Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

	When I was introducing my kids to riding I made what I came to feel as 
a bad mistake.  True, none of my kids ever really got bitten by the 
horse bug, but the mistake I made was hiring someone to come teach them 
on our riding horses in their own paddock.  I truly believe the kids 
would have had a better experience if I had taken them to a riding 
instructor who offered group lessons (a herd of kids!) on real lesson 
horses.  Maybe one of my 3 would have enjoyed it enough to continue, but 
at least the other two would have understood that other kids also learn 
to ride.  And they would have felt safer on a good lesson horse than 
they did on our horses who headed straight for the barn and wouldn't 
listen to their young riders no matter what the kid's did.
	IMHO, the most valuable horse in the world is the horse who teaches 
generations of kids to ride and love horses.
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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Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
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Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

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