Lol yeah - obviously at that age a kid isn’t going to be tacking the horse themselves! Which sort of leads into the other side of the dilemma - what is the barn in question set up to offer? how independent do they expect students to be? At some point, the ability/desire of the child must intersect with what the barn is able/willing to offer. Theoretically, a lesson barn could tack up a saintly pony and teach 10 minute lessons to 4-5 toddlers a day (honestly probably more!). Is a barn willing to set that sort of system up though? Would they have the volume of tiny students on a similar schedule, to make it realistic? … probably not.
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I have seen this business model in action, and it is possible to make it work. But it’s important to find a place where they have the appropriate ponies on hand, and they take the appropriate safety measures. Otherwise, it is multiple accidents just waiting to happen all day, every day.
And obviously, accidents can happen around kids and ponies at any time. But you want to go to a place that at least improves their odds of getting through each day in one piece.
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I think it depends on the kid so much. I waited until mine was almost 9 yrs old before she started. She didn’t have the strength/balance/whatever to stay on a pony even at the walk before then! She did have the attention span though.
Most kids Ive seen that are very young its just 10-20 minutes of a lead line lesson. They will still ask when they are going to get to jump!
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I have a coming 3 year old - he comes to the barn with me frequently and has marginal interest in the horses. Most of his interest is in the playground that happens to be next door, the sand arena that he can “dig” and “road build” in with his toys, and the snacks in the kitchen (I admit, they are way better than our snacks at home).
He has “ridden” a handful of times. Usually for <5 minutes and usually just being walked around on my mare after I ride. He likes having his own brush for the horses…he doesn’t actually care about USING said brush very often. He’s becoming more confident about feeding treats to the horses and finds that fun, for about 5 minutes.
I do not think he has “the bug”. I have not pushed riding on him AT ALL. If he asks, I try to make it happen. Doing a structured riding lesson that isn’t just sitting on my horse post-ride? Not until he’s consistently asking, showing interest, and would have a 15+ minute attention span for it.
He is obsessed with riding his bike and will do 30min on his bike no problem – so I know the attention span is there, but not the interest to apply it to horses. If it develops, great, lesson away on the saintly 12h lesson pony the barn has. Until then…trucks, playground, and sand pit remain his barn experience.
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Good plan. FWIW, I remember when Guy Thomas only cared about playing football. And he ended up in the Olympics.
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I’m actually using this with my only daughter. If I WANT her to take lessons and ride, maybe then she won’t want to ride … which leaves more of a riding budget for me ;). Only (mostly) kidding of course.
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I remember when Hardin Towell was at that stage. He would sit and play in the sand with his toy trucks at the end of the ring while his older sister rode. And he’s become a pretty successful show jumper. So you never know.
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I started when I was 4. The requirement was that I knew right and left. I’m not even sure if the guy had a ring. If he did, it likely wasn’t fenced. There were no lunge lines involved. Maybe they led or walked with me at first? The guy did a lot of his lessons on the trail. Many of the saddles were McClellans that he obtained after a movie shoot. No hard hats.
This was ~1960. Different world.
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Mine started at 4, on the lunge with a trainer and with me beside her. Very slowly by age six she progressed to posting and sitting trot without stirrups, hands in all sorts of positions, but still on the lunge. At that age they still don’t really have control if the pony decides to be a pony. Knowing more about pediatric head injuries and neck development I would have waited until 6 to start - they can get whiplash really easily, even if they don’t fall.
She is nine now and a competent SS kid. However, the 10 year old who started last year is basically just as good. I say this to point out that all the kids who start between 4 and 9 basically end up at the same level at the same age. I don’t think there is an advantage to starting early in that sense.
And I think between 4 and 6 she got just as much of a kick out of grooming and “helping” with barn chores as she did with her saddle time. If you start early make sure to get a tiny grippy saddle that fits the kid! it’s nearly impossible for them in a saddle that is too large.
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I’m kind of surprised that no one has mentioned insurance. Most of the barns around here won’t take lesson kids younger than 7 or 8, one of them starts at 10 because the insurance companies don’t want that liability (or the premiums aren’t worth it for the trainer/BO).
