Can anyone help me find dd a pony?

[seeker]

We live in Kent. Dd is 13, and a confident, sensitive Pony Club C/B-ish level rider. We need a pony that she can hack out, and compete in local shows, and go to Pony Club and generally mess around and have fun with. It needs to be a good all rounder, and be able to be used a few hours a week in a good riding school as part of its keep. Preferably live out, but in would be doable.

A long term loan would be a possibility, but dd has just (as I've posted) been hideously disappointed by a loan, so ideally we'd like to scrape together the cash to buy. We know how much horses cost to run, and we can manage that.

Now, who has the perfect animal somewhere in their yard? Could you all look in the forgotten corners and see if you've got a Rosie-replacement somewhere?

Sorry, missed a bit. She's about 5'3 and medium build - don't know what she weighs, but about average for her age and height I'd say.

bump

have you tried any of the rescue places? there might be a suitable one you can have on permanent loan?

Yes - we've got one quite near us I'm going to talk to on Monday - they are having real problems keeping going so they might be particularly grateful for a good home for someone. Trouble is, they tend to be little ones - and I also suspect thqat they might not be happy with the fact that the pony is going to be used in the school.

theres a nice looking connemara in kent on horsemart for £1500 ,only 11 yrs and sounds like he would do what your daughter needed.

He is 14hh !

actually theres a few that sound good and are reasonably priced , my friend and i bought our horse off horsemart , just take someone knowledgable with you when you go and look

A riding school near us always has quite a few horses/ponies on loan from a local horse charity so I don't think they would necessarily be worried by that.

Try word of mouth at Pony Club....does the PC have a website, ours does and sometimes there are ponies on it.

Somebody has suggested a pony that we should look at - but she is 16. Do people think this is too old? She'd have to be vetted of course, but would you take on a 16 year old?

Blimey 16 is nothing for a pony. Our first pony was 16 when we got him and we had him almost 20 years (died 2 months short of 35th birthday). Even my mum's TB/Shire made it to 31 and only looked his age in the final couple of months.
Lots of ponies are still competing into their 20s, I'd say go and have a look and see if it looks fit and well for its age.

OK - so is being 16 a good enough reason for a good all round pony to be only £800, or should I assume something sinister? I will assume something sinister anyway, of course, but is it even worth looking?

I don't think 16 is old at all! £800 does seem a bit but maybe they have been trying to sell it for a while?

I'll go and look and take my pet expert and my most cynical eyes and not take dd!

I have just bought a 16yr old and he is as fit as a fiddle . I wouldnt discount him purely on age or price alone ,go and have a look ,if you like him get him vet checked and ask for a trial period

I've already asked for a trial period, and she's agreed. She's also asked if I will undertake only to sell her back to them if we decide to sell - so that looks like a good sign. She looks too good to be true - and in my experience if it looks that way it usually is!

seeker we bought our new new pony after one look, no trial but owner made us agree to sell back only to them, they have phoned 3x since she arrived 3 weeks ago to check we happy, i am sure if we said not suited to us they would have her back, i took it as very good sign.

That's good to hear. i suppose you never know what you're buying until you get it back to your own yard anyway - it might be a completely different pony in new surroundings!