Too late . . . .for what?
[QUOTE=Pehsness;8228266]
See?! I just KNOW I could have been an Olympic athlete if only I had a 5 year head start and a pony of my own :([/QUOTE]
Seriously… at least see if you can find a local vaulting instructor. This is what they do a lot in Europe. It’s a great start for kids and super safe, and helps kids to get that natural feel for horses.
I won’t do formal lessons with a toddler. They have HUGE heads and teeny necks and turn into bobble-heads if the horse or many makes a fast move. The proportions are wrong for them to be balanced well. I will do grooming and tacking and five minutes On a lead line with some one holding a leg, just to familiarize them with riding, but that’s all.
After they turn five I consider lessons. Some are not ready, most are. Half an hour on the horse is plenty. It’s at least half grooming and tacking and leading.
I was 3 when my parents found an instructor to take me. And she was an excellent instructor. I started in the bottom of a bank barn that had been cleared out except for the posts supporting barn. It was the early '70s and indoor arenas were not all that common at the time. I was lead in-hand at first then graduated to the lunge line. I still have the ribbon from my first show when I was 5. I can remember riding in the barn and then the outdoor ring and also still remember the name of the lesson horses!
If your child is exceptionally passionate about it, I say go for it. My parents said one of my first words was “horse” and I never stopped talking about them and wore out rocking horses.
Here is to Natalie Johnson and her riding school in Bucks County, PA! She forever influenced my life for the better!
For comparison, when I taught recreational figure skating for a skating school, our cutoff was 4 and when you had that group it was a given it would be about five minutes of actual teaching and fifteen minutes of child-wrangling. Not only was the attention span not there, physical coordination wasn’t really there either. They just didn’t really have the balance and strength to get much past the standing-up stage. I can’t see it working well with horses, either. When I was that small I got pony rides at the park or the fair, but real lessons didn’t start until I was 7 or so.
Riding - and sports in general - is all about having fun. Throw in some small instructions, some safety tips and let the kid do their thing to gain confidence and learn to be responsible around a pony.
Those little teeny kids can start at any age if they are led, and have a supporter so they don’t wobble off.
It is way to early to think about the child getting ahead, or winning, or anything like that.
In time the child will tell the parents if riding is what they want to do as a sport.
Pony Club is wonderful for children - they have fun and it is also an educational youth organization with emphasis on safety.
I just wonder what happened to the old days of kids going out hunting on tiny ponies at the age of 7, and kids who were riding “before they could walk.”
Is that now just a thing of the past? Is waiting later now another manifestation of society’s concern with child safety, like childproof caps on bottles, and childproof latches, and car seats into which the kids are strapped with little harnesses like parachute harnesses?
Not being critical, just curious.
Is it obvious that I grew up in the age of glass shampoo bottles and riding bicycles barefooted and bareheaded and riding on road trips in the back cargo area of station wagons? And lived to tell the tales? 
[QUOTE=RPM;8228661]
I just wonder what happened to the old days of kids going out hunting on tiny ponies at the age of 7, and kids who were riding “before they could walk.”
Is that now just a thing of the past? Is waiting later now another manifestation of society’s concern with child safety, like childproof caps on bottles, and childproof latches, and car seats into which the kids are strapped with little harnesses like parachute harnesses?
Not being critical, just curious.
Is it obvious that I grew up in the age of glass shampoo bottles and riding bicycles barefooted and bareheaded and riding on road trips in the back cargo area of station wagons? And lived to tell the tales? :D[/QUOTE]
If you own a barn full of horses and have nothing else to do with your time, carefully taking a three-year-old to the barn and leading them on a pony with help there to hold them on is a lot easier than if you have to drive to a lesson barn and cough up $50/hour or more for a ‘lesson.’ People going hunting fifty years ago were not generally the class who were looking for lesson barns. (Also I suspect “riding before they could walk” is and always has been hyperbole, not literal.)
We understand significantly more about repetitive concussion syndrome and the relative risks of different activities on the developing skeleton. Repetitive concussion syndrome and so-called shaken baby syndrome are real, serious conditions and falling from a height (like the height of a horse) or clinging to the back of an unpredictable animal before your brain is properly supported by skeleton and muscles, that’s real. I wouldn’t start my kid riding before the age of about 7 pending physical and mental readiness. That’s me, and the lesson programs I have available locally. An actual pediatrician would be much more useful to discuss this with.
In “the good old days” children suffered life altering accidents that are preventable today. Kinda like how fewer babies die today because of such new-fangled ideas like penicillin, pasteurized milk and vaccines. Can’t say I object to car seats either.
[QUOTE=Pehsness;8228259]
interesting… I always felt like 10 was too late to have started. [/QUOTE]
My sister and I started formal lessons when I was just a few months shy of my 10th birthday and she was almost 8. I progressed a lot faster than she did, in spite of the fact that she had more natural ability than I did. I think being older gave me an advantage in attention span and focus.
