First horse/pony

[Beth]

My first ever pony was Merrylegs.  I was 9 and regularly hanging around and getting under everyone's feet at my local riding school. She was a little grey Welsh mountain pony, only 4 when I first rode her. Was proper Thelwell, first hack out we went backwards out of the yard, and she could do a class stop/spin/drop shoulder combo which dropped me a lot to begin with.  I fell off at my first gymkhana a silver jubilee celebration event.  The starter blew a whistle to start the race, and she reared straight up and I didn't have a hope. She settled down and I suppose I got better at it, was devastated when she went up for sale, even more so when I heard she'd been sold,  What I didn't know was that my parents had bought her but we were going on holiday and they were going to wait till we got back. Only I was so inconsolable on holiday  they ended up telling me...and then I was a pain till we got back. Happy days.... I suspect she had been treated badly before, the RS got her in a job lot.  She never liked men and was always quite headshy. We moved to a farm when I was 11 and Merry came too.  She had a baby (Bod) when I got too big for her, and eventually went on loan as a lead rein pony. What a character she was, taught me loads.

Who was your first pony? Or first one you rode? 

[winnieandben]

My first pony was a Welsh sec A palamino gelding called Sunny Boy 12hh of    Taught me to sit spins, rears and shoulder drops    He could jump anything and I always wished he could have grown in height with me. 
My older sister had a pony and Sunny was our neighbours he came to live at ours to keep my sisters pony, Mara a shetland x Highland (she taught me to sit bucks  )  company then the neighbours neglected and abandoned him so he became ours and stayed til the day he was PTS at 34 years old.

I loved both of them and rode them well into my teens, even though my feet just about touched the ground (I was tall but skinny in those days so didnt weigh much)  I carried on the horse bug and moved onto horses my sister gave up and went to Uni. 

[Naiad]

This is my first every pony ride somewhere in Ontario, Canada. This was the 1970s hence the cool dude with the crazy hair and ciggy hanging out of his mouth. Gotta love the 70s.  



Pony camp!! This was Fonzy, my pony for the week at camp!! And those were my first ever pair of blue jeans - my Mum took me shopping to buy them for pony camp.   Yes, flare jeans the first time they appeared in the fashion scene (they've come in and out of style since then!)

[whisper's mum]

Oooh, almost too many "first ponies" to count! That was the trouble with not having my first until I was 25! My real first, as in owned by me, was Whisper  and she was the 12.3hh pony I wish I'd owned when I was 10!    

The first pony I saw as "mine" was a 13.2hh NF called Moody, who belonged to a family friend and I rode him for a few years, before they gave him to their cousin and broke my heart.     I then started riding at a riding school and "my" second pony was a 13.2hh welsh pb, but she was put down with colic.   I then "adopted" a 15.2hh cob mare... but she was sold, followed by a 12.2hh welshie ... who was sold, followed by a 13.2hh NF... who was sold. Getting the pattern?   I did ride many other horses and ponies during that 6 or 7 years, but at any one time, I always had "mine".

I then started riding a friend's ponies and had a fabulous time riding Edward, a 12.2 Dartmoor and Roanie, a 14.1hh heinz 57. We had fantastic fun until I went off to uni and the ponies were retired through old age.

After uni, I returned to the riding school and rode a 14.2hh Standardbred ... until she was sold.   The last riding school horse I adored, and the only horse I ever really wish I had bought, was a 16.3hh TB by Miners Lamp, called Podge. He was sold too.   1yr later, I bought the pony I had always dreamed of.  

Is it any wonder I have collected horses ever since? I don't think I could stand another being taken away from me ... although I obviously do always have that fear with Drummer, since he isn't mine.  

[winnieandben]

 Helen, thats a really sad pony history 

[Debbie]

My first "pony" at the age of 10 was a 15.1     IDx called Trelawny,he was jet black with a white blaze.He came from the Horse and pony sanctuary at Manaton on Dartmoor,he wasnt quite ready at 27yrs old to retire   so Mrs Phillips who owns the Sanctuary rang us to see if we would like him to loan  
  I fell in love the minute i saw him and though was quiet at first the more "experienced" i got the more his character came out  
We had 7 yrs together and he died peacefully in his sleep one evening,i will always cherish my first love  

[whisper's mum]

 That's lovely, Debbie. 

