Have You Ever Dealt with Horses or Ponies Showing Aggression Toward Children?

[CDF]

A year ago, I bought a 13.2-hand, 10-year-old pony for my 7-year-old daughter. They’ve been working together since then, but we’ve encountered a concerning issue: when my daughter begins to trot, the pony tries to unseat her by forcefully pulling his head down, taking the reins out of her hands, and destabilizing her.

This behavior isn’t exclusive to her—it happens with any child who rides him. However, when an adult mounts him, he behaves well and performs his tasks without issue.

I’ve tried using tack designed to prevent him from pulling his head down, and her trainer recommends continuing to work with him. But I have my doubts because others have told me that at his age, this behavior may be unchangeable.

Yesterday, while my daughter was in a lesson, the pony threw her into the fence. This incident has me questioning whether I should invest more in his training or if it’s time to consider finding another pony for her.

There are days when they work beautifully together, especially when he’s on a lead line, but he’s unpredictable. At times, he completely ignores commands and takes off. My daughter has been riding since she was three, but she’s still building strength in her hands and learning to manage a pony on her own. While she always wears a good helmet and a safety vest, I’m increasingly concerned for her safety.

I could continue paying for training and hope that as my daughter grows, she’ll gain the strength and skills to handle him. But what if he never changes?

The Pony’s Background

Before we purchased him, he was a school pony used for both children and adults. From what I’ve heard, he exhibited similar problems with children during his time at the school.

I’d love to hear from others who have faced similar situations. Did you manage to resolve the behavior with training, or did you decide to move on? Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated as I consider the best course of action for my daughter’s safety and development.

[trubandloki]

@CDF

A year ago, I bought a 13.2-hand, 10-year-old pony for my 7-year-old daughter. They’ve been working together since then, but we’ve encountered a concerning issue: when my daughter begins to trot, the pony tries to unseat her by forcefully pulling his head down, taking the reins out of her hands, and destabilizing her.

This behavior isn’t exclusive to her—it happens with any child who rides him. However, when an adult mounts him, he behaves well and performs his tasks without issue.

I’ve tried using tack designed to prevent him from pulling his head down, and her trainer recommends continuing to work with him. But I have my doubts because others have told me that at his age, this behavior may be unchangeable.

Yesterday, while my daughter was in a lesson, the pony threw her into the fence. This incident has me questioning whether I should invest more in his training or if it’s time to consider finding another pony for her.

There are days when they work beautifully together, especially when he’s on a lead line, but he’s unpredictable. At times, he completely ignores commands and takes off. My daughter has been riding since she was three, but she’s still building strength in her hands and learning to manage a pony on her own. While she always wears a good helmet and a safety vest, I’m increasingly concerned for her safety.

I could continue paying for training and hope that as my daughter grows, she’ll gain the strength and skills to handle him. But what if he never changes?

The Pony’s Background

Before we purchased him, he was a school pony used for both children and adults. From what I’ve heard, he exhibited similar problems with children during his time at the school.

I’d love to hear from others who have faced similar situations. Did you manage to resolve the behavior with training, or did you decide to move on? Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated as I consider the best course of action for my daughter’s safety and development.

What you describe here is, in my opinion, not a pony showing aggression toward children, but a too smart pony that knows who will make him behave and who will not make him behave.

Yanking the reins and unseating the rider makes the work stop.

@CDF

the pony threw her into the fence

Did the pony happen to just stop quickly and your daughter fell off?

It does sound like this pony might not be the most suitable for your daughter’s current riding level.
No way of guessing if he can easily be trained to not do this, but it sounds like he has always done this. Do you have a pony jock available (another small person who is a tough rider who will not get unseated so easily)?

Meanwhile, find a pony that has been proven to be a safe small child mount and have your daughter ride that.

[FjordBCRF]

@trubandloki

What you describe here is, in my opinion, not a pony showing aggression toward children, but a too smart pony that knows who will make him behave and who will not make him behave.

Agreed, this is classic pony evasion 101!

My two cents is that you need a pony for your daughter to learn her basics on first. That kind of pony needs to be well trained to start with and one that won’t pull dirty tricks (which is DEF a pony trait).

Kids generally can’t learn to ride AND deal with naughty pony behavior at the same time. Once they get a little stronger and more solid in the seat, this usually resolves itself because the pony is no longer able to get away with shenanigans.

[tabula_rashah]

I would totally not call this aggression. This is honestly normal ornery lesson pony behavior. Most of us probably rode one of these in our early years. I would find another pony for your daughter to ride until she’s strong enough to sit up and keep his head from going down if you’re worried that she’s going to get hurt.