[QUOTE=cutter99;8228480]
she had a horse that was the real kid’s horse, we turned down repeated offers on the Foxie Horse
[IMG]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b386/clanter/AimeeandTheFox.jpg)
My daughter was one if those “born on a horse kids”, but only because I own my own farm and have wonderfully tolerant ponies (well 1 is).
Even though she could ride and steer, the mechanics didn’t really start to come until she hit 7. Sure, on a made pony she could canter around or you can see videos of “5 year old child on course with pony”, though the decent kids can “hang on” and make it over 18 inch jumps, they certainly can’t think ahead if the pony gets in trouble. Please, most have just learned to wipe their bums, they aren’t asking for flying changes.
If a barn will take you and you want to spend the money, go for it. I don’t think they get a lot of value under 6, besides being adorable. If I didn’t own my own or have a close friend who had some, I’d have waited until 6 or 7 for lessons. Take my advice for what you paid for it.
With a pony at home, my son started riding as a toddler. At first, at about age 2 1/2, we did a lot of leadline trail rides (with me on foot and a handle on the saddle). I did try to teach him to really ride, but he wasn’t mentally or physically mature enough to really learn much until he was 5. He learned to canter and jump at age 7 (the pony would put in small bucks, so I kept him at the trot until he was pretty secure). He also joined Pony Club at 7, which really gave him a lot of motivation since he wanted to keep up with the other kids.
If it’s just being lead around on a calm pony, getting them started on sitting up straight holding the reins properly, and getting used to the motion of the horse the guide is this. If they scream when you put them on the pony it’s too early. If they scream when you take them off the time is now.
I started at three. None of the western barns would take me, because I was too young. Luckily, West Neck Creek Equestrian Center told my mom to come for an evaluation lesson. After a trip around the barn and on the lead line, my instructor at the time, told my mom was was past ready.
I started lessons on the lead line. I showed lead line, and then I graduated to doing w/t lessons and up. At four, I took my first little cross-rail and began showing independently in w/t classes.
I think it greatly depends on the kids. Most barns won’t take them until five, but not all three year olds are created equal. I know three year olds that talk and walk better than myself at 23. I know three year olds that say two words, and that are highly distracted by the world… Guess which one I wouldn’t start lessons on yet?
If your daughter seems ready (and you have a good pony!!!), I don’t see why not.
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(showing at four).
Just for the record, my daughter started at 9 (but not really seriously till 11) and developed a life-long love of horses. I’ve seen lots of kids who started earlier and just fizzled out by their teens, but mine is 20 and still going strong. I think that’s kind of an innate thing (I started at 11 and just never stopped) but I think that holding off for a bit AFTER she started wanting it, and always having a work for lessons policy at our home really did make a difference. She got her first horse at around 15, and has been a great owner - I’m very proud of the steps she’s taken (working for a big breeding facility, 2 years as a farrier’s apprentice, pony club, etc) to improve her knowledge apart from what i taught her.
Edit: She’d been doing pony rides on my horses since birth, but I didn’t count that - just when she formally started taking RIDING lessons and being able to independently care for her horses - they were always around.
[QUOTE=Snugglerug;8228348]
Too late . . . .for what?[/QUOTE]
Well, obviously… to become an international equestrian super star. 
Thanks for all the replies - Lots of excellent food for thought! I think I’ll check out the barn in the fall and see what’s what, and if I get a good vibe take her for a time or two to guage her interest. She wants to ride, of that there’s no question. But, she’s three.
Strongly agree with those who brought up postural and neck stability. Try this-- sit your daughter on something with wheels, like an office chair. Ask her to sit up nice and tall, not holding on, tell her you’re going to scoot the chair forward and you want her to try to stay sitting up nice and tall. Then scoot the chair forward-- not a nasty jerk but a decent fast pull. Can she maintain her posture, does her head go back? (Don’t forget you’re adding the weight of a helmet to her head, which would make things worse). Most 3 y/os would not be able to maintain their posture.
Even riding on a leadline, with a someone at her side spotting her, any horse or pony can spook forward, sideways, back up suddenly, etc. and there is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent that. So wait until her body is developed enough to absorb that kind of abrupt motion.
Even if you can’t see a noticeable jerk or rock, the head stability /balance thing is a definite issue, again, you can verify this with a pediatrician and get all the details.
I wouldn’t personally recommend the chair experiment. You can probably effectively imagine the result. My kid fails at enough direction changes in daily life for me to have a good idea what would happen. And those are direction changes HE initiates! (18 months old)
Point taken, I can see that it may sound like I was recommending using your toddler as a crash test dummy. :lol: I didn’t mean for someont to pull so hard so as to knock her down, or yank them over a several foot distance-- just move it a few inches.
But yes, in case a PSA is necessary: please do not injure your child on my advice. LOL
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