[QUOTE=xRecklessRenditionx;8575648]
now I am finally riding without any teeth pulling![/QUOTE]
LOL! Good for you! It’s so frustrating. She’s a very good rider but a bit timid. I am hoping she’ll find her gutsy side and come back to it. She says she wants to ride my ISH colt once he’s going under saddle, but as he will only be one in August, that’s a couple of years away and dependent upon him being a laid back, tolerant dude, which he just might be. She’ll be 13 then. Who knows.
Thanks for posting an update! And like many here say “so sorry for your loss”.
My 4 year old daughter has yet to express real interest in horses (sigh). My daughter begged to get on one a few weeks ago, so I led her around. After 3 minutes she was done, said the horse was too much of a wiggle worm.
Last weekend I met the neighbor who bought the land behind my farm. She’s not horsey, but has three year old twins. Her daughter is a horse NUT. Anyone think she’d let me borrow her?
Sorry, this is long.
Well, I am happily eating crow for the moment. While my daughter is really enjoying playing soccer, she has missed not having her own horse to ride after all. I was cruising Craigslist and noticed an ad for a cute dapple grey, grade large pony gelding for sale in our town, extremely reasonably. On a lark, I emailed to inquire and it was your typical Craigslist saga that makes you want to cringe. This gelding had been bought for the couple’s adult daughter (or may have been given to her) because he was unsound and had a bad case of White Line Disease in both front feet. This was August of last year. The daughter pretty much abandoned the horse at her parents’ but who did right by him and got the vet and the farrier out and had him taken care of and he was now deemed sound. However, all they knew was that he was, “cowboy broke”.
In the interim of many emails back and forth, I had a friend offer up his pretty little palomino APHA mare for my daughter’s use for free for however long we decided we wanted her, which seemed great. Until we got her home only to discover she’s not sound and likely won’t ever be sound (bad hock), and was sent back.
Then the people with the grey CL gelding contacted me and wanted to know if I was going to come out to see their gelding. This was a Wed. and they had someone coming out on the weekend who was bringing their trailer, but as I was so close by, thought that I should come look. They said they were very negotiable on his price which was already very reasonable. I decided what the hey, my daughter was game, had just made straight A’s again on her report card, so we said sure. packed the car with gear to longe this guy and do some sacking out before ever getting on since his riding history was nonexistent.
Turns out, he is super cute. 6yrs old, 14.2hds, dapple grey and looks like a Connemara. All his vet and farrier records are in order and I knew both and spoke with the latter. His feet looked really good and he had no blemishes. Great ground manners. Totally not reactive about anything. Longed well, but did hop around a bit. So I sacked him out a bit, then tacked him up and got on him in the stall first - again, no issues. For not having been ridden in 8 mos, he was very good under saddle with lovely gaits. Only tried to crow hop with me once - I scolded him, and kicked on and he was fine. I turned him over to my daughter and he was like butter. Trucked her around at the trot in a super cute frame, very quiet in the bridle and she’s soon got this big, big grin on her face.
See: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMZMLqQV73Cvlowcz5gNp1wpLzZrPY-WbBxP0c0XuFjyZNakrcfcMF-GomCdt0f4Q?key=X19VTVpyV1NGdlBEbnlKOW5ESmxhMXZ5SW9ER3B3
So yes, we bought the pony. For a song too. Occasionally, Craigslist really does rock! That was last week.
She had her first lesson and trail ride on him this weekend and he didn’t put a foot wrong. He’s very sound; just needs a bit of weight and a lot of condition as he was basically being kept in a back yard dry lot. My farrier saw him on Saturday and while he does still have a bit of residual WLD, he didn’t think it would be any problem getting it to clear on up.
Anyway, my daughter has promised to keep him ridden as she knows the only reason we were able to afford him after shelling out a couple of grand in vet bills for her last pony who didn’t make it, was that he was extremely reasonable. Fortunately it seems that somewhere along the way, someone put a good bit of time into this guy as he carries himself in a very nice frame that she could literally go ride a dressage test on and do quite well; we’re going to test that theory at the end of the month and enter him and her into a couple of intro tests at Poplar Place. I think we got very lucky. My daughter is very taken with him. He’s super laid back and more of a steady, kick-ride which is exactly the kind of horse she needs. fingers crossed I guess hope springs eternal. Either way, I won’t have any trouble selling this guy if her interest again wanes. Or won’t feel bad about him languishing in the pasture either. He fit in at our place seamlessly.
