Possible share pony, what do you do 1st visit?

minkersmum

Active Member
Aug 4, 2009
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There is a possible share available to me, I know a lovely woman at the RS and her daughter has a pony elsewhere but she is very busy with work and not got enough time to ride him regularly.

I went to meet him with the mum and we just took him a walk in hand. We were going to brush him but he isn't so keen on standing around so she suggested a walk.

They have had him years and i also know at least 4 people who have ridden this pony. All say he is lovely, non spooky but that he is fast. My RI says he can get quite excited when he canters.

So i am going over tonight to meet his owner and i guess ride him. BUT what will they expect me to do? If i don't canter on him are they immediately going to think i am not a capable rider.

I just like to take my time and get to know a horse. I am not scared of cantering at all but having heard he 'hates' schooling but loves hacking. I am thinking 'how will he be if i canter in the school,'hates schooling, excitable in canter, is it a recipe for disaster or am i getting pre trial nerves <reaches for the rescue remedy>

Help!!!
 
Silvers last owner didnt even expect me to bring her in from the field, let alone ride her!!!!!!

Just say that as you've not ridden him before you'd like to go out in company or have some pointers while riding to get to know him etc as never ridden him before
 
Silvers last owner didnt even expect me to bring her in from the field, let alone ride her!!!!!!

Just say that as you've not ridden him before you'd like to go out in company or have some pointers while riding to get to know him etc as never ridden him before


Just asked my horsey friend on the phone and she says she would def expect WTC:eek:.

There is no one to hack out with and apparently he is better on his own than in company.

I think he will be fine. I will just dose up on the rescue remedy and brave it!

wish my RS was coming with me as she would just be like 'ah get on it'll be fine':D
 
Well if you hack out, then surely no one will know :p ;)

I think its unfair to expect that - unless you were expecting them to compete your horse/bring it on etc - however for a leisure purpose, I would only want you to be compentant on the ground, and sympathetic/reasonalbye balanced as a rider. The rest would be based on the horses needs - if the pony needed to be ridden a certain way, I would look for certain things (eg. Silver needs a firm rider, but not one that boots/pulls about as she will vanish into the sunset), if it was a fast horse I would probably want a quiet rider, and if a plod then someone confident to get it going - but I would never expect to see WTC for leisure - you can see the type of rider as soon as they ask needy to walk on/when mounting etc.

You will be fine i'm sure - perhaps just explain that you've not loaned before/for a while depending on how they are with you :p, and your not sure what they want you to do with the horse for the first ride - its then in their court, so if they wont say we want WTC, they can't complain if you dont. If they say its up to you, and your in a school - I would do lots of WT and halt transitions, circles, serpentines, changes of rein to get him listening - see how you go and if you want to canter go for it, but as an owner I would rather have someone work horse well in WT than dreadfully at WTC :)
 
Totally agree with popularfurball ... I know that if it was a fast horse that I would as an owner be happier with someone who was a quiet, fairly competent rider than someone who just WANTED to jump on and do the fast stuff. If they are aware that you know 4 people who have ridden this horse and all have said that they are fast at canter, then if you're not confident don't do it.

When I went to see my share horse I played with him on the ground first, grooming etc, and then (a bit stupidly I admit) got on and did WTC. TBH, if I was to go see another share horse, I would ask the owner to ride first and then got on and do what I feel comfortable with (in my defence my last share horse was a complete plod and I could tell that straightaway lol).
 
Have just had a jumping lesson on a very bouncy cob at the RS so hoping that the fast pace will just seem so smooth i won't notice the speed;)

I think it'll be in the school to try him but he hates schooling and she is just looking for someone to hack him out.

I told my RI i was all nervous/excited and i asked 'will i be fine?' to which she replied a definite 'yes, absolutely'. i trust her. Plus the women who owns him, its her mother i know and she is lovely. I doubt she would say try him if she thought it'd be a disaster.:cool:

She just rang me to say her daughter is running late so delaying it an hour. Its pouring down here too and i am all PMTish. Another hour to let the nerves grow:rolleyes::D Why are my nerves always worse when i have PMT?? Joys of being a women:eek::rolleyes:

Fingers crossed we gel.

Will report back.
 
