When to start a kid riding

[TinFoilHat]

If my son is interested in starting to ride, I personally don’t plan to start him in formal lessons until he’s at least 8. That said, I’ll happily lead him around at a walk.

Really what it comes down to for me is that I want certain developmental milestones to be met before real, independent riding begins. When they’re young, one harmless tumble could change the course of their life.

Separately from the developmental piece, and this is just the “growing up poor” in me, I don’t want to pay for lessons to battle a toddler on steering. I’d rather wait til (somewhat) reasonable conversations can be had about the “why” of what we’re doing. I’ve seen a FEW toddler meltdowns on top of a horse and even as a non-parent, it scared the hell out of me.

All of that said, my son is only 15 months old so I’ll check back in

[Renn_aissance]

I started at age 4, which was the youngest the instructor would teach. She had two sainted Appaloosa mares and a TWH who was also well on the road to divinity and she started all children in a western saddle on a longe line. I was cantering by the end of that year… also had had my first fall and broken bone, related to that canter, when the sainted App crow hopped on the longe and I went flying. No one knows what got into her that day but here I am 30 years later so it wasn’t much of a deterrent.

My mother rode and my first word was “pony” so everyone knew what they were in for.

I was tall and strong for my age and a pretty athletic child. My sister was interested but not physically ready to take lessons until she was older than I had been. That was my mother’s call, not the instructor’s. Mom was also a lifelong athlete (riding and NCAA sports) and taught phys ed and coached elementary school sports- my sister was a string bean and Mom judged she didn’t have the physical strength until she was older. My mother’s other rule was that we had to be capable of grooming the horse ourselves, with a ladder if need be, and do a good job of it, or no lessons. That was her test for attention span!

Now it appears you have to put the child on the barn’s waiting list at the point of conception in hopes they might have an opening for the kid to ride when they are 5! I consider myself very lucky to have had good competent instruction from a young age.

[StormyDay]

@Rnichols

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.

The problem with this plan is then they take up an even more expensive sport.

My cousin did competitive cheer. My mom didn’t complain about the horse bills anymore when she found out that they had to buy $1000 bows for my cousins hair, and oh yeah, you can’t use them more than once. So you need about 15 sets of bows a year. And also a new costume to match. She was easily spending 30k on just the outfits before travel fees

[MHM]

Whut???

There’s an activity for kids that makes horses look reasonably priced by comparison?!?

[Rumorhasit93]

We got my daughter a pony just before she turned 2 years old. Completely uninterested. Luckily it was a care lease. We kept him for several months because my horse liked him, and then gave him back to his owner.

Now that my daughter is 3, I’ve been thinking if she does show interest, I’d choose one of the nice A circuit programs around my area that offers kids camp with fancy ex-show ponies that are safe-safe. I think it’s a great friend/bonding activity. Their attention spans are pretty short at this age.

So, I’d probably recommend finding a nice kid friendly program/camp type place. If it were me.

[MadTrotter]

@StormyDay

$1000 bows for my cousins hair, and oh yeah, you can’t use them more than once. So you need about 15 sets of bows a year. And also a new costume to match. She was easily spending 30k on just the outfits before travel fees

$30k on cheer costumes?! Citation needed lol

[StormyDay]

@MadTrotter

@StormyDay

$1000 bows for my cousins hair, and oh yeah, you can’t use them more than once. So you need about 15 sets of bows a year. And also a new costume to match. She was easily spending 30k on just the outfits before travel fees

$30k on cheer costumes?! Citation needed lol

@MHM

Yeah. Competitive cheer groups are NOT for poor people that’s for sure.
And on top of that, they had to fly all over the country to the cheer venues. So add in air travel, hotel rooms, etc for 4-5 days per competition. And then whatever the coach charged, and entry fees. It was an expensive sport.

You could also add competitive golfing to the list of expensive sports for kids, because if they want to be really good they need to go to a lot of different courses, plus the really high quality courses ($$).

[MapleBreeze]

If its the right program it can be great.
Lilttle kid lessons are different , lots of focus on balance and listening. Lots lf pony ride trail rides. No expectstions to hold the reins and gradually increase the time (its hard). Little bits of trotting and the right combo will be trotting independetly by 5…with walls holding them up. Steering is really unrealistic at that age depending on the size of horse. A few canter steps by 5 on the right schoolie with the right kid that is brave.

It will be all fun and games and tap out at about 40 min total. Semi private is more fun.

[OverandOnward]

@MHM

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.

Oh the memories. I grew up in a rather rainy climate. There were adults who didn’t want us to do the whole grooming and tacking up rigamarole when they were convinced it would rain shortly. Of course we didn’t have the forecasting or phone weather apps, we just looked up at the sky and did an assessment.

Us young riders never, ever believed in rain. It’s not gonna rain.

We would tack up and get on and as in your case, it rained.

It’s never going to rain. But if it does rain, it will stop any minute.

There is no point in dismounting and putting a horse away if the rain is going to stop anyway.

And then of course it pours like underneath a waterfall.

We rode in the rain a lot. And I learned a great deal from that. Today I seem to be in the only one in the adult rider’s group who knows ride in the slick and mud. But that was not the life plan.

