Kid is 6 years old, how well do you expect her to ride at that age? She’s gaining confidence and having fun on a nice safe pony. At that age I think that is all that matters.
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My understanding is that generally leases (may be different for ‘specialty’ animals like ponies or eq horses) are around 1/3 to 1/2 of the purchase price. So it can be a big number!
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Man, I think that some people are just sour grapes about the fact that they can’t afford this type of stuff.
If someone came up to me and said “hey, you want to ride a $150k annual lease horse for a year, for free?” I would be ALL OVER that. I wouldn’t say “nah, I’d rather learn how to ride”.
Why not be happy for someone in those circumstances, who can afford that? Why be a butthead about it?
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I am still floored that someone thinks a 6yo should be riding something that is not 100% safe out on a trail ride…
They are six freaking years old.
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I’d want one foot in the grave safe, for a 6 year old!!
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I have seen young childrens’ confidence ruined by being overfaced by mean ponies. It’s one thing to have a “naughty” pony who maybe is cheeky at the mounting block or wants to eat grass all the time. It’s another to have one that takes a lot of strength and confidence to go its best. I wouldn’t ever expect a child under the age of 10 let alone 6 to have that. That’s why you put them on the saintly ones and then as they gain confidence, gradually increase the difficulty of the mount.
There really isn’t a lot of fun in riding bolters, stoppers, and other generally difficult equines. As adults we may choose to do that because it’s what we can afford and how we get our saddle time. But I wouldn’t force that on a kiddo in their first few years of riding if I could help it.
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I think about all the fear, bad-habits, and defensive riding I have had to overcome as the result of riding and jumping horses that were too green for my level at the time, or outright dangerous, and how much more fun riding would have been had I been appropriately and SAFELY mounted.
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Beside the rest here, my first thought on reading that comment was I would be very uncomfortable if my 6 year old was out trail riding with a group on a Pony that
A) Lagged well behind the others and
B) Galloped on it’s own to catch up.
Would be reviewing the decision to trust this Pony with her on a trail ride and would be reviewing who was in the group that got that far ahead of a tiny strided Pony. That is inconsiderate at best Trail riding etiquette. The group goes the speed of its slowest member unless it is discussed and if that slowest member is 6 years old on a 26 year old Pony, there is no discussion.
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OMG YES!
I mean, yes, are there some trainer’s kids or freakishly athletic Irish kids who have truly grown up on the back of a horse and who, by, say, age nine or ten, can ride better than some adults? Sure. But even a very above-average six-year-old either needs 1. a push-button saint OR (if the parents can’t afford that) 2. a dead, dead broke pony that needs to be strongly persuaded to shift up a gear.
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I did NCAA for a couple years on one of the “lesser” teams and as such our horses were of much lower quality than the horses at the big schools - often times green, difficult, etc….it was always humbling to see girls from the bigger/better teams who grew up riding six figure horses come and absolutely nail the rides on our horses. Sure, having that background comes with extensive show experience, access to the best trainers, etc. but you absolutely could not deny the fact that they could RIDE. Anything.
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I think we can all agree that we don’t need to spend mid 6 figures to get a saintly pony, and most of us agree that a child should start on a saint. That being said, if I had a billion dollars 
my (imaginary) child would have a sweet, easy, home pony to play around with and rock-solid show pony.
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FWIW, my first pony was in the very low 3 figures. And do not buy your child a Shetland pony named Flip.
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Or Buck. Or Killer.
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Or Rebel.
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This.
Kids who grew up riding just one or two personal horses are less likely to have these skills - they can ride THEIR horse, but sometimes struggle on others. But the kids that grew up with a string, or leased multiple horses each year for different classes, or were the go-to catch riders? Those kids can RIDE. And they usually have grit without the bad habits learned from horses that weren’t doing them any favors (too green, poorly trained, etc).
Fun fact: you still have to push the right buttons on the push-button pony. The really saintly seeing-eye dogs are worth every cent for the confidence they give the littles - it’s much easier to develop a solid leg and core if you aren’t afraid of a stop or a buck. Plus, you can go back to the saint to restock the confidence jar when the green pony does green pony stuff at its first show, instead of being stuck in an endless feedback loop of freaking each other out.
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Even if you have a doll of a pony that you train yourself, you don’t learn the right buttons. Or install them, either.
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Yikes! I’m pretty sure that awful thread was before my time.
For something that’s getting a ribbon (aka Top 10 at Devon), you’re looking at a minimum of $250K to lease unless it’s REALLY hard to ride, which a few can be. The Pony Mamfia is absolutely insane and you’re dealing with people with boatloads of money.
Remember, it’s not just winning at Devon, it’s getting enough points to get in. The minimum amount of points for the ponies usually waivers anywhere from 1200-1500. So these kids are going and going and going… so it’s not just the pony, it’s the $10-20k show bill monthly that accompanies pony (and doesn’t include home board/training and general maintenance/shoes/vet).
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Or buy a body clipped welsh X at an auction, who was said to be in the ribbons but in reality was barely broke. Name - Lucky Lady because the only other bidder was the meat man. Nickname, the dumping pony, because she horned her skills over the years.
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My favorite naughty pony name? Hobson. As in, Hobson’s Choice. If you don’t want to Google, it essentially means you get this pony or no pony.
Hobson the pony was revered among other small ponies for dumping children multiple times in a single schooling session and for making little girls cry…often.
Back in my day, when dinosaurs ruled the earth, there were certain ponies that pretty much guaranteed a kid qualifying for Pony Finals, and those ponies leased for astronomical sums for a 1 month lease. They’d get one kid qualified for the Eq Finals, and then go to the next kid that needed to qualify.
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