# New ASPC/AMHR pony :)



## opeth13

Hey everyone,

I posted a greeting in the mini section and figured I would check in here and see if anyone knew anything about my new pony. His registered name is Silver Meadow's Jet's Sky High and he was owned and shown in the past in halter and driving. I need to contact a previous owner to get papers transferred (not really sure how that works) but I was wondering if anyone knew anything about him.

I'm new to the owning horses world and would love to get him back in driving shape as well as train him under saddle for my daughter who's currently 3. I'm just a little thing at 4'10, 95 lbs. I did warily hop on him bareback as well as saddle him up and he takes to anything no problem, he's a really nice pony. I can't truly ride him but my trainer and I figure in short sessions I can train him to leg commands as well. I hooked two lead lines to his halter and with a very light hand he is very responsive. I doubt I'll use a saddle much to keep the weight down, just mostly to get him used to the feel of the girth. He has some work ahead of him before saddle training, I was just curious how he'd react and he did great






Here are a couple of current pictures as well as 2 from when he was in his show condition. Thanks for any info





Show condition







In his new home


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## REO

Nice pony!


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## Sandee

If he's been driven then he's used to a girth around him. If anything he would need to get use to the weight shifting all around. Some of them are a bit touchy about that and about the extra weight on top of them. Others - just don't care. Another thing to watch is how the child handles the reins if he is "light" in the mouth.

Cute pony.


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## paintponylvr

What a pretty mover and a sweet looking pony. Glad you got him and that you all are having a good time together.

leg pressure from your legs won't make any difference compared to a childs - because a childs' legs (unless the same size as you?) is so much higher up on the pony's sides. YES, still good to get him used to, but he will still need to learn, just as the child will, how to work off the child's leg cues... and bareback, an unbalanced child's legs may very well "tickle" him and cause him to react very differently. Same token, a small child's legs won't even reach down below the saddle in your picture (that looks huge!).

Our ponies, when we first started out, often got led with a lead rope and saddle with the girls sitting in it. We tied the ponies to feed them, the girls sat on the ponies backs while eating. The girls got used to balancing - first in a saddle and then bare back - and the pony got used to each of them shifting around to balance. Also got used to legs and movement and the whole 9 yards so to speak. It also kept the girls out from under foot while I was feeding the horses - once the ponies used to being sat on (we raised several young ponies over a 7 yr period - our oldest was 5, middle was 34 months & youngest daughter was 22 months

when they started riding - and our youngest was our "pony jock" for MANY years), the girls often mounted them bareback and turned around - and took naps with their head pillowed on the rump while the pony was eating breakfast or dinner.

After the ponies were used to the weight and had been ground driven enough to respond to reins as well as voice cues, the girls spent HOURS riding bareback. I don't have a lot of pics - 35 mm film was expensive and often pics didn't turn out! But the ones I have are still, to this day, priceless!! Yes, in the 1995 - early 1997 pics - no helmets. To this day, Skye, now 23 with two daughters of her own, wears an ultra-small helmet (the same size as her now "yearling" daughter). Finding tiny helmets then (in Montana - cowboy country. Dad raised Holy He- double hockey sticks about their missing cowboy hats!!) was next to impossible. Moved to NC in April 1997 and went to 3 day event land (southern Pines) - got helmets... And today - every feed store here carries helmets.


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## opeth13

Thanks for the info. That saddle is a strange thing i bought on ebay. I tried it on every horse where i reide and it didn't fit any of them. It's basically made for a small pony, it just looks out of scale on him. It's very light though and as a temporary training aid it works. I'll probably hunt something a few inches smaller down


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## paintponylvr

opeth13 -

I didn't mean to sound harsh. The saddle works to get him used to things and so did your riding him. The fact that he's so accepting is GREAT! We've had a few that were not...talk about rodeos that took a while to bring them around - but part of that was finding tack that fit the pony and realizing the same thing I explained in my post as to where a little's legs are vs our own. It's just very large and you yourself are tiny and I'm thinking that means that your daughter is, too. That saddle looks like it is too large for you and yes, it covers a lot of his body. I think I came across wrong (now that I've re-read my post) to a new comer to horses. I don't mean to offend you - because I think it's awesome that you have come into the horse world with pony/minis!!

Neat that you found a girth to fit him - 18 years ago that was one of the most difficult things with an English saddle - even here in English riding country. Since 2003, so many things have become available to the smaller horse/pony - it's awesome. I learned to make some of the things that I've made over the years (for myself/kids, not for the public) because some weren't available and others, when they were, were way out of our budget for a long time or were not the quality I wanted or felt was safe. For many years there never seemed to be any "middle of the road" type equipment that would size right for the smaller ponies (that little silver dapple mare and her 3 foals by the b/w stallion all stayed VERY mini sized - right around 36 - 37" at the withers and much leaner than AJ). The first 3 saddles that we found actually all came from out of state before eBay was known to me and some fit some ponies and not others - didn't take long and we had figured out which saddle fit which size(s) of ponies best. Worst mistake I made was selling those saddles when the girls moved to larger ones (the English one was a "cheaper" one - we had repairs that it needed and the leather shops here would not repair it since it was "cheap"...it eventually fell apart).

