Just a pony…..

Just a pony…..

We hear it all the time – need a bridle – it’s just for a pony, need a saddle – I don’t want to spend a lot – it’s just for a pony.

They’re not just a pony though, they’re our first ride, the start of a lifelong passion.   They put up with unsteady hands, unbalanced little people, shouts and screams of excitement.  They’re confidence givers and confidence testers, they’re best friends who listen to problems.  A pony is a reason to leave the house, a reason to not play computer games and a taster of what hard work and dedication feels like.

We all know about the research that has gone into correctly fitting bits, bridles, girths and saddles on horses.  Ponies have certainly earned their right to the same level of care and concern but very often the same products are not offered in pony sizes due to lack of demand but there are still things we can do to make them as comfortable as possible.

• Are the buckles of the cheek pieces and noseband in line with the corner of their eye?
• Is the browband the correct size?
• Could you change to a padded headpiece?
• Is the bit a suitable thickness for a pony mouth and is it the right size?
• Is the saddle being regularly well maintained?
• Is the girth comfortable and suitable with the saddle

We understand how tricky it can be to find saddlery items in the right dimensions for ponies, particularly bridles, your local saddler is a great resource and will be able to alter parts to get a great fit for your pony.

(The noseband has been lowered since this photo was taken) 

So what do we do –

We have 3 Section A ponies and finding bridles that are comfortable and good quality has been an experience.  We have ended up making bridles from various parts and altering them to fit. 

We use Wembley Pro padded headpieces and pony size cheek pieces (we then get the saddler to shorten the cheeks because even pony size is usually too big on an 11.2hh pony).  We find a pony size browband appropriate to what we are doing – a sparkly one for anything other than showing, but you may sometimes even need to go up to a cob size, depending on the shape of their head, the shape of the browband and how the manufacturer has sized them.

We use Neue Schule bits because they are beautiful quality and perfectly proportioned for little heads but there are stainless steel alternatives that come in pony proportions too.

You don’t need to kit your horse or pony out in head-to-toe luxury items but there are almost always little things we can do to make our precious pony’s lives as comfortable as possible, after all, we entrust them with the future of our sport - our children!

We have made a new section on our website, to take the stress of finding all them items that come in small person and little equine sizes. Just head to the Kids & Pony section to start browsing.