of those pushy mothers so always just say “OK” when she doesn’t want to ride, but I see other children doing a lot more in terms of going to pony club camps and rallys etc on lead rein and wonder if pushing her a bit to do more and getting out to more fun things would encourage her a bit? Would appreciate
any experiences or advice from other properly horsey parents outside my own circle.

I was never horsey at all, but my teen (who now competes on 3 ponies of her own) got into it around the age of 8 when she started doing Pony Club properly and met her best friend there. They lived and breathed ponies together (whether it was jolly jumps on hobby horses or playing with Schleich) they were completely obsessed. My daughter got her first pony at 11. Her best friend has given up as a teen though, whereas my daughter has continued.

I must say though that there is so much adversity associated with horses and my daughter had so many awful experiences with hers that her love for the sport truly got tested to the limit. It's too long to list all the things she had to contend with last year in particular, but the icing on the cake was a horrific fall at a show on a new pony over the summer when they both fell and whilst she was lying in the ambulance with a suspected broken neck (thankfully it was not!!!) and wasn't allowed to move, all she talked about was how she was going to do much better when she got back on and rode in tomorrow's class. I think it takes a particular type of insanity to be horsey 🙈

It’s funny isn’t it? I lived and breathed ponies as a child, had the odd lesson and learned eventually as an adult. My dd has ridden since she was five, liked it well enough, broke her wrist at 18 and hasn’t sat on a horse since ( 4 years ). My great grandma lost the family home buying and selling horses and my dm described it as a sickness akin to alcoholism. Some of us are afflicted and some not!