I rode that b/w pony in the first two pictures several times in 97 & 98. He was an active breeding stallion as well as a mount for the girls' (lead/lounge for the two younger ones and actual riding mount for Skye for several years before she outgrew him). The oldest actually enjoyed riding him - but he went thru a period where he wasn't responding to her - he "bulled" thru attempts to stop or turn him. We went back to ground driving, working on flexing head and neck to the side - aiming for the litest of touches (most of that, at first was done by myself or an instructor and then our daughter would follow and do it all from the saddle). I lost a lot of weight in those years - spending all the hours that they rode on the ground, leading and walking beside them. I was still much larger than you and AJ didn't enjoy me stepping into a saddle (I didn't do bareback on him) that was a 13" western seat meant for a small youngster. I didn't enjoy it either - but he quickly learned that it was more fun and easier to accept/do what was asked. When we found a workable English saddle that would fit the shetlands as well as the girls, it never worked quite right on AJ. So the girls either rode him bareback or with the western saddles. The best fit on him, as he matured and muscled up, was the larger 13" saddle, not the two smaller 10 & 12" seated ones. Skye eventually graduated to riding him on mixed (horse sex) trail rides - most folks never knew our boy was a stallion and he was always still fresh at the end of the ride - ready to go out again.

I didn't say it before - welcome to the mini and pony world! Glad that you arrived and hope you and your daughter have MANY hours of shared enjoyment with your new pony. It is a very special time together.


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## opeth13

No offense taken



it's a 16" english saddle which is about a 14 western if i'm not mistaken in my research? My other english saddle is a 16 as well. I bought this one for the short flaps since mine are a bit long for me and that's when i discovered its awkwardness. I can ride in a smaller saddle but it's not quite as comfortable, seems to be a geometry issue for me.

The girth is actually a dressage girth, it's the only way i could get the short length i needed locally. The people in the tack store thought i was crazy but it works.

And you are correct, my daughter is also tiny



I've been watching ebay for a reasonable saddle to pop up and checking craigslist locally.


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## paintponylvr

R u considering a child's Wintec? Or just looking for leather? Do you get texts on your phone w/ pictures?

If you are interested, we have a BIG sale coming up in Raleigh, NC over Labor Day weekend. I have some equipment to consign this year, which will allow me first day, non-public look over of sale items... If you are interested, I can look around and see what's available. Take pics of some that might be appropriate, send your way to see if you like/can afford. It's not an auction, but a consignment sale. Some items are new (rare), some are well cared for - older - in good shape and some are dirty and "dumped off" but might work. The seller has the option to say "yay or neigh" to reducing the price the last day of the sale - sometimes it reduces the price by 50%. Any items not sold are either opted to be donated to the sale company or the seller picks back up while the monetary amounts due are figured on items sold. I have done this before for folk that needed equipment for small children and ponies....

Equestrian Exchange Tack consignment sale Some of what I stated above seems to have changed. I didn't take any tack last year or go to the sale (getting ready to go to Nationals and didn't have time while working before hand). I will need to reread the rules. Didn't have the admission fee sale the year previous when I did consign items. I need to go thru all the rules...

The only 2 English saddles that I have left are for larger teenagers, not appropriate for small ponies or tiny riders and one of those isn't in sellable shape (imo), but might be something that I give away in the next year or two to someone who needs and doesn't mind an OLD, beat up and looking a bit shopworn, original basic Wintec Huntseat saddle.

EMERGENCY WITH FRIEND GOTTA RUN!!!


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## opeth13

But of course! I'm a welder and my job causes my phone to mess up to the point of useless within about a year so I tend to be pretty up on technology.

I was looking at this HDR leadline saddle http://www.tackroominc.com/hdr-advantage-leather-pony-leadline-saddle-p-3247.html Do you think it would be worth looking in to?

I'm not dead set on leather, I just like it. I've never had a synthetic saddle so I just don't know much about how they hold up or anything. I'm trying to stick to English since it's what I know and more than likely what she'd end up taking lessons in. I don't know of that many places that really teach western here in the RI area.


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## PintoPippin

Your new pony is a cutie! What's his name (you mentioned his Reg. name- but what's his barn name? Jet?) I have had big horses for years.. but recently got my first lil' pony, a 40" shetland. He already rides great; I teach kid's lessons/parties on him (and I ride him occasionally, barrel racing and speed events or a gallop around the pasture; mostly to make the kids laugh- i'm 5' and 85lbs). I am recently married, and can't wait until we decide to start a family so my little ones can grow up on the ponies… you are where I hope to be in a few years. For now I just teach other people's kids to ride… lol.

You live in RI? I am originally from shoreline CT, now live in FL and hope to move back north…. The Nordic Lodge in RI is my favorite restaurant EVER! I won a 14lb lobster there when I was 11. Once the owner of the Fjord pony on the property was there, and he let me ride double with his daughters. A very happy memory, as this was before I had my own horses.




>nostalgia<

Keep looking on local consignment, craigslist, and ebay for little saddles-in the past 2 years I have been able to pick up 8", 10" and 12" saddles (both english and western) on a pony tree- they fit pony backs great, and little kid's bums too! Buddy Stirrups are great until she can reach the real ones, they are typically for western saddles, but I have used the clip-on stirrups off of bareback pads, clipped to the d's of the english saddle for little tiny kids- although usually you can roll the regular english leathers up high enough. I use dressage girths rather than trying to find "pony" sized ones.

Good luck with your new pony! You'll have to post some pics when you get your daughter riding him.


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## Humhill

I'm not sure if you had gotten the info yet, but your pony's breeder would be Anita Ray of Silver Meadows in Florida.


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## minimomNC

He is listed as being owned by Melinda Doan, she is a trainer in SC. Her farm is Pick Pocket, just goggle her name or the farm name and contact her directly. And he is also registered as a shetland so you would need two transfers, one for the AMHR papers and one for the ASPC papers.


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