This post may end up being pretty long, there's a bit of a story/rant here:
Three or four years ago I exercised a couple of horses for their owner, nothing regular, just every now and then. I have no idea how many horses she had, but there were at least seven grown horses, two yearlings, one foal and three mares in foal. I'm not sure how many were broken in, and those that were had been broken in by her, and then pretty much just sat in the paddock for the rest of their lives. Such was the story of a little grey mare I was asked to ride. I was told that she'd just been returned by a potential buyer, looking for a kid's pony, after a trial period and that they'd freaked her out and made her all anxious and squirelly. Fine, okay. Pony dances around and is difficult to saddle, won't stand still, doesn't listen to my aids very well, but she's okay... until the lady and her son, both on their horses, ride off and leave me alone with a strange, extremely herd-bound pony. She freaks out, to the point where I decide to get off before I'm thrown off. I then spend 45 minutes leading her on foot around the arena, because I wanted her to calm down and relax a bit before I took her home (maybe not the best training technique, but I was 15 and had mostly ridden school horses up to that point). Finally she calmed down a little, but she wasn't relaxed. I took her back, put her away, and left astounded that they'd been trying to sell her as a child's pony.
Flash forward to the start of this year. I'm looking for a horse to ride, I get in touch with a girl my age who needs someone to exercise a pony she's leased for her 6yo brother. I get out there and, guess who it is? The little grey mare from three years ago, and she was still a squirrelly little mess. The BO, who knew his stuff and was kindly helping this girl with her horses, believed she knew virtually nothing and had been broken in very badly. I got her walking calmly, trotting like a sane pony, worked her through all of her tantrums, made her easier to catch in the paddock, made her stand for mounting, got her better about bridling (although still not good) whilst all the time trying to undo the damage done by the leaser and her friend. They'd come out on weekends and do things like 'jump' her (i.e., run her pell-mell at obstacles and hope she'd cat-leap over them) and tear about on her to the point where I came in one day to be told, very casually, 'oh, she's not trotting'. What this actually meant was that when you asked for anything faster than a walk she'd try to bolt. That was a fun week or so. And remember, this girl somehow thought the pony was going to become a safe kid's mount within a matter of a few weeks.
I got fed up with putting so much effort into her, only to have the owner and owner's friend ride her once or twice, do something stupid with her and send her careening right back to square one. The last straw was when I went out there to find the leaser had brought out a timid little beginner rider and her mother out to try out this pony, and wanted them to lease her off her. I was furious - how fucking irresponsible can you be? So I left, and found myself another horse to ride. Leaser stopped riding her entirely about a week after I did, at first because she was overhorsed (by a 13hh pony) and then because they could no longer get a bridle on her at all. Pony went back to her owner/breeder. Breeder is still making periodic attempts to sell her, asking far, far more than she's worth and misleading and outright lying in her ads.
Someone is going to get hurt, and it's not going to be that pony's
fault. She's a sweet little thing, but the people in her life keep letting her down.
Three or four years ago I exercised a couple of horses for their owner, nothing regular, just every now and then. I have no idea how many horses she had, but there were at least seven grown horses, two yearlings, one foal and three mares in foal. I'm not sure how many were broken in, and those that were had been broken in by her, and then pretty much just sat in the paddock for the rest of their lives. Such was the story of a little grey mare I was asked to ride. I was told that she'd just been returned by a potential buyer, looking for a kid's pony, after a trial period and that they'd freaked her out and made her all anxious and squirelly. Fine, okay. Pony dances around and is difficult to saddle, won't stand still, doesn't listen to my aids very well, but she's okay... until the lady and her son, both on their horses, ride off and leave me alone with a strange, extremely herd-bound pony. She freaks out, to the point where I decide to get off before I'm thrown off. I then spend 45 minutes leading her on foot around the arena, because I wanted her to calm down and relax a bit before I took her home (maybe not the best training technique, but I was 15 and had mostly ridden school horses up to that point). Finally she calmed down a little, but she wasn't relaxed. I took her back, put her away, and left astounded that they'd been trying to sell her as a child's pony.
Flash forward to the start of this year. I'm looking for a horse to ride, I get in touch with a girl my age who needs someone to exercise a pony she's leased for her 6yo brother. I get out there and, guess who it is? The little grey mare from three years ago, and she was still a squirrelly little mess. The BO, who knew his stuff and was kindly helping this girl with her horses, believed she knew virtually nothing and had been broken in very badly. I got her walking calmly, trotting like a sane pony, worked her through all of her tantrums, made her easier to catch in the paddock, made her stand for mounting, got her better about bridling (although still not good) whilst all the time trying to undo the damage done by the leaser and her friend. They'd come out on weekends and do things like 'jump' her (i.e., run her pell-mell at obstacles and hope she'd cat-leap over them) and tear about on her to the point where I came in one day to be told, very casually, 'oh, she's not trotting'. What this actually meant was that when you asked for anything faster than a walk she'd try to bolt. That was a fun week or so. And remember, this girl somehow thought the pony was going to become a safe kid's mount within a matter of a few weeks.
I got fed up with putting so much effort into her, only to have the owner and owner's friend ride her once or twice, do something stupid with her and send her careening right back to square one. The last straw was when I went out there to find the leaser had brought out a timid little beginner rider and her mother out to try out this pony, and wanted them to lease her off her. I was furious - how fucking irresponsible can you be? So I left, and found myself another horse to ride. Leaser stopped riding her entirely about a week after I did, at first because she was overhorsed (by a 13hh pony) and then because they could no longer get a bridle on her at all. Pony went back to her owner/breeder. Breeder is still making periodic attempts to sell her, asking far, far more than she's worth and misleading and outright lying in her ads.
[Pony] is a beautiful little mare. She has been broken for 18 months and has done trail riding, arena work and jumping. She has attended pony club and a gymkhana with a 7 year old rider. She is very gentle with children and has a soft snaffle mouth. Suited to a confident 6 year old up for independent riding, can be ridden by beginners on the lead. Easy to catch and float, has never been shod (barefoot). For sale to loving family.
