I wanted to take a brief moment to introduce you to the super-star lesson horses that your precious kiddos will be working with when you sign them up for our Little Legs, Big Start courses in 2018!
Meet Jewels and Lola: both are sister miniature horse mares. Miniature horses are often confused as, “ponies” but I can assure you, they are different! Ponies are larger and stockier in build than miniature horses but still smaller than full-sized horses, meaning they are under 14.2 hands high (hands high is a unit of measurement used to differentiate how tall a horse is from their withers). Miniature horses are even smaller than ponies but are still bred to resemble full-sized horses in that they are not stocky like their pony friends. Most miniature horses you see are trained to “drive” carts and some, like these two, are also trained to ride for small children.
It has been officially one year since we brought Jewels and Lola home to Farmhouse on Five Mile. They were adopted from my sister-in-law who was looking to find them a new, loving home. After having received my certification as a riding instructor through the Certified Horsemanship Association in November 2016, these girls were on my mind as future prospects to providing lessons for small children. And now…here we are!
Since then, we’ve been working on a lot of grooming, hand-leading, and groundwork with my young nephews. These girls have been so patient and willing for us through our training to prepare for these lessons.
My objective for this program with your students is to provide essential safety skills and build confidence in your little riders. Often times, small children in this age range of 3-7 years are paired with ponies or full-sized horses that much larger than they are. While ponies and larger horses can be safe enough for small children (provided they have received proper training), they can often times seem intimidating to the eyes of small children by their mere larger size. By pairing small children with size-appropriate horses, they can build a foundation of trust and confidence that will lead to further success as they grow older and advance their skills and are able to ride ponies and full-sized horses
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My hope for 2018, with your support, is to expand our facility even greater and provide an additional full-sized lesson horse (or pony!) that can cater to children ages 8 and older as well as adults. By signing up for these courses, you are helping to make this hope a reality.
A big shout out and THANK YOU to everyone so far who has purchased horse lessons with their kids for the Early Summer course starting June 4th! I am excited to offer a unique program that caters to the young and brilliant minds of your little ones!
If you are interested in signing your kiddos up for horse lessons, you can contact me here with your email to get on the Farmhouse VIP list! We will be opening up enrollment very soon for our Late Summer 6-week course with the Little Legs, Big Start program!
“All horses deserve, at least once in their life, to be loved by a child.” -Unknown
Farmhouse on Five Mile 