My first share, I didnt even ride the first time. It was pouring with rain so I just went up and met the owner and the horses.
There were two horses and I rode one in walk, trot and canter. However, the second horse, I only did walk and trot as I did not feel confident cantering him (he was western too, I had nover rode western before).

My current share, Mac, I did do walk, trot, canter but his owner also gave me a proper lesson and I felt confident. If I had not felt confident, I would not have done it!

I think you just need to do whatever you feel happiest doing but above all, enjoy yourself!

Oh... and I should add that I saw all these horses being ridden by the owners first.
 
When i went to try pops out. I met her over the stable door, watched Emily ( poppets mum) take her up, hop on and watched her ride, then i had a good ( she wa sa bit of a shock and a big change from a poddy RS pony, saying that she is part arab/welsh) I asked if i could take her out and emily tacked up another pony and i had poppet, she was great and emily said on the way back "You have soft hands, thats good" I had her on trial for 6 weeks and spent about 4 of them weeks in the school ( was a bit of a wimp hacking by myself at that time:D) Two years down the line , we can hack out by ourselves pretty much anywere, tracks, roads, school, woods

love it
 
when i tried Jen ( i had her on loan before i bought her) i couldn't even get her to canter :eek:

Fortunatly her owner knew how lazy she was and was happy with the rest of my riding etc i also know the YO from having a horse there before.

Just do what your comfortable with, after all if your not comfortable on the horse or they want you to do anything your not comfortable with he might now be for you, so theres no point scaring yourself.

Good luck :)
 
Depends what they want for the pony. If they just want someone to hack and let it go out and about then personally, I wouldn't be too bothered if you only walked and trotted but if you want/ they want you to do more on it then yes, i would expect you to try it at all paces and probs a jump.

Whenever i've tried something (admittedly only to buy) either for myself, or someone else, i tend to ask to bring it in, brush and tack up, watch someone else ride then walk, trot, canter and jump if it can/ will. Some of the time have also gone back to have a hack out and see what it's like at a gallop and cantering out and about :)
 
when i went to try out humphrey as a share, the owner said he is a bit strong in canter so we went to epsom downs to see if i would get carted by him, i managed a reasonably ok canter without disappearing over the horizon so that was fine.

he was 20 plus at that time.....keen as mustard

but that was the only thing she wanted to be sure of, as she knew he was a bit strong at canter particularly when he expected it. i usually never cantered him where he expected to canter, and he was fine. he carted me a couple of times on other occasions, but at least i knew what to expect!

i would just do what you feel comfortable with.
 
With my sharer, I wanted WTC. This is because my pony is absolutely not a novice ride, and I wanted to be sure that any sharer was confident and competent. For their safety as much as anything else. However I was prepared to allow any sharer a couple of weeks to get to know him so he/she felt confident. As it happened, first person to try him was an RI! :D
She adores him and rides him beautifully (as you'd expect!)
 
with my sharer, the first day she just came and groomed because Rosie had seen the Chiro the day before. Then a few days later she came for a hack, we just did walk and trot. I was happy to go at whatever pace suited her as we were always hacking out together - but if the sharer was going to be riding independently from me then i would want to see them do everything ideally.
 
When I first met Shads (shared him before buying him) I met his owner at the yard and we brought him in from the field, groomed and tacked him up. She then left me to take him in the school while she went and mucked out etc (not sure I'd be quite so laid back myself!) but it made it less nerve racking not being watched! We just walked, trotted and eventually had a quick canter - I wasn't used to his bounce at this point!! :) I then took him for a short hack around the block.

I suppose it depends on the horse and the owner at the end of the day. I wasn't expecting to ride him on my first visit, but brought my hat in case - just as well!

Hope it works out well for you! :D
 
Well!! I didn't ride at all!! It was wet and it was late when we got there. His owner is lovely and it was worth going just to meet her. She said she was actually happy for me just to come up and ride now and get on with it but her mum stepped in and said she should really be there the first time i ride him!!

I really like her and hopefully i will get on ok with ponio! Thinking in the meantime i might suggest i go up and bring him in a few times for a brush to help get to know each other.

Only thing is he isn't keen to stand still for long. Must look for tips to keep him happy whilst i brush him that don't involve food as he has a bit of a belly at the mo so don't want to add to that!

Thanks for all your replies!
 
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