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Joni started out on a great pony.  She got him when she was 1 year old, started in lead line classes.    Ended up riding this pony until she was about 5, then moved on to Joel's old QH mare.  I bought a sythetic english pony saddle for him. I think I ordered it from Dover or State Line Tack.   He was the typical round pony.  It seemed to fit well, and she rode him on 15-18 mile conditioning rides behind me and Rose at Bankhead.  When he couldn't keep up, (he was an older pony when I bought him, 18 yrs.) We then used that saddle on the QH mare, but she too had a round build.  I still have that saddle, it is soooo cute. 

 

Jody

 

PS......  Just wanted you to know, that pony is living in Bankhead, I had bought him from Charles Borden and he took him back....That little sucker once won a 25 mile LD at Bankhead against Arabs.  Charles' daughter, Summer was riding him.  I know it is true, because I was at the ride when it happened.  He was one tough pony.  Now, Charles' granddaughter has him.  :))  And told Charles that her goal is to beat Joni...she is cute and 5 years old !!!

rides2far@xxxxxxxx wrote:

> >, but I > am wondering for those of you with kids on horseback, does the
>
> > conventional cheap pony saddle work in 10-15 mile (training) rides? 
> > Does the smaller weight make saddle fit less of a problem? And has 
> > anyone use a breast collar on a small saddle? My son's cheap saddle 
> > fits his 11 hand pony fairly well, but it only has the front girth 
> > and it tends to slip 3-4 inches off center,
>
> You don't mention how old or how tall your son is. I used to buy
> ponies...enough to keep all the neighborhood kids riding with mine.
>  We
> struggled a lot with making saddles usable. The big problem with pony
> saddles is that they are perfectly scaled down adult saddles...but kids
> are NOT perfectly scaled down adults! Children have short legs, compared
> to their torsos and head size. As an artist, we're taught that an adult
> is 7 heads tall, but a kid is about 5. When a kid's butt fits that 12"
> pony saddle, he can't reach the stirrups. By the time the stirrup
> leathers are right, the seat's too small. If you took off the fenders you
> could adjust the stirrups right for a tiny kid, but then there's a safety
> problem. The little tapaderos they put on dont' give them room to put
> more than the end of their toe in the stirrup, but if you take them off
> they could get dragged. I'd love for *somebody* out there to invent a
> proper saddle for a 7 to 10 year old!
>
> If I had a small child I might just take off the western leathers and
> hang English. English safety stirrups would solve the
>  stirrup problem. We
> tried putting a 12" pony saddle on our horse and the saddle fit was
> AWFUL. If the kid's 10 or so and hanging over the back of the saddle it
> really digs in back there. I ended up getting my daughter an English
> saddle to ride her 44" pony with, then when she started riding the 13
> hand one we just put the Ortho-Flex on him. Like you, it was for short
> rides and since it was an Express we could shorten the stirrups enough.
> We had more need for cruppers than breast collars with the ponies since
> they tended to have round barrels. On the English saddle you could just
> put a big nail crosswise underneath and attach to it. On the western you
> could have a ring attached. If that saddle's turning the pony may just be
> round with no withers. Sounds like a good pony for riding
> bareback...always my first choice with ponies. :-)
>
> Angie
>
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