Talk me out of buying a pony

[Draft1]

Come summer she’ll be old enough to qualify for camps. She’s currently asking to ride every night after school, which is great problem to have, but it makes it hard for me to ride! I don’t want to put her in front of a tablet while I ride, and she only has so much attention span for sitting and watching me ride. I certainly don’t blame her!

I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining, though I probably do. I’m happy and lucky to have these “challenges.”

It’s been really exciting and encouraging to hear the stories of kids who went on to a lifetime of riding. How cool.

All this to say, no life-changing/wallet draining decision made yet.

[2DogsFarm]

Friend who drives (hasn’t ridden in decades) bought a Shetlandish 2yo for her just-turned-2 grandson
Pony already broke to drive & is coming along nicely for that use.
Total throw of the dice, as where’s any evidence this kid will have any interest once he’s old enough to get started riding?
Her other grand just turned 19 & is a very accomplished rider & Driver.
But: girl

OP:
Lease or buy is your decision.
But be ready for DD to lose interest & leave you with the pony.
Not a Bad Thing if you get one you can ride too.
{coughcough} Large.

P.S.
@cattywampus I like your Pony Math
I go to The Ntl Drive & there’s a lady who brings her Fell 4.
Gorgeous to watch in harness
Especially in the water obstacles

ETA:
MY 34" mini is turned out 24/7 with my 16h horse & 13h pony.
He also routinely shares hay with horse, in horse’s stall.
Pony threatens mini, but in 8yrs has yet to actually do any harm.
Maybe I’ve got a One Of

That said:
Pony gets locked in his stall for grain. He’s on TC Sr, horse & pony get whole oats.
Oats mini would happily share w/horse
Mini is muzzled from 6A until 9P, then unmuzzled, out on pasture with the other 2 overnight.

[mroades]

Ask your vet and farrier, they may know of a safe solid citizen that has been outgrown nearby!

[Festivity]

It’s a careful balance between providing the opportunity and encouraging their horse interest vs pushing too hard with kids. So definitely be ready for the attention to shift elsewhere. That said it’s also hard for kids to develop a passion for riding and horses if they don’t have the opportunity to explore it. All of my horses are at home and I’ve watched my daughter’s determination to help with chores ebb and flow depending on what else is going on. Her love of horses hasn’t changed but her attention span definitely has. She now has the pony who’s working on retiring with IR and the new big horse and adores both. Sometimes she’s determined to clean all the stalls herself, other days she’d much rather braid her two while I clean. I wouldn’t trade it for the world, even when I’m grumbling about doing chores while she and my husband play with/dote on their horses.

[clanter]

@Festivity

That said it’s also hard for kids to develop a passion for riding and horses if they don’t have the opportunity to explore it.

one of our four kids did not fully embrace Horse primarily because the other three were very successful riders… he did take interest in other aspects of horse world focusing on photography

[findeight]

Gave this a little thought and am in the too young right now camp. She will need supervision at age 4 and, cute as they are at this age? She will need 100% of your time when she’s handling/riding and still end up sitting around waiting for you to finish your ride.

Maybe be different if you kept at home but in a boarding barn situation? Unless you want to pay somebody to work with her while you ride if she has the attention span, it’s just a bit too early.

Would start with a summer camp next year. See how that goes. Was in a big barn that had Ponies for many years, that (successful) trainer liked to start the munchkins around 6.

[dogsbody1]

@findeight

Do you have a Pony in mind? If so, tell us. If not, start by asking around, the best ones are never advertised, they don’t have to be.

Is this true anymore? It’s so easy to throw up a Facebook post and generate a ton of interest. If someone had a truly nice pony to sell, why wouldn’t they get the word out to increase their chances of getting their asking price?

I feel like a quiet, under-the-table sale is more likely to happen with a pony with known issues, where the seller either doesn’t want to be publicly linked to the sale, or wants a good situation for the pony even if it means taking a hit on the price—or some combination of both.

I say this as someone who bought a horse through one of those word-of-mouth sales, thinking I’d stumbled across the deal of a lifetime. I do love the horse, but in retrospect it was probably a red flag. The word-of-mouth approach gave the seller a way to sidestep the awkwardness of phrasing an ad that toed the line between marketing the horse and misrepresenting it…

[clanter]

@dogsbody1

Is this true anymore? It’s so easy to throw up a Facebook post and generate a ton of interest. If someone had a truly nice pony to sell, why wouldn’t they get the word out to increase their chances of getting their asking price?

I believe it depends on how well the pony is known by others. We showed/competed when we want to sell one we never ever had a problem getting the asking price on the few that we did sell, we had lists of people who wanted “that pony”

(did loose a trainer after refusing to sell our kids’ pony to a very well-off grandparent who wanted my kids’ horse for their grandkid, the guy was offering me any amount I wanted, had to tell him the horse was not mine to sell, it belonged to my kids …ended up loosing the trainer as his wife in her mind had spent the commission) I did earn the title of Fool as the guy was worth a few billion

[findeight]

It has been true for those I know who recently bought both horses and Ponies. Trainers have networks of trusted contacts they communicate with before putting it on Facebook.

Word of mouth does not mean you don’t vet that seller or anybody else in that network if you intend to deal with them. Vetting the seller is more important than vetting the horse/Pony.

[Kinda_Kooky]

Not sure if the pony temptations are still running strong, but here are some possibilities that turned up at my favorite place to practice shopping.

There is a cute Appaloosa pony at Bowie, you would of course have to ride him at first and ensure he’s appropriate. I would bet he is. He looks like a nice guy, I wish I needed a pony right now like you do.

https://www.bowietexaslivestock.com/product/3641-easy-going-appy-gelding-perfect-for-trails/

There is also an adorable small pony that drives and rides mostly being ponied, I mention this just in case you forget the wisdom that 3 horses are better than 2.

…AND driving might be another thing the two of you could explore together at her young age.

https://www.bowietexaslivestock.com/product/3626-gentle-pony-gelding-rides-and-drives/

Officially team get the…ponies. plural.