city girl
Chillin' with the herd
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2009
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- 19
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We have two sweet ponies that we got on a free lease from a friend who owns a lesson barn. Bugsy is a little sorrel Shetland, who was a naughty lesson pony -- bucked kids off, was impossible to catch, etc, and our friend finally gave up on him, and offered him to us on a free lease.
He and my 7-year old daughter were a perfect match. She is a tough little girl, and they quickly formed an understanding. She has spent the last year bombing around on him. She takes him over homemade jumps and canters bareback on him, and has had a ball with him.
But the other pony is another story. Jasmine is a black and white paint American Shetland, and is a total alpha. She has gone butt-to-butt with several horses bigger than she is, and always comes out on top. But she is also so confident and friendly. When you call her in the pasture, she trots over right away. Whenever anyone arrives at our house (or if we oversleep and don't get her her hay on time), she lets out a big trumpeting whinny. We love her, but no one rides her anymore.
My 11-year old son used to ride her, and it finally got to be too much for him. She pulls out all the pony tricks. Bucks, kicks. (not enough to unseat anyone, just enough to make it no fun to ride her). You want to go forward? I'm going backward! Her most recent trick was to drop and roll, while a kid is on her. That trick finally worked, and my son hasn't ridden her since, except for pony rides, with someone leading her.
But now my seven-year-old (almost 8) is sadly outgrowing her sweet little pony, and I'm thinking of letting her work on Jasmine. I think we've established that kicking and forcing don't work on her. I was thinking of trying natural horsemanship and joining up, etc.
Wondering if anyone has had experience or success re-training ponies. Can it be done?
He and my 7-year old daughter were a perfect match. She is a tough little girl, and they quickly formed an understanding. She has spent the last year bombing around on him. She takes him over homemade jumps and canters bareback on him, and has had a ball with him.
But the other pony is another story. Jasmine is a black and white paint American Shetland, and is a total alpha. She has gone butt-to-butt with several horses bigger than she is, and always comes out on top. But she is also so confident and friendly. When you call her in the pasture, she trots over right away. Whenever anyone arrives at our house (or if we oversleep and don't get her her hay on time), she lets out a big trumpeting whinny. We love her, but no one rides her anymore.
My 11-year old son used to ride her, and it finally got to be too much for him. She pulls out all the pony tricks. Bucks, kicks. (not enough to unseat anyone, just enough to make it no fun to ride her). You want to go forward? I'm going backward! Her most recent trick was to drop and roll, while a kid is on her. That trick finally worked, and my son hasn't ridden her since, except for pony rides, with someone leading her.
But now my seven-year-old (almost 8) is sadly outgrowing her sweet little pony, and I'm thinking of letting her work on Jasmine. I think we've established that kicking and forcing don't work on her. I was thinking of trying natural horsemanship and joining up, etc.
Wondering if anyone has had experience or success re-training ponies. Can it be done?