[Displaced_Yankee]

One barn that I worked for insisted that their palomino Welsh pony be the lesson pony. He was awful for kids but it was difficult to correct since he was perfect when an experience rider sat on him. We even simulated group lessons with kiddos to try to bring out the behavior for correction. No go with an intermediate rider. He was perfect.

Eventually he was sold to an adult owner who rode him and trained him to drive. He was a superstar for her and never put hoof out of line. She passed from cancer and her husband cared for him until he (the pony) passed.

We never once considered this aggressive behavior. Pony just knew a beginner where he could stop, turn where he wanted, root down and pull the reins from rider, rub leg up against the fence, etc. We listened to what the pony was telling us: He does not like this job. We moved him to a more appropriate home.

There are lots of ponies out there who will walk and trot laps for days, canter a lap each direction happily. Sounds like your kid needs one of these golden nuggets.

[trubandloki]

@Displaced_Yankee

There are lots of ponies out there who will walk and trot laps for days, canter a lap each direction happily. Sounds like your kid needs one of these golden nuggets.

Well said.
One of those priceless golden nuggets!

Just because it is cute and little does not mean it is an appropriate mount for a kid.

[Displaced_Yankee]

@trubandloki

Just because it is cute and little does not mean it is an appropriate mount for a kid.

Or ‘flashy’ or ‘well bred’.
Some of my best lesson ponies were pulled from a feed lot with questionable origin and plain chestnut/bay/seal brown.

[luvmyhackney]

Classic pony behavior. He’s been trained to do it by previous riders.

You need the saintly pony to build your kids confidence, not this one.

[Displaced_Yankee]

@CDF

my 7-year-old daughter

I just saw this. 7 years is the minimum age I teach lessons on and at that point it is still mostly a glorified pony ride. A 6 or 7 year old doesn’t have the strength or intuition to correct pony behavior. No wonder the kid is being pulled out of the saddle! 80 lbs versus 500+ lbs and no prior training?

[CDF]

@Displaced_Yankee

One barn that I worked for insisted that their palomino Welsh pony be the lesson pony. He was awful for kids but it was difficult to correct since he was perfect when an experience rider sat on him. We even simulated group lessons with kiddos to try to bring out the behavior for correction. No go with an intermediate rider. He was perfect.

Eventually he was sold to an adult owner who rode him and trained him to drive. He was a superstar for her and never put hoof out of line. She passed from cancer and her husband cared for him until he (the pony) passed.

We never once considered this aggressive behavior. Pony just knew a beginner where he could stop, turn where he wanted, root down and pull the reins from rider, rub leg up against the fence, etc. We listened to what the pony was telling us: He does not like this job. We moved him to a more appropriate home.

There are lots of ponies out there who will walk and trot laps for days, canter a lap each direction happily. Sounds like your kid needs one of these golden nuggets.

Thank you for sharing your experience—it really resonates with what I’m going through. It’s helpful to hear that others have faced similar situations and found solutions that worked for both the pony and the rider.

Your story highlights something I’ve been wondering myself: maybe this pony just isn’t suited for the job I’m asking of him. Like the Welsh pony you mentioned, he might be telling us he’s unhappy with this role.

I

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

@trubandloki

Just because it is cute and little does not mean it is an appropriate mount for a kid.

This, 1,000%.

Hell, at one dressage barn I rode at, there was a cute 14h pony that was originally owned by a petite adult who eventually sold the horse to a much stronger junior rider because he was too much horse for her–he was a great dressage pony, just super-hot and very demanding of a “correct” ride. Just like there are some horses who really only do well with very correct riders who can “ask” with firmness and clarity, no errors, there are ponies like that, too–it’s just unfortunate that they are tiny and there’s a smaller pool of adults who can ride them.

I do think ponies are often smarter about evaluating the skills of their rider but I’ve actually only met one or two ponies I would call “aggressive” (and they were aggressive to everyone and not really rideable).

It sounds like your daughter would benefit from a different pony. She’s still very young, and you don’t want her to lose her love of horses.

[mmeqcenter]

I love ponies and was devasted when I got too big (both tall and wide) to ride ponies.
But they are ornery little suckers. I rode one like this as a teenager, and it’s a very common pony behavior. Small does not automatically mean safe. Nearly all horses and ponies easily know the difference when there is a beginner rider on them vs an experienced rider on them, and unfortunately some just have the “desire” to take advantage of the beginners. The concentration of ponies that take advantage is certainly a higher percentage than that of horses

A pretty common joke based strongly in truth:

But of course, “taking advantage” is never aggression, and isn’t actually a conscious choice, though I say “desire” for want of a better word. They’re doing these behaviors in response to things they don’t appreciate. Not all horses and ponies can be made into lesson horses.