Thanks for the hugs, Janet.   I practically lived at the riding school- every weekend and holiday was spent there for years and I did love it, but it was incredibly hard having the pony I thought of as "mine" sold from under me without warning... I never even knew they for sale, infact I suspect they weren't as such, and were just sold when an offer came that couldn't be refused.    Podge was sold a couple of months before my wedding and I was in Worcester with my mum doing wedding shopping when I saw a copy of "Your Horse" in  a shop and the title made me cry. My mum thought I had wedding nerves and started to give me a talk about how it was perfectly natural.   I didn't dare tell her I was crying over yet another lost horse at the age of 24.  

[ChrissieW]

  No first pones for me.....I didn't start riding till I was 11.      First sit on a horse was on our neighbours little Welshie, who I am now told was only about 12hh, but I AM SURE was at least 17hh.....          Owner was my older sister's best friend and she brought him home one day and stuck him in our back garden!     They dragged me onto him and took us onto the little green outside our house and cantered him in hand - I was soooooo scared and they thought it really funny!!   

Mind you must have struck a cord as I was determined to ride after that!     My sister (5 years older) had a Highland when I was about 13 who I adored, but I didn't really learn to ride properly till I was 16+ and got my first own horse when I was 21 and bought her myself.

Sadly I lost her as a 10 year old, 6 years after buying her which absolutely shattered my heart, but Minnie has more than made up for that. 

[cirocco]

I paid £350 for this 7yr old welsh x sec C for our youngest daughter when she was about 13. I saw him advertised in farmers classified, and cycled from Bolton to Crew to have a look. he was over weight [ yes another ] and was going to Beeston the following day, so that was that. We hired a trailer and went to get him.. Nice quiet little pony was a phsyco, reared, and was totally wild.  ummm...

Anyhow, daughter rode him mostly bareback with a headcollar and lead rein for  two years, then she got fed up with the whole thing, so he became mine. I lost him at 21 after we had done everything.
He was ridden M&M ch three times, his first ch rosette being given by Tony Dampier.
He qual for Royal lancs, but as he didn't travel we didn't go. He was loaned to the french pony club for jumping, and did 5 clear rounds.
I did all the ridden classes with him, including Jumping, he could jump like a stag, and would jump anything.
He won workers three times, novice and open jumping, did endurance rides, and we went hunting.
He was my friends ride when i bought william, and she rode him for years, even though her MS was getting worse, he always looked after her.
I broke him to drive when he was 17. 

[Torsornin]

What a lovely post. Such nice and naughty ponies we have had to deal with.

I was lucky. Technically my first horse was a gift from my parents - but we sold him some 2 weeks after they bought him as he was totally unsuitable. So my real first horse in my book came a few years later

Rebel. A bay gelding of undetermined origin brave as all hell. Would jump anything, climb anything, trail ride alone with me for HOURS. Mostly kept me safe hahaha.

He started to refuse jumps, didnt know what his problem was..... Thought he was just getting soured and grumpy. Then one day he just went lame. Turns out it was navicular - I was DEVASTATED. (those refused jumps were probably the first indication that he was hurting :(  I wish someone would have told me he was 'off') I tried to keep him, rode him gently at the walk with very little trot. But he got miserable. Even more so when I started riding Poco. who actually WAS a pony (I downsized lol) He started attacking Poco, and turning away from me, no matter how much attention I paid to him

I ended up giving him to a lady that was frightened of her own horse, and needed a gentle horse to brush and for the occasional trail ride at a walk.  I still miss him to this day.

