I just got a 5 yr old QH gelding. Pony sized at 14 hands. The story goes he lost his mom at a young age and never finished nursing properly or weaning correctly. he ran with a bunch of other horses on a ranch. I have discovered that he seems to bond instantly to any horse he is around. He reared and struck out a couple times while I was leading him away, I have tried to nip that in the bud by switching to a rope halter and carrying a dressage whip. I have never struck him, but he seems to know it is there. When under saddle in the arena, he does not want to leave the area of the other horse, tries to turn and follow when the other leaves. He is not terrible, and seems to give in easily, I just push him forward. I am just looking for any info or experience you all can share with either of these issues. Thank you!
I just got a 5 yr old QH gelding. Pony sized at 14 hands.
Off topic, but I guess I would not call him a “pony”. While on the smaller side, 14 hands is still very much a horse. 
The story goes he lost his mom at a young age and never finished nursing properly or weaning correctly. he ran with a bunch of other horses on a ranch. I have discovered that he seems to bond instantly to any horse he is around. He reared and struck out a couple times while I was leading him away, I have tried to nip that in the bud by switching to a rope halter and carrying a dressage whip. I have never struck him, but he seems to know it is there. When under saddle in the arena, he does not want to leave the area of the other horse, tries to turn and follow when the other leaves. He is not terrible, and seems to give in easily, I just push him forward.
I am just looking for any info or experience you all can share with either of these issues.
What does his back story have to do with hit?
It sounds like he is a green horse and doesn’t know any better. Possibly spoiled with some bad habits. Treat him as you would treat any other horse. Start from scratch and teach him some manners and respect.
I too would carry a whip with me at all times for a horse that rears and/or strikes while being handled on the ground. It is NOT to be tolerated. Of course, you can choose to discipline him how you see fit, but striking at me is something I have no problem hitting a horse for if the situation calls for it. My safety is #1.
I’d really focus on ground work with this horse and teach him to respect my space. As long as you are consistent, it doesn’t sound like it should be very hard or take very long, since you say he seems to give easily.
Guess I am used to the English world where a pony is 14.2 and under.
[QUOTE=runwayz;8979629]
Guess I am used to the English world where a pony is 14.2 and under.:)[/QUOTE]
That is an arbitrary size limit, even in the English riding world.
We have had and have right now some awesome cowhorses that had to tiptoe to be 14 hands.
Nothing wrong with them, not stunted, just genetically short.
Generally, stunted horses have more problems than being short.
What those problems may be depends on when they were stunted in their growth.
One barely 14 hands one we have right now can hold his end fine with a cow bigger than he is on the end of the rope.
He was bred to be a cutter, but after some training, has shown not to be flashy enough in front of one to be competitive, so is now a ranch horse.
When it comes to training any horse or pony of any size, then you have to take them as the individual they are.
He seems to be badly buddy sour.
Depending on how he shows that, that can be addressed by first isolating him, since we want horses for our purposes that are amenable to work with us without freaking by not having their buddy with them constantly.
Their lives as a horse we can use depend on him learning to handle life without a buddy, separation is one way to achieve that with minimum stress.
Training itself is going to be very stressful for a horse that has little early handling, how he handles what you do about that will tell you more how to proceed.
A friend that trains roping horses starts every horse, no matter if already well handled and trained, by keeping them by themselves in another place than headquarters and going there several times a day to feed and interact with the horse.
In a few days, he has them trained to look out for him and want to be around him, with minimum stress.
He has cattle there, the horses are not alone, just not with other horses around.
Then he brings them to the barn and keeps the same program and he has never had a horse that was buddy sour after that.
They learn to handle being alone as part of their new world.
Horses are smart and adaptable and he works with that, rather than a continuous problem every time he would want to take him away from the others, before the horse learns that same lesson.
With any horse showing any kind of aggression, when they feel they have to fight, whatever the reason, I would suggest such horses need to be in the hands of professionals until those issues are resolved.
They may not be safe for everyone with those problems.
Nice Bluey. I also equate height in calling an animal pony or horse. My old mare was certainly a horse in any Western show at 14.2H. But in English activities she was a pony. Did not hurt her feelings or mine, she always got the job done! Some breeds run to smaller individuals, Morgans, Arabs, Saddlebreds, some lines of the QH families. They also got or get their jobs done well, against other horses who are larger.
We had a lovely filly, TB and Appy cross with no color, out of a 16H+ TB mare. Sire was at least 15H, good looker. Filly grew to 14.1H, not a smidgeon more!! No nutritional or feeding issues, but that was as tall as she wanted to be! We sold her to a small woman who collected baskets of ribbons riding her both flat and over fences. You never knew the mare was little until you stood beside her, they fit together so well proportionately. A good one is still a good one, just might not fit some larger or taller riders well.
