Thursday, July 30, 2009

How to you teach a shetland pony to be ridden by children?

The child is 12 and weighs 60 pounds? Is that too much? What is the maximum amount of weight a shetland can hold? How do you brake a light horse as well? The shetland is 4 and her name is flower? She is very stubborn and all she really cares about is food?
Answers:
Sounds like flower is a typical Shetland...they can be stubborn. I broke a little Shetland cross for a lady a few years back. He was about 12 hands and had a pretty stocky little build, as most of them do. I started him just like I do the bigger horses, lots of ground work, long-lining, round-pen work, etc. When it came time to get on him, I treated him like any other horse as well, though i did look a little funny on him! I am 5'3 and wiegh about 110 pounds. I took things slow with him, and when it came to riding him, I did it very lightly and not for long periods of time, but like I said, this guy was a stocky 12 to 12.2 hands.
My suggestion to you is that if you have never trained a horse before, you get help. Many people think that just because it is a pony they are working with, things will be easier, and actually it is most times the opposite. Most ponies aren't started correctly because people just saddle them up and throw some kid on thier back. Ponies are stubborn by nature (especially the Shetland), and breaking one the wrong way can make them 10 times worse.
How tall is the shetland?
Is it stocky, or is it the modern shetland that are more refined?
It all depends on the size of the pony and if he has stocky legs or long thin ones.
That isnt too much for a 10 handed stocky pony.
Also, I would find a local trainer that would work with you and this pony to get him in the right direction.
first of all, if you are not completely experienced with horses then always have a trainer break your horse to ride. trust me, i tried to do it myself several years back, and you can actually create a stubborn horse.
60 lbs should be fine, depending on how big the pony is. i would first advise you to make sure that both of your horses are fully halter broke and are responding well to pressure cues. after that both the pony and horse will need to be taught to lunge.
lunging is the best way to train the horse to respond to voice commands and become accustomed to working with tack on. If you don't know what words like cavesson, side reins and lunge roller mean, then i repeat my earlier statement of you needing to go to a professional to avoid a nasty tempered horse!
some things you can do, though, are making sure that your pony is perfectly fine with following you anywhere with her lead rope on. if she isn't, then don't use food or treats to get her to do it! just apply a slight pressure to her halter, and when she moves in the direction of the pressure, release the pressure immediately! that teaches her that when you gently pull forward, or push back or pull down on her halter, she needs to move in that direction to be free from the pressure being put on her head!
Ponies and horses that are well-broke ("kid broke") have usually been handled by skilled small adults or extremely experienced older children under the supervision of a skilled adult with experience in training.
It takes time, though. You don't just slap 30 days on any horse or pony and turn a beginner loose on them.
A just halter broken pony IS not a safe pony for a beg. owner/ young child.Please send the pony to a trainer %26 send the child off to lessons.
A safe beginning for both will ensure a life long love of the sport.
Do ground driving. Put weight on the pony. Plus use her love of food like you would a dog. Had ponies that did not like people. But to get the food they had to come near me.
Plus stacking them out. You need to make sure that it will not get scared as easy. But do not beat the horse with it. Because I have one that was beaten not to be mean but he thought stacking meant beating them. He train a lot of horses this way. But could not understand why this pony did not work. But got worst. Use a very light touch at first. They should not be jumping all around. If they are you are going to fast. You do not want them to be afried. They should just move away. Then leave you touch them. Kids will go under a horse. They will sit no the ground and wash their legs.
Plus children not thinking all the time you need to act like a child around them.
And I have seen large people on small horses. That did better then small people on large horse.
When younger would every so often get tire of being pick on about my old little pony. As big game horse eat are dist. That would shut them up for awhile.
And be careful with trainers. Just because someone can through a saddle on the back of a horse does not mean they can train. Large people can train ponies. That just use their brains more.
Overweight large person that trains small horses. Ponies means small horse. You train horse just like a pony but with its needs. You say so much about the pony. But think that we will know what the horse needs.
Oooh, boy. FWIW, my take on Shetlands is that most of the ones I've known are fiends in baby clothes, so to speak. They look cute as a button but they're willful and smart and know exactly how to take advantage of their young riders.
Because Shetlands are so small, it's hard to train one properly to saddle. They can't easily carry the weight of an adult trainer and very few children or adolescents have the knowledge of horses and the horsemanship to school them properly. So on top of being willful, smart little fiends, most of the small Shetlands are poorly trained or at best green-broke on top of that. Not a combination to put a novice child on top of.
IMO you'd do better to get rid of the Shetland and find a larger pony or small horse that has been schooled properly. I personally would rather put a rider such as you describe on top of thoroughly-trained, bomb-proof "babysitter" full-sized horse that I trusted, instead of on a Shetland that's basically going to disobey, resist, and cause trouble.
Shetland ponies may be small, and everyone thinks they would be great kids horses because they are small, but they are mean spirited, rude, and all they care about is food. The best way to have to horse work for your daughter would be to have a highly skilled trainer start the horse, then have your daughter come in a work with the trainer and the horse under close supervision. Shetland's and begginers are a bad mix.
There are exceptions to every rule, but Shetlands can be mean little devils. I would much rather see a beginner child on a smaller full-size gentle horse than a mean, lazy, manipulative Shetland pony. If they can't throw someone off their back, they will try and scrape them off with a tree limb.

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