How to keep ponies fun — according to the pros

JOIN THE PONY CLUB

“TRYING to do it all yourself and teach your kids is a recipe for disaster – I learnt that instantly,” says showjumper Chloe Breen. “The most important thing for my kids has been the Pony Club.

“The headquarters for the Southdown Hunt West branch is at Hickstead [where the Breens are based], which helps, but it makes riding fun and puts in those really good basics.”

TIME IT RIGHT

“WHAT’S important is not to have a pony that is going to scare them when they’re little,” says eventer Beanie Sturgis. “It’s much better that they need to kick, rather than having to pull. If you have a slightly nervous child and you give it the wrong pony then it’s game over.

“Ditto if you have a really ambitious child and you have something that won’t jump a thing, that can put them off too. You have to know when they are ready to go up to the next level. It’s a finely balanced thing.”

KEEP IT CASUAL

“I DON’T teach ours at all,” says Beanie. “Instead we go for rides around the farm and head down to the river for a picnic. We have a tree that I used to sneak up and hang doughnuts off, which they still call the doughnut tree. When they were tiny, they’d look up and see the doughnuts and have to stand up in their saddle to get them.

“I think it’s quite important not to drill them. My mum always said to me that exams are for school, so I’ve only got my Pony Club D test — I haven’t even got my Riding and Road Safety badge. So, if my children want to do the tests they can, but I actually think their ponies are for fun.”

LET YOUR IMAGINATION RUN

“MAX didn’t have structured lessons in his early years,” says five-star eventer Francis Whittington about his son, now 11. “Instead he used to ride around the school pretending he was a cowboy. We’d have him leaning over the side pretending to shoot from under the neck, and that taught him balance.”

DON’T PUSH IT

“IF you have the ponies, you have to ride them and put the hours in, but it’s important not to take it too seriously or push them. If the children want to do it, they will,” says Chloe.

As Beanie says: “A lot of children up to the age of 10 or 11 are doing it because their parents want them to and then they suddenly get to the age where they say I really don’t like this, and I’m old enough to say so. But then if they’ve ridden until that age, they can always get back on later in life.”