Poco was my second equine - but I had him before Rebel. He was "unrideable" and had bucked my mother off and she got scared and stopped trying. So while she was in the hospital for surgery and Rebel was lame. I got Poco out and hopped on him and he was gold! He was quick and sorta scrambled at first but as I took lessons on him he became a super pony. We won many ribbons and everyone would come to the ring when it was our turn to jump in gamblers choice. He jumped the 4+' standard at a gallop one time cause we drifted a bit to far (I closed my eyes and just stayed in position hahaha)
I even had someone come up to me one time with an open check book offering me any price (10,000 dollars they asked?) I was so proud to turn them down He had been abused before mum had collected him. He was mine.

Then I had Dan (who was born on our farm) - still have him now - all 16hh of  fun. And then I bought Mae, inherited Rose when mum died. Then this year Mae had Raeven

No more for a while 

Good thread - I am enjoying others first pony stories

[crdodgeon]

Still not got my own horse, but Ryan was my first real love. 
My riding history was pony rides as a tiddler, a very pathetic attempt at riding when we were in Edinburgh with mum holding the lead rein and me going 'stop stop it's dangerous I want to get off!'... er... at trot...
Dear gods, I was rubbish! No rhythm, couldn't 'get' trot at all. Happy to be led about the lanes and that was about it.

I took up riding again when I was about 12 or so, and that's where I met Ryan. I suppose he was about 14h or so, dark bay with a big white blaze and he was lovely. I never had to ask to do anything, I just thought it and he'd do it. Maybe he could read me - maybe he heard the instructor? Well, I remember once doing a circuit of canter with circle at one end and then return to rear of ride, sort of thing; there was some delay with the next rider going, so I thought to myself 'Oh we might as well do another circle' and I hadn't even asked, probably just gave a subtle shift to my weight and off we went.

The stables closed - and I don't know what happened to Ryan. Apparently though, they'd worked out that he had a sort of agoraphobia; he was fine in the school, but just completely went to pieces if outside.

I've never ridden any other horse like him though. God speed, Ryan, whereever you are.

[Claire]

didn't get first "pony" until i was 36 ......don't think that quite counts, does it?  lots of riding, but nothing regular and no one pony or horse that i thought of as mine....

[wozzer]

I was often found, pre-school age, astride the back of the sofa wearing wellington boots as riding boots and with a piece of string tied on one end as reins 

I begged for rides on the donkeys on the beach     I daydreamed and smiled at riders who would ride past our home.

And, once I was a little older, I was taken for weekly riding lessons at a local stables    We always dressed properly - hacking jacket, polo neck jumper (or shirt & tie in summer), jods, hats and boots    There were 4 horses, all of which had previously belonged to the yard owner.  Her first pony, an evil little 12.2 hh strawberry roan called Merrylegs - she would bog off with you and try and scrape you off on a tree!  Then, as you grew larger, you moved onto Magpie, a 14.2 hh piebald who was incredibly lazy, then as you got to your teens it was Simeon, a 16.2 hh thoroughbred 

Whenever an occasional new horse was purchased for the riding school, they always put me on it, and if I fell off they didn't keep it (I was the crash test dummy!!!)

Every christmas I wrote a letter to Father Christmas asking for a pony      It was never to be, as my father died suddenly when I was 9 and I was the youngest of 5 children - how my mother managed I will never know    So pony riding became a rare treat (and I still don't how the money was found).

A friend of mine had ponies and at weekends I would go with her to the stables and muck out whilst she had a lesson.  It never occurred to me that I was cheap labour, as I just loved to be around horses, even if only to watch    I think I was invited to ride her pony once (in several years), to bring him back from a show.  But I was delighted to be asked!

I got my first pony aged 28 yrs, my husband bought him for me    I'd started riding again with a friend from work and still longed for a horse of my own.  I often wonder if I'd had a pony as a child, whether I would still be doing all this now 

[nona]

I hope it counts Claire as I did not get Osian until I was 46    He was 4 and I had started riding again as an adult a year earlier having only done a small amount as a teenager.

I have learnt a huge amount and I still know nothing!  But I do know that green on green equals black and blue.

Nona

[nona]

and here is a slightly grubby Osian a few years ago.

Nona