Pony Club’s cut off is 6 and 4H is, I believe 8 (might be wrong about 4H). My son was leadlining at 3, by 4 he was still leadlining but we played games like Simon Says, Shape Searchers (walk the pony in the pattern of a shape and let them guess what it is). Red light/Green light, Airplane arms, that kind of thing. 30 min tops including grooming and tack up. I don’t think I would have actually PAID someone to do that, but we had an amenable pony. By 5 he was riding on a lunge line. He was riding independently at 6. And not until then did he actually “learn” anything because only then did he have the body control and the attention span (it had progressed from flea to say…hamster) My daughter on the other hand is a more cautious individual. She was happily leadlining at 4 until one day the pony shook and she flew off and landed like a sack of potatoes. She was only about 35 pounds and the pony literally shook her out of the saddle. No malicious intent on the part of the pony at all. Fortunately she was wearing a helmet and was not injured but she had no plans to ever sit on a pony again. It took me a YEAR to convince her to try it again. We are now finally lead lining again and she is almost 6. My point is…take the individual into account and don’t be in a hurry. I know lots of kids that did not start until 12, 13 and even older who have become really competent riders. Until 6 it is really just pony rides, which if fine if you want to pay for that, and the little ones are a lot more vulnerable than we like to think.
[QUOTE=shiloh;8228309]
Not too soon at all. At my last barn we had a trainer there who had a little 3 yr old girl taking “lessons.” She sat on the horse, learned to hold the reins right and do basic stop and turn. She “helps” the trainer clean stalls with her very own little pink rake, shovel and bucket. But most of all she is learning SAFETY. She sticks to the trainer and when the trainer tells her something, if she doesn’t do it - she gets a privilege (like helping brush the horse’s tail) taken away. She has a ball. She sits on the horse and her face is nothing but teeth she’s smiling so big.
Maybe watch a lesson if you are not sure about this particular trainer? Go and have fun. (Lucky kid she grumps to herself :lol:)[/QUOTE]
These are all things you can do at home with your own horses. Lead her around on the mini. My kids were being led around on my older, quiet gelding in a corral at 2. They could hold the reins ( and horn if needed) and did just fine. Let her help you clean and teach her about being around the horses and doing it right. Why pay someone else $15 an hour for that?
I second the notion that gymnastics and tumbling would be the best idea for kids under 6.
I started when I was 7. I think I put my son on a horse around the age of five to have a pony ride on my horse, but he didn’t learn to ride until he was around 8 I think (also my horse, a saint of a mare, loves kids). He never warmed to it, so he was done soon after we started. Sigh. I just say to myself that I saved a lot of money on ponies and shows. But it still made me sad he didn’t have the passion for it.
[QUOTE=rugbygirl;8228675]
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]
I’m not so old that I was a kid before penicillin and pasteurized milk and vaccinations! Must be about rpm’s age, maybe. Because when I was a kid we, too, rode bicycles without helmets. Rode horses without helmets, too, except when jumping.
I didn’t know a single child who suffered a life-altering accident back then. Sure, maybe some did, but not one I went to school with. Some kids suffer life-altering accidents these days too.
The boys of my generation did wear helmets when playing football! Some of them also got drafted and sent to Vietnam. At least now we have an all-volunteer army.
The barns I know start kids around 9 years old. With helmets and peacock stirrups. On horses more often than ponies.
FWTW.
[QUOTE=Mozart;8229721]
Pony Club’s cut off is 6 and 4H is, I believe 8 (might be wrong about 4H).[/QUOTE]
In 4-H, kids have to be 9 to handle any large animals. They can handle small animals (rabbits, cavies, poultry, dogs, pygmy goats) starting at age 6.
IMHO this makes sense for the other livestock but is a mistake for the horses. What’s funny about it to me is that the small animals are quite a bit more challenging in terms of dexterity and possibly temperament than a good pony. But, that’s the line they set.
But, even so, more often than not what I see is that the youngest kids are brought into the activity by the parents and rarely is the kid younger than 7 or 8 leading the way. The activities that the kids stick with are the ones they drag their parents to. 
I’m an ‘old timer’ too.
I knew one adult who was brain damaged and in a wheelchair for life after a riding accident. She had been considered quite accomplished. They brought her to horse shows to watch the competition. It was shocking to see her sitting in her wheelchair, unable to speak clearly and drooling on herself.
Knew another who was killed.
Yeah: the good old days. Let’s go back.
Thank goodness we know a bit more about horsemanship and all that safety stuff now.
[QUOTE=Mozart;8229721]
Pony Club’s cut off is 6 and 4H is, I believe 8 (might be wrong about 4H). [/QUOTE]
Actually, there is no minimum age for Pony Club. Individual clubs can choose to set a minimum if they want, but the national organization has no input. Our club has had several 5 year old members.
I’ve read before, it might have even been first on the old Jessica Jahiel archive, that before the age of 8 or so children don’t have the muscle and ability to actually “ride,” so lessons are best started around then. Pony rides would be fine, but actual riding lessons I think should be later. In my opinion, anyway.
I took my 5 (almost 6) year old son to his first riding lesson last weekend. He has been intermittently asking over the past year, but I didn’t want to take him unless he was really interested. He’s a pretty athletic kid (good swimmer & ice skater), so I was not worried about his ability to do a walk/trot lesson. BM offered 4 starter horsemanship/W/T lessons for $100, which I thought was reasonable, so we took him for a trial, and he did great on a very kid-friendly (slooooow!) pony. By the end of the lesson, he was walking off lead and even trotted on lead. My plan is for him to do the 4 intro lessons, hopefully he’ll have fun, and then next summer he can sign up for more if he still wants to ride. I don’t think kids his age should be enrolled into rigid programs (for anything) - they don’t have the attention span. But I do try to capitalize on their lack of fear 
My 2 year old daughter is nowhere near as physically able (or brave) as my son at that age - I probably wouldn’t even have her do these starter lessons until she closer to 7 or 8, if she is even interested. So depends to some degree on the kid.
I think it all depends upon who is teaching the lessons and how good they are with young kids. Age 5 is a great age to start, but a good instructor can teach a lot to a 3 year old. Riding lessons are not about riding as much as they are about learning to listen to adults, to listen to the pony, to plan and organize so you are wearing your riding boots on the correct feet and are wearing your helmet. Being around horses makes some kids want to read and write so they can read horse stories. It makes them want to behave well so that they can have more lessons.
I have three kids that ride. I taught them occasional lead line lessons starting at age 3 or 4. They are too small to to much at that age, it really didn’t do anything for them, it more just helped soothe my impatience for the days when they could ride independently. If I did things again I’d probably wait a bit longer.
Another problem is that if kids have a bad experience at that age it can quickly turn into a dislike of horses and riding, whereas older kids seem less likely to have that reaction. You also have to be VERY careful about little kids around horses and riding horses. They are so incredibly vulnerable–they lack balance and reflexes, common sense, impulse control, and have a complete lack of ability to read equine body language. Physically any fall or trauma is potentially much more dangerous for them.
