I am rolling over in my mind ..... having 'someone' trained for riding.

[Equuisize]

Could I please get some input and suggestions for any of you that have trained minis to ride....

How did you accomplished that?

What was the smallest mini you'd use?

I think I read one time that there was a conversion for size of mini and a maximum child size that could ride?

This is just a thought at this point. Totally based on the fact that my 18 month old grandson loves my mini sized

rocking horse, in the family room, and loves going to the fences to see his ponies. Loves merry-go-rounds and the

ponies in the pony rings at the zoo. His Dad and Uncle were serious horse people in their youth - I figure it's kind

of in his genetics to love horses. He of course, is not going to be turned loose to ride and will probably be wrapped

in cotton batting, if his mom has anything to say about it.

Any experience he has we want to be sure we've done everything to make it a happy & safe experience to foster his

interest in horses.

I 'think' we thru with breeding, after we finally got the long awaited colt Zakky at this time last year.

Lady is our biggest mare at about 35 - 36 inches. She is so calm and loves people.

We bought her solely with the intention of breeding her but life interrupted and we just haven't

gotten around to giving her a turn - if we're thru breeding then it's not going to happen.

If we changed our mind about breeding, having her broke to ride shouldn't be exclusive of her having a foal, right?

I just have so many questions in my mind about how it is accomplished, and do they remain safe with just occassional

riding - when no adult can get on them to keep them tuned up?

I've seen riding classes for little people at the shows in year's past and it just melts my heart.

Appreciate any input or experiences you've had with training minis to ride

 

[disneyhorse]

Sounds good, put the kid on the horse in a few months

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

Well if he isnt going to be turned loose to ride than it is much easier, most likely if you keep ahold of the mare and just lead or even lunge her with him on her back you will still have control. Lots of people that train to ride simply put the saddle on them, get them used to that, and generally find something around the same weight as the child to attach securely on the saddle to get them used to the weight. Ground drive to teach them to turn and whoa. Ground drive with the saddle on too. As for weight limits and such, Im not sure, just use good judgement, if your legs reach the ground, most likely not in the limit LOL! Some horses will let you know if its too much too, lots of minis/ponies have built in weight limits that they will act up if passed.

Breeding and riding are fine to do as long as the horse is used to being ridden before being bred and kept in decent shape.

 

[Kaitlyn]

The general rule of thumb I have heard with big horses is that a horse can safely carry 1/6 of it's weight, and no more. I'm not sure if this translates to miniatures, though. As Melinda said, I would make sure that the horse can calmly and obediently ground drive with tack and extra weight on its back to best imitate a child. I would even suggest some sort of dummy so that the horse becomes accustomed to seeing something child-sized on it's back. Once you put the child on, start slow and keep hold of the mare at first. Also, it would be very helpful if the horse knows how to lunge.

 

[Carolyn R]

In previous discussions on minis, the general rule of thumb is 20-25% of it's body weight. While I would not go over that recommendation, I think, given a sturdy build, these guys tend to be a bit hardier than we give them credit for, granted they are in decent shape and good health.

 

[Equuisize]

So with those weight ideas...at this point Miles is 22#, there are no issues for some time.

Getting to seem more like a worthwhile idea.

 

[Marty]

I've trained ponies in the past and recently been fooling around with Glory for my grandaughter. I started just very simple ground driving with two long leads attached to the cheek pieces on each side of the halter. We're turning and stopping and backing and ready to get bitted up and repeat all that. Whoa is important!

I'll get her used to a pony saddle and have a lot of banging of the stirrups on her sides and I'll find something for weight on the saddle that I can also throw up on her neck and on her butt......you know how great kids are in the saddle at first leaning every which way shifting their weight around so you do need to get the horse used to all kinds of stuff like that. We're taking it really slow. Good luck. Hope you have fun with this! I "think" I am LOL!

 

[Performancemini]

We have 3 of our minis that "ride" (leadline and longeline only). They range from 34-36 inches. All three were trained to drive, shown and drove on the trails too. Two have done a lot of parades and tons more. In other words, exposed to a lot of different things in the world. Those two are about as close to bombproof as you can get (and as we know-there is nothing 100% bombproof-but they come close). The nice thing about them driving and longing is we have taught the children, as they grew, the proper use of reins, etc. The ones that rode on the longeline were at the point of outgrowing a mini! But it got them ready for the next size up!

 

[Kim~Crayonboxminiatures]

My 36" mare does leadline rides at this point, and I am going to be working towards going off lead too. She loves it! I started by just leaning over her back myself and dangling an arm on each side. Honestly the Minis are so easy, they seems to take to kids like a duck to water! I put the kids on bareback first, and I would hold onto them so I could sweep them off quick if she fussed, but she will do anything for a treat so it wasn't an issue at all. She also is a very quiet mare, so I've never worried about her shying out from under a child. The worst that happened was she put her head down to graze, and the child had such a firm grip on the reins (attached to halter) that she somersaulted over her neck, it was pretty funny! I'm more careful over grass now.

And I always lunged or lead them around with saddle on before adding weight, but as I said she didn't fuss about any of it and loves the attention when the kids ride.

 

[mini horse mania]

We actually let our larger ones get used to the saddle..then tie 2 small tires to the horn for flopping,aroumd,and weight..one on each side...we scream,shake bags,umbrellas to desensitize,but it takes a while. They are lunged,ponied, bag of feed set on their back,then finally a child that has experience...we have had 100% success with,this method...no injuries in 10 years to mini or child.