My niece is 3. I bought her a helmet for her birthday and she comes out once in awhile for a quick ride. She has the attention span of a gnat 
She picks up every brush and does one stroke, she names some pieces of tack while I get him ready. She rides down the driveway with me leading, does a lap around the ring, I tell her to hold on to the saddle and we do an uber slow trot over a pole and then she wants to get off and lead him back to the barn. Mostly she wants to feed all of my animals treats dog, horses, fish, chickens, doesn’t matter, they get all the treats
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Here’s photographic evidence of how much times have changed. This is little chestnutmarebeware at age 4 getting tack adjusted for my weekly lesson on Ramona the Tennessee walker. My instructor rode her own horse next to me the whole time and I was walking trotting and cantering successfully.
Please note the stylish 70s striped pants and lack of boots and protective headgear! Of course safety wasn’t really a thing back then: the family station wagon only had lap seatbelts, and since car seats for kids weren’t around back then, my brother and I wore harnesses like dogs wear today that buckled to the lap belts and functioned as a leash for uncooperative children in crowded spaces…
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From what I know of child development, you don’t begin developing muscle memory before 6, so you have to repeat things a lot to get them to stick.
Also before that she, kids heads are very large for their bodies, and i recall reading they tend to fall head first more often than older kids whose bodies weigh more.
But we all have ancedotes that support both sides, so I personally would go with science and my child’s interest level to guide me.
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Totally agree!
If knowing left from right reliably, as mentioned somewhere here, is the criteria for lessons, I am SOL, 65 years old, and still can’t be trusted to get it right…
“Left, left LEFT LEFT, OK, your other left.”
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If under the age of 5-6 unless advanced for their age, find a pony school they can learn how to groom, paint ponies, a little lead line, etc.
I bought my kids a pony when the youngest was 3, added a bareback pad and bit less bridle and turned them loose. They figured it out. We didn’t start lessons till they asked for them. They ride for fun, not competing.
None of my kids have the bug, but they still enjoy their horse time and have better balance than majority of their peers.
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Sounds like you got it “right” to me! 
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I still see that when I visit my farrier. Little cowboys can barely keep their balance but by cracky, they get the job done and never commit the cardinal sin of dragging the cinch in the dirt.
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oh that brings back memories! My parents were/are NOT horsey, and had no interest in helping me tack up lol. I remember I would pull my cinch over the top and hook the far-side stirrup over the saddle horn to keep it out of the way. Then I’d pretty much power-clean/push-jerk the saddle over my head and then I’d have to very carefully totter over to my 15.1h QH without it tipping over backwards, and try and give myself every last inch of height I could (and a small hop never hurt either!) so I didn’t accidentally push the saddle pad off on the far side lol. It was a big deal the day I realized I was tall/strong enough to do the “swing” over the back without having to tie up my stirrups!
A friend of mine had a synthetic saddle and I was so jealous because even though it was bigger, it was half the weight mine was.
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I still remember the day when I was a young kid when my mother said I couldn’t ride because it was going to rain. I was sure it was not going to rain, and my mother said she was not going to help me get my pony ready, because it was going to rain.
So that was the first day I went out and tacked up my pony by myself and got on him and rode on my own. And sure enough, it rained. But I did not let that stop me! Lol.
Moral of the story: Listen to your mother.
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Things today seem very different than when I was a kid. My older sister rode and we had a variety of mixed breed horses and ponies that I sat on and rode from infancy (really) and by the time I was 8-9 I was trail riding bareback for hours by myself in the hills on my pony. I feel
like this would never fly in today’s safety culture and my parents would have been arrested today for allowing me to do that. However, a kid with interest should be encouraged and allowed and helped to ride even as young as 3-4, in my opinion, on a safe animal with appropriate supervision.
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https://instagram.com/taeganrides?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
One of my favourite accounts to follow of a young rider. Gives me the warm and fuzzies to see such a little girl progress.
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