Sport Ponies from a Trainers Prospective

If someone asked me “why do I ride a pony?”  My answer, with absolute no hesitation would be, “because it is the most fun that I have on a daily basis!” 

I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to be the trainer of Sweet Rock Solid a.k.a. Stibby.  I have been working with Stibby since early 2006.  He’s a ton of fun!  He has a wonderful personality and is always in tune with what’s going on around him.  He’s very smart as most ponies are but never sneaky or naughty.  He takes his job very seriously and  seems to really enjoy his work which makes him very easy to train.  His gaits are above average making him feel like a mini dressage horse or a mini warm blood.  In other words, I don’t feel as though I am riding a pony.  He feels like a horse in a pony suit! 

When I learned that Louise Rascoe had imported a German Riding Pony stallion (Stibby) I called and asked her who she planning to have ride and train him.  At that time she was unsure of who that person would be.  I went out to meet her and Stibby and later told her that I wanted to be the one to ride her pony.  Being straight forward is very uncharacteristic of me but I knew she needed a good rider to campaign him and I wanted the job. Stibby has been very competitive in the dressage arena competing in the open classes at Training and First Level.  Most of our scores are in the mid to high 60 percentile with the occasional score in the 70’s.  We ended our 2007 show season at the Regional 1 Championships placing 4^th in our 1^st level championship class behind Chris Hickey and George Williams.  Standing in line of the awards ceremony was the only time I have ever felt sort of small with Stibby!  So, it is true, ponies can hold their own!

I would love to see more adults riding ponies.  There are plenty of petite adult riders like myself out there who would not be too big for ponies.  I have proven that ponies can be competitive in the show arena against horses, they provide the same learning and training experiences as horses, and for me they bring back such fun childhood memories.  I would love to see more super talented ponies out there for kids to be riding and learning on.  What a great opportunity for junior riders.

So, if you are a rider of my size and stature (5’1”) I would strongly encourage you to keep your eyes open for a fancy dressage type pony.  I promise you will have tons of fun and you can then tell your tall, slender, 6 foot tall friends that you would love for them to have a ride on your pony but they are too tall!   

For more info on Stibby’s pedigree and breeding info go to www.longviewsportponies.com.