Young Rider

Question
My wife is an experienced rider and introduced our daughter to horses at a very young age.  Now that she is nearly five my wife feels that she is old enough to ride a horse without us leading her.  I am extremely protective and somewhat uneasy with this direction.  For a nearly five year old, my daughter has exhibited abilities beyond her years.  The horses she rides are a small Shetland pony and a 10 year old quarter horse, both of which are fairly quiet.  Taking all this into consideration, at what age do you recommend a rider be given full reign for the first time?  How long should we be using a round pen before moving into an arena and finally into an open pasture?

Answer
Hi Doug,

First of all congrats on introducing your daughter to horses, what a wonderful family event to share. As far as when she is ready to move up, here are a few things I look for.

First and formost the horse, you've got to have a horse that will stop and respond, under all circumstances, something that isn't barn sour and if your daughter were to start to slide off she'd stop. I'd also want a horse that would stop on your voice command, even if you were on the ground or on another horse, in case of emergency.

As far as age and riding ability goes, depends on the child. I was showing in 6-8 classes a day, walk, trot and lope at age 6. But I had great balance, always wore a helmet and a push button bomb proof horse. Can your daughter ride at all gaits, reverse, back, etc., in the round pen? Does she need to hold the horn for balance? Can she ride one handed and do some stretching exercises on the horse at a walk (great way to check her balance). If the answer is yes, then I'd say she's ready to start. I would start by ponying her outside the round pen off another horse, use a lunge line, so she can go pretty far away from you, but so that if something happens, you can control the situation. This will work great in a large arena or pasture and allow you to test the waters a bit and still give your daugther the freedom of steering and controlling the horse on her own.

I hope this helps and wish all of you many happy rides together.

Jen