Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

Children learning to ride

From: Sandy

Jessica,

Just read your schedule for clinics this summer. Was wondering if you ever travel to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area? Wouldn't want to miss it if you do!

What is a good age to start children in formal lessons, besides their own aptitude for riding, and an appropriate horse, what should be considered?

Thanks much, Sandy

Hi Sandy! Thanks, and I'll let you know if I'm coming to your area.

Children love horses, it's true. And they usually want to ride long before they can do it safely. It's hard to say "Not until you're seven" but that's really a very good rule of thumb.

Children need a certain amount of mental and physical maturity before they can really learn to ride. I find that although there are a few exceptions, most children simply don't have the attention span, the understanding, and the physical size to ride before the age of 7 or 8. There is nothing more top-heavy than a baby or small child -- if you think that learning to balance on horseback is difficult for an adult, just imagine how much harder it would be if you had short legs and a (proportionately) very large, heavy head.

Younger children can learn about horses, watch others ride, and be given pony rides in which they sit (wearing an approved helmet OF COURSE!) on a pony and hold the neckstrap or saddle strap with both hands while an adult leads the pony. Anything much beyond that is really too risky unless the child is exceptionally tall and precocious.

It's hard for children to wait, but you can make the time interesting for them by teaching them about horses and how to behave around them. And when the time comes, why not enroll them in Pony Club?

Jessica

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