Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Very good points, thanks Angie for sharing your knowledge and 
experience!!!  Maybe what kids need is just some sort of pommel to hang 
on to while riding bareback.
Laney

rides2far@xxxxxxxx wrote:
> I used to be known as "the pony lady" around here and loved having lots
> of kids riding in the yard at all times. My experience is that there's no
> worse saddle than the 12" western. The stirrups won't take up short
> enough for a kid with a butt that small. Once they can reach the stirrups
> the rest of it doesn't fit. (Exception might be the string bean type
> child)  
>
> Children are a different proportion than adults. An adult is "7 heads
> tall" a child is anywhere from 3 heads as an infant, to about 4 & 5 heads
> tall as a small child. Their legs are very short compared to their upper
> body, that's why they fall on their head...they have large heads in
> proportion to their body, which is the reason it's even more important
> that they wear helmets.
>
> The 12" western we had had a tree that would fit a small pony, but when
> we sat it on our Appaloosa that was stock build it just rested on the
> edges of the tree. That would give a tiny child possilbly highter per
> square inch pressure than an adult with a saddle that fit.  Also, those
> saddles tend to be made very cheaply. The rigging is often just nailed to
> the tree. I've even seen a new cinch held by one rivet. :-P
>
> When my kids were small they did pretty well on a horse riding my 14" OF
> Express. The pommell is high enough to hold onto if necessary and you can
> take the stirrups up like an English saddle. Make SURE you use safety
> stirrups. I'd definately go with cages since sometimes kids are too light
> to trigger the safety release on an English saddle.
>
> Also, there used to be a synthetic English saddle that had a handle on
> front for little kids. That might be an option.  I really didn't have a
> lot of cash to buy a 2nd good saddle when my daughter started but I
> thought, "How can I expect her to learn to ride well on a saddle I sure
> couldn't ride on!"  So...we found her a used OF.
>
> Angie
>
>
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