^
THIS put a <VBG> on my face!
Sorry for your loss of Oliver - the good ones hurt us most when they leave.
Congrats on your DD’s return to horses.
Sometimes things are just Meant To Be.
What has DD named her new guy?
[QUOTE=2DogsFarm;8594937]
^
THIS put a <VBG> on my face!
Sorry for your loss of Oliver - the good ones hurt us most when they leave.
Congrats on your DD’s return to horses.
Sometimes things are just Meant To Be.
What has DD named her new guy?[/QUOTE]
Thank you! She named him “Dreamer” and will show him as “Sweet Dreams”. It’s what she wanted.
my parents would’ve never tolerated me switching back and forth to hobbies. They were okay with me finding a passion but when hobbies become that expensive; you don’t just up and quit. I understand a parents willingness to give their kid what they want but I also see a point in making a child understand that an animal is not disposable and you don’t just walk away from something that needs daily care provided by you. You don’t have to go out showing every weekend. How about general grooming and help feeding; and riding the pony a few times a week for exercise. there is a certain life lesson in that and ensuring proper care of an animal and sticking with something; not just quitting and walking away and never looking back to go to a hobby you already quit once.
do you keep the pony on your own land? If you love him that much why not do a lease on farm or off farm. Ponies are so easy to care for too.
We own our place and keep the horses at home. My daughter is very good about helping out at the barn with chores even if she wasn’t particularly committed to lessons and showing. That’s more me wanting to keep her occupied, improving, and doing something besides sitting in front of the TV or a computer. And life is about exploration. Some kids seem to know very early on what they like and what they want to do. Others not so much; they have to try on different things for size. And what didn’t enthuse them at 8, might just be the cat’s meow at 12 or 14. I feel very fortunate to be able to indulge that. She’s a good kid who makes good grades. And we just got this pony. Her small pony we sold and got our original investment back. Her large pony before this was tragically lost to illness.
ETA: Anything else she has “tried on” like dance, gymnastics, cheering, and swimming, she has always had to stick it out for the term paid for and does not get to just up and quit once committed.
I do think that losing Oliver so suddenly and unexpectedly made an impression, having taken him somewhat for granted. I am hoping that’s something she won’t repeat.
Fingers crossed! Pony and daughter are super cute!
Such an adorable picture, FCF! Have loved keeping up with this thread 
Let’s hope the saga of quit-continue-quit-continue ends on that lovely continue, lol!
Fantastic update. Jingling for “continue”, and for more beautiful, happy smiling from your daughter. What a cute pone, too!
What a fantastic photo all the best!!!
Thank you everyone!
[QUOTE=CanterandCandor;8595816]
Such an adorable picture, FCF! Have loved keeping up with this thread Let’s hope the saga of quit-continue-quit-continue ends on that lovely continue, lol![/QUOTE]
I sure hope so!
Sorry about the loss of Oliver 
We lost our dearly loved POA last fall.
But LOVELY smile on your daughter on Dreamer!!
Please keep us updated. I have three kids, and the oldest (10) and I are wondering where she’ll fit in in the horse world. She shows and loves it, but doesn’t love the day-to-day commitment of riding.
[QUOTE=Showbizz;8602525]
Sorry about the loss of Oliver We lost our dearly loved POA last fall.
But LOVELY smile on your daughter on Dreamer!!
Please keep us updated. I have three kids, and the oldest (10) and I are wondering where she’ll fit in in the horse world. She shows and loves it, but doesn’t love the day-to-day commitment of riding.[/QUOTE]
Thank you very much and very sorry for your loss as well. Yep, totally my kid too. Loves showing and trail riding; hates the drill of the prep work. Right now, I’m trying not to be that show mom who MAKES her do the prep work. I figure, if it’s worth it to her, she’ll do it or at least want to do it. Of course, if she doesn’t do the prep work; she doesn’t get show. But now that we’ve bought yet another pony, the condition of doing so was that she at least commit to keeping him regularly ridden, to which she agreed and I am holding her to that. If I suggest riding and she dithers about it, it ceases being a suggestion/request and becomes a must do. Fortunately, she’s generally happy once she’s mounted up and riding - provided of course the pony isn’t having an off day and being a beast. I keep hoping she’ll get to the self-motivated point but realize that she just may never be that person. At the very least and as stated above, it gets her outside and doing something physical, and away from the electronics.
