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Regular
Posts: 56
| Does anyone have any tips on ponies?? I have a 7 year old pony who is fine when you lead kids on her--- her only issue is she wants to trot/ prance everywhere. She is a very small pony so I don't think I should be trying to ride her to fix her issues. She is impatient standing at trailer and hard to get on the trailer. I want her to be good enough for a little girl to ride around. Nothing fancy I just need some tips on what to do. Do you treat them the same as big horses? |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 672
 
| Yes, treat them like a horse. Just because you can physically make them do something because they are smaller does not mean you should! You will have a resentful, conniving, little sh!t on your hands if you do. If she is impatient at the trailer, she probably needs to stay tied more/longer. Patience posts are a blessing.
Does she lead well without a child on her back? She may need more ground work and desensitizing. I do a lot of changes of direction, backing up, etc to make sure they are paying attention to me and following respectfully.
Depending on her size, jumping up into the trailer may be difficult. Try backing up in a lower spot so it is easier for her to step in and reward her once she gets in.
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Regular
Posts: 56
| Thanks for the reply. I have a reverse load with ramp--- she actually loads right up into a stock trailer with no ramp lol. I think the people that had her before forced her to do stuff because she is a huge BRAT. When you try to back her up she throws her head up like she is going to be hit in the face.... I guess I will be working with her 2x a day for a while trying to fix her lol! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 672
| I’m sorry! I’ve worked with a spoiled pony or two so know exactly what you’re going through. I think the biggest thing I’ve found is to treat them like a big horse. Give them that respect and they’ll turn around, sometimes it just take a while!
Might not hurt to have her teeth checked out too. Some pony/mini horses end up with teeth that are too big for their jaws which leads to a lot of head throwing/shyness issues.
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Regular
Posts: 56
| Thanks! Will definitely get her teeth checked. |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
 
Location: Kansas | Tie her to a tree for several HOURS.
I have 3 little a-hole ponies for my daughter. Two decided they wanted to be jerks and get out of the fence. I caught them, and tied each of them to a separate tree overnight and throughout most of the next day. Now both will quietly stand tied, and haven't tried getting out since lol |
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 To the Left
Posts: 1865
Location: Florida | Find a kid who is a good rider, even if they seem too big. Let them put some miles on the pony. Ponys can hold alot more weight than you think. God did not make ponys, but you need someone to put the fear of God into one to get anywhere. |
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| Vickie - 2017-06-26 5:18 PM
Find a kid who is a good rider, even if they seem too big. Let them put some miles on the pony. Ponys can hold alot more weight than you think. God did not make ponys, but you need someone to put the fear of God into one to get anywhere.
This!
My oldest (who was about 16 at the time) would ride our mini when he would start misbehaving with the little ones. She didn't abuse him! She just made him go where he was supposed to when he was wanting to give the kids a hard time (like going back to the gate).
Driving them helps a bunch too specially if you do not have an older kid to ride.
We also went through a time when he would walk down the fence and rub the kids off. Finally my husband was out one day when he did it and he laid that little sucker down and let all the kids sit on him for about 10 minutes. Never again did we have that issue!
Even though you can out stout them you still have to out smart them too! |
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 Veteran
Posts: 113
Location: Tx | My take on ponies..... Just like every big horse is not a kids horse, neither are all ponies. Just because they are small enough for little people does not mean they have the personality, attitude and patience for little people. We have had about 8 ponies go through our barn in the last year for different reason. Some projects to resell, some are fosters, some in for training with my daughter. My daughter is 5 and decided to keep the 36" little snot who donkey kicked her twice the first day we had him. BUT it is because he has an amazing handle and even through he tries to get pushy with her, he rides like a big horse. (I dont know who put miles on him, but they are an awesome riding kiddo. He has also never kicked her again) These ponies all came at different levels of training and all left at different levels. Some we sold as lead line only ponies because no matter how much work she put on them they would only mosey around behind someone or another horse and one never left the round pen because he was just flat too much horse to be turned out on 100 acres with my 5 year old but too small even for a larger child to try to break. it sold as a companion for a barrel horse only. |
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