Ponying yearling for the first time

Question

I was going to pony my 15 month old gelding today, but i want to make sure i stay as safe as possible. He know how to lead, back, turn stop. He is pretty spooky with new, stange objects. The horse i will be riding has never ponyed a spooky yearling before, but has ponied 1 or 2 adult horses. How do i make this as safe as possible? Do i dally the lead rope or just hold it w/o a dally? What do i do if my yearling spooks big time at something?

Answer 1

Your other horse should be dependable and quiet. Don't dally the rope or wrap it around your hand. Use a 10 ft cotton lead and wear gloves. You may want to put a light chain on his nose ( or even use a bosal) in case he turns out to be a puller. Make sure it's looped and snapped under the halter with the lead attached to it. Rig it so it does not tighten  when you pull, it's just to give you a little extra muscle if you need it. Keep his head by your leg and don't give him more than a foot or so of slack. If he gets too freaky, use the pony horse to push or pull him around. You may want to have a buddy to go with you to sandwich him in. But if things get bad and you have to let him go for your own safety, remember they rarely like to leave their buddies and chances are he won't go too far. Keep him in familier surroundings close to home for the first few times, even if all you do is go back and forth on the trail for a few hundred yards until you are all comfortable

Answer 2

I would do some ground work with him first before I try to pony him.  You might be aksing for an accident.

Answer 3

you would be safer on the ground with the yearling, if you have a friend that can come over than ask him or her to ride your horse infront of you and you can walk a nice distance behind your horse just so that if the horse spooks then he wont hit your yearling, but personally i would walk your yearling by hand, not while your on horseback, if you falloff and lose control of your yearling and your horse goes away then you are done, so i would just do what i told you to and i hope that everything works out!!!!

good luck!! and congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...

Answer 4

when i ponyed a a yearling i had someone with me and i did it in a small arena and if he or she spooks i let go and let my other person get it and try again until he is good and then always end on a good note and jst practice but  i would do alot of ground work in where you are going to pony and then after he is comfortable you can pony and you dont want to be nervous and i would wear gloves so you dont get rope burn:)

Answer 5

This takes coordination on your part but will help later. Try leading both horses, making sure the yearling stays by the saddle or hip of the lead horse. Or tie the yearling to the saddle and lead the other horse on your left side so the yearling still feels like he is following you. You could have a friend help, but I don't have anyone available and it works. When you start to pony do not tie the yearling, hold the rope in your hand with your pinky on the near side to the horse so if he pulls you won't get as bad of a burn. Leave the lead long enough so if he wants to dance around he won't feel restricted, but short enough that he cannot get caught in it. Start in a round pen or arena so if he freaks out and gets loose it would be ok.    

Answer 6

It will help a lot and will be safer if you have a ground person to start out with, since your pony horse isn't all that experienced with youngsters.  We don't ever dally when we pony, but we're not riding western, but to start with I don't think it would be a good idea to dally.

Answer 7

Never tie the yearling to your saddle, you need to hold it loosely in your hand (in a figure 8, never wrapped around your hand) and keep it on the side that your horse is being used to ponying off of. This is, actually, a very good way to get a horse to being led around and to being confident away from his pasture/pen but the first thing you need to do is find a nice safe arena and begin by working there. If you cannot control your horse well within the arena, forget about it, you shouldn't be trying this.

If the two horses work together and he seems comfortable you can begin by doing a little bit of leading outside of the arena, still in a safe area. If I were you I'd never take him on a trail or too far from home, just for safety reasons, but there isn't a reason you can't pony him around areas he is secure in, then maybe go to spots he's not sure of.

As for backing, turning, etc. When you turn, have the horse on the outside. When you stop, your yearling should have the groundwork to know "Whoa" and should have the arena training to stop with your horse.

If he freaks out big time? Hold onto him as long as it remains safe. Do not have the horse close enough that he can rear up next to you, but if he begins to freak out too badly and you are in danger, the only safe thing to do is let him go. If he begins to freak out, speak calmly, stop your horse and wait to see if he calms down. If he doesn't, again let him go. The same applies to the arena, but the arena is a safer area to let him go in.

Good luck.