A sweet part of the equation is that she is trying to please me and the horses are something that WE do together. So dammit, I’ll just enjoy this for as long as she’ll let me, fully cognizant that the horses still may one day fall completely by the wayside. :no:
Well, final update I guess. Daughter totally bailed on keeping her pony ridden, groomed or just loved on. Would do so upon request but completely not self-motivated and actions speak louder than words. When you love something, particularly a horse, you want to care for and do things for that horse. My kid, nope, just an after thought. Rode well and had a good time when doing it but otherwise, I think she liked just being able to say she had a horse to her friends sadly. Over the last six weeks, I’ve just been waiting for her to come to the conclusion that she was done and needed to let go, and she has. I put her pony up for sale and quickly received a deposit on him, and will be selling off most of her gear as well, and she’s totally fine with it.
She may occasionally trail ride with me on one of my horses so I’ll keep some of her things. She’s still helping out at the barn until her pony is gone and I’d be surprised if she still doesn’t gravitate out there some after as she does enjoy the animals. Riding is just evidently not her thing. Hopefully the rest of the sale of her pony will go smoothly, and that will be that.
The upside is my costs will be less and I will have more time to concentrate on my horses. Heck, maybe I’ll be back eventing by fall as I was just going to do show jumping for now for a lot of reasons. We’ll see. Thanks for following along.
My son is really into riding right now. He just started taking lessons about a year ago, after exploring competitive swimming, mountain bike racing, running, and soccer. So yes, he has jumped between activities, but I did make him finish out the season of each before moving on. Because of his flighty nature with hobbies, I purposely purchased a horse that I could also enjoy. We are sharing the horse now, which he is not crazy about, but he’s going to have to prove that he’s committed before he gets his own steed. It is really hard for me to understand how he can like riding but not be completely obsessed like I was as a kid. He’s not really interested in reading non-fiction horse books, watching eventing on TV, etc. like I was.
The pony you bought is GORGEOUS and I’m sure you’ll have no problem selling it and making some $ on the deal even. I’m glad you are able to concentrate on YOUR riding now!
Maybe only allow her to go back to gymnastics once the pony sells, and have her help you in the process of selling him/saddles/bridles/etc? It probably won’t keep her riding, but it might help her at least understand that in real life, you can’t just drop things and pick them back up, and that big life changes require work and sometimes have undesirable side effects and financial consequences that you have to address.
I checked out of riding for a year or two in high school, but fortunately (for my parents, unfortunately for me) I didn’t own my own horse. But I went back to it quickly.
I am so sad about this but I hope the pony is going to a home where he will be loved and cherished.
My DD followed a similar path trying every single sport (swimming, diving, gymnastics, martial arts, dance, baseball, soccer, etc.) but the only thing that stuck was riding… “Lucky” for me in a way… since I bought her a mare (still with us 15 years later), paid for all the riding lessons and camps, and board!
Now, she is 29, married and horses are still her passion. We bought an elderly gelding we knew for years to give him a good retirement but unfortunately had to put him down last November. She really took it very hard. I dread the day our mare leaves!
She bought herself a younger horse and has done and paid for all the training on him, works at two barns to lower boarding costs, shows and still loves it.
Horses are also what we do together although I don’t ride but I hold at shows, groom, and I am a good carrot dispenser!!
Enjoy your horses!
Funny you mention the gymnastics SpencerBennett as that is exactly what she’s said she wants to do this fall; not soccer, volleyball, basketball or track. She could have kept the pony and done gymnastics too, as long as she demonstrated interest in both, but she has failed her pony. And yes, she’s definitely still responsible for helping with his care until he goes to his new home. Frankly, she’s a braniac/geek and while certainly capable of being athletic, so far she’s just not driven when it comes to being competitive at athletic pursuits. Totally driven when it comes to academics at least. And she could have just trail ridden if she would have actually demonstrated some interest, but nada.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