[hoopoe]

@OverandOnward

The child needs to be strong enough to control the horse’s head and neck.

the child needs to be old enough to control THEIR own head and neck

I shudder as I , too , have seen vids of very small kids running barrels , their heads and bodies whipping around. I wonder about long term consequence of all that sloshing about inside the skull

[McGurk]

@LJD,

The real question is, do you have access to an appropriate mount for these early lessons, and if not, is their a lesson program near you and what are their age restrictions?

Back when I ran a lesson program, I had a restriction of 7, and some kids weren’t really ready at 7. My stipulations were 1.) adequate attention span 2.) enough body awareness to respond to verbal instruction (for example “Push your lower leg forward”) and 3.) eagerness to ride.

For the BO’s child, and later my own child, they started as toddlers sitting in front of me on a saintly schoolie. There can actually be some instruction even at this age - they can put their hands on your hands and learn to steer, and you can have them mimic you posting. This progressed to being ponied, on a saintly pony, by me on a saintly schoolie. These sessions were SHORT - 15 - 30 minutes.

Realistically, most kids shouldn’t be off of a leadline or lunge line until after they’re 5 or 6; they just don’t have enough body control to sit up and steer. When they had progressed to lunge line lessons, I might end the lesson with 5 minutes off the lunge working on figures at the walk, with me right beside them.

6 to 7 is the earliest I think most kids can manoever around the ring on their own, even on a REALLY saintly schoolie.

The mistake I see made often is overeager parents wanting formal lessons too soon, and then the children reach a plateau and are not ready to ride independently and get bored with the same ol’, same ol’.

Lessons for small children need to be SHORT, SAFE AND FUN. My other peeve was parents of littles trying to correct small details in their kid’s riding. No, Karen, today’s lesson is on how to shorten and lengthen reins, and having your reins the correct length. Thumbs up, wrists straight and straight line from bit to elbow can wait until she’s 6.

[NancyM]

Lead line pony ride sessions can start early, but these aren’t “riding lessons”. To be able to ride safely, the kid has to have enough length in their legs to get around the horse’s barrel adequately… even just a small horse/pony. So usually, that’s around 6 or 7 years old. Their feet should be clear of the saddle flap, and they should have enough balance and strength to be able to keep their balance and position in the saddle. Until the kid is of this size, other sports can be pursued, sports that will help develop balance and strength.

[trubandloki]

@NancyM

To be able to ride safely, the kid has to have enough length in their legs to get around the horse’s barrel adequately… even just a small horse/pony.

This made me giggle.
There are lots of little humans who ride quite well on their amazing saintly horses/ponies with legs that do not come past the bottom of their saddles.
So I do not think leg length is really a requirement.

I do agree that for the little tiny kids in the age bracket the OP is talking about, any saddle time is more of a pony ride, than an actual lesson.

[MHM]

@StormyDay

You could also add competitive golfing to the list of expensive sports for kids, because if they want to be really good they need to go to a lot of different courses, plus the really high quality courses ($$).

Funnily enough, I remember a conversation years ago with somebody who was in the horse business, and he was talking about how his son was into golf, and how he could see the similarities between the two sports as they apply to kids.

I guess the one upside is if the kid loses interest in golf, you can just throw the clubs in the back of the closet. You don’t have to keep feeding them.

[MHM]

I believe Evan Coluccio was champion at the Washington International horse show in the small pony division at the age of six, winning over the other kids who were literally twice his age. Although he was certainly an unusual case, in that he had the family background in the horse business and he was phenomenally well mounted.

But it just shows that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to little kids and ponies.

[2bayboys]

I’ve been teaching a four-year-old for the past two months. Her 11-year-old sister takes lessons with me and the little one rides after for 10-15 mins. She has certainly improved in that time, as she started with side walkers and now can ride independently on the rail (I walk within a few steps of her), keeping her pony there when reminded, and she can steer simple circles in each direction. She can hold her jump position all the way down the long side of the ring and walk over poles. She picks up her reins and holds them correctly and she is led at the trot while she holds the pommel but no posting yet. Her balance and control of the pony has gotten so much better in the short amount of time she’s been riding that I definitely think the early start is beneficial if she chooses to keep up with it.

[stryder]

Here’s an interesting video on Pony Pros:

Horse Lessons | Pony Professionals | Bend

Everybody looks very happy!

[MHM]

Oh, boy. A couple of things in the video made my eye twitch. But they look like they’re having fun. Lol.

[candyappy]

All my kids were up on my old docile gelding before they could walk. Granted it was just leading the horse with another adult alongside but it was a regular routine for all of them.

None ever had a formal “lesson” but we had a good pony that they learned to ride on in our small dry lot while I watched and instructed them on how to get the pony to go, turn , stop etc… and above all else be kind and gentle with legs and hands.

We also did a lot of long walks around our 200 acre property with the kids taking turns on the pony while I had a lead rope on him. As they got older the lead was off and they graduated to a larger docile pinto.

[Rackonteur]

Saintly pony!
I was whispering “Heels heels heels” all through that ride!