>>> I agree with you completely and then I am going to confess that I just >>> asked my grandson to do the first few rides on Yrsa. The difference here is that Gabriel is 17 and a better, more balanced rider than I am and he probably weighs more. He's certainly more agile and athletic than I am.l I don't have him train, although he did a great job with a Welsh pony I gave him several years ago. I just let him be the first person who sits on the ponies and the first person they move forward with. >
Using a young person can make sense in a situation like you describe. I would bet your grandson has been riding much of his life - certainly for many years? There's certainly something to the first rider being an agile, balanced rider. I'd rather that the horses not be backed by a really large person the first time, but there's always the trade-off between all the factors: weight, balance, senstitivity/awareness, agility, calmness and experience. Emily would probably have been ok to have done the first rides by the time she was 13 or MAYBE even 12, but we didn't start any horses about that time, and I wouldn't have allowed her to do it for anyone else, for horses I didn't know very well. She was a phenomonally good rider though, and a very sharp and sensible kid who'd had really good and sensitive training. Ironically, I probably wouldn't have wanted her to do it between the ages of 13 and 16, as her hormones kicked in. Gosh knows, parents get awfully stupid about that time, and starting a horse would be no time for a "family situation" involving a petulant teenager! Kids hit adolescence at varying ages, and to varying degrees of rotten-ness, but that would be a factor I'd consider. Unfortunately, I'd say that most of the kids that are finally getting enough experience to be the first rider up about the time that adolesence strikes, and by the time that has settled, they are essentially adult sized. Karen Thomas, NC