[Foxglove]

I’d encourage you to find a more suitable mount. An instructor had my 7year old granddaughter ride her pony --unknown to me it had a reputation for bucking --and it bucked the kid off. Granddaughter was never a confident rider after that. She did eventually move on to a lovely BSP and did her 10 years in 4-H --but her passion was Showmanship where she could keep her feet on the ground.

To this day I regret allowing that instructor to put granddaughter on that pony. I didn’t know the pony’s reputation, but feel somehow I should have stepped in before granddaughter was thrown.

@mmeqcenter --we had a full Percheron all my kids and grandkids loved to ride. I definitely think a draft is a better choice for a kid!

[JBCool]

Quite a handsome, noble steed!

[MHM]

@CDF

In this particular instance, the pony did stop abruptly, but there have been times when he kept running after she fell off.

I’m not sure what else you would expect the pony to do after the kid fell off.

[FjordBCRF]

@CDF

In this particular instance, the pony did stop abruptly, but there have been times when he kept running after she fell off.

@CDF

I’m trying to decide if it’s worth continuing to work with this pony through additional training or if his behavior is too ingrained to change

I was going to say new pony time, but especially so since it seems daughter has fallen off more than once due to dirty pony tricks. Not worth her safety and blowing her confidence.

[chestnutmarebeware]

@CDF

he might be telling us he’s unhappy with this role.

I don’t think he’s unhappy with his role. He’s just learned, like many ponies have, to accurately judge the skill and strength of will in his riders within a minute or two of them mounting (or even beforehand)—then to use the knowledge to benefit himself. After all, the term “altruistic” is rarely one you hear in the same sentence with “pony”, or any animal, to be honest. They’re all looking out for #1.

I mean, humans do this all the time. When you were young and wanted to do something that you knew your parents wouldn’t approve of, which parent did you ask for permission? The more lenient or easily-manipulated one that you knew would give you the best chance of getting what you wanted, right?

Now whether this entirely average pony behavior makes him right or wrong for your child, is a different issue, but this sounds like you simply have a pony being a pony (and probably perfectly content doing it).

In the meantime, I’d recommend buying a set of anti-grazing reins that will keep him from diving his head to the ground, and have your trainer adjust them properly. Good luck!

[Indy]

Like others have said, I wouldn’t categorize any of this as “aggression.” At the end of the day, ponies are going to pony. They’re often too smart for their own good and know exactly who is sitting on them. And I say this with much love towards ponies, as someone who is a pony sized adult and has spent much of her life getting called upon to sit on a pony who has been rotten to their small child (and currently rides a pony).

Sometimes you can keep this behavior at bay with regular rides by a small adult or good riding older kid. But sometimes the pony just doesn’t care and will continue to be a naughty booger once a small kid gets back on. Again, they’re smart and sometimes a wee bit evil.

Not all ponies are like this though. There are a lot of fantastic little beasties out there who want nothing more than to take care of their riders like precious cargo and aren’t extra naughty for the littles. For a 7 year old, that’s what you need. Kids are going to fall off, but if you find her a mount that isn’t going to be devious about it it’s less of a big deal and it’ll affect her confidence less. Also at 7, unless she’s really tall I’d look for a small pony too. That way if she does come off, she’s closer to the ground.

If you can afford two ponies, finding her a good older teacher pony to lease for a few years in tandem with putting the current pony in a training program (either with an adult or an older, better riding kid) might be a good solution. She can learn on something safer and as her confidence, skill, and strength grows she may be able to get back in the saddle on current pony. But there’s always a chance that this is just how he is and you’re never going to be able to get him to hide his little devil horns permanently. I would prioritize finding her a pony that will let her learn how to ride and have fun over keeping this one, though, if you can only swing one pony.

[atr]

My 7-year-old grand daughter is just starting to take lessons. She’s wanted to for a while, but simply didn’t have the coordination, strength or focus that made me comfortable about her doing more than a lead line pony ride. I certainly wouldn’t expect her to have the strength or self-possession to manage keeping a pony’s head up or handling ponytude. At the moment it’s still all unicorns and rainbows.

She’s also quite tall for her age, but 13.2 would be big for her.

If your daughter were mine, I’d be seeking out a more appropriate beginner pony that she can have fun on and gain lifelong confidence with. Doesn’t mean that this one is bad or mean, he’s just a bit sharp for her at her stage of riding, and would probably be happier in himself with a more mature rider.

[CBoylen]

They almost all do that. It’s why a vast majority of these beginner ponies go in Daisy reins or something similar. The rest have one foot in the grave. Or two.