IH Kids Top Tips

Did you know that one of the best things you can do to help your pony is to lead him properly? If you are his leader, he will look to you to decide where you are going and will trust you when you say something is OK. Practice leading with a loose line, with a confident walk and with lots of good forwards energy. Think of someone you know who’s a good leader, and pretend to be them. It could be your teacher, a team captain or someone from the telly.

Remember, you don’t need to look back to make sure your pony’s following you. Just GO and be confident that he will!



And when you can lead in a straight line anywhere, you can practice leading through shapes and in scary places. Then you will be building up real trust. 

Why?

When things don’t go quite as you want, how often do you ask yourself “why”? If your pony won’t stand still, if he doesn’t like having his ears touched, if he won’t go over a jump – Why?

We at IH Kids believe there is always a reason why and that if you are an intelligent pony owner or rider, you will ask yourself why at least once a week, or even every day! When you ask yourself that, you will start to see that your pony is not just being silly or naughty, he is saying “I don’t like that” or “that hurts” or “that’s too hard for me”.

So here’s a “why” for you. Why is it important to know “why”? Well, because only when we know why a pony has a problem with something can we start to help him not have that problem. If it’s because he doesn’t like something, we can teach him that it is in fact ok, if it hurts we can find a way to make it not hurt, and if it’s too hard, we can make it easier.

When you try hard for your pony, your pony can try hard for you. And when you are trying hard for each other, then you have a real unbeatable partnership!

Learn more about how to lead your pony using the Monty Roberts Dually Halter!