Gymkhana games / handy pony

[CMOTdibbler]

DS wants to 'teach' dpony to be good at these, and is really enjoying schooling him with the aid of cones/poles etc (ds is 5, dpony is 4 btw).

But, not having the horsey background, I'm not very good at making things up to do to keep us all interested and challenged, so need some ideas from you all.

So, what sort of things should they be having a go at ?

[marialuisa]

DD likes to have a go at handy pony if she can (dpony not really convinced...). It seems to be about making the pony as unflappable as possible, so walking under bunting, opening and shutting gates, walking around with the rider carrying a fishing net, scooping stuff up with the net and moving from one place to another, bending, beanbags, egg and spoon and so on.

There appears to be some sort of competition round here to make handy pony as inventive as possible so there's been bursting balloons, walking pony across a bridge that made weird noises and other stuff that I don't imagine you'd be able to recreate at home...It's been intriguing to see what our 5 year old pony will put up with. Balloons were ok but toy frogs ribbiting were terrifying!

[marialuisa]

Sack race leading the pony, throwing things through hoops from thepony also popular. I think ELC do cheap "sports day" kits that would be useful for palying with.

[Saggyoldclothcatpuss]

As the others have said, just accustom them to just about anything. Things not to do?: don't put a hard plastic egg on one post and an enamel cup on another and aak DS to collect the egg in the cup and ride to the next point! The egg and the cuP will make a nasty di donk, di donk noise, the pony will spook and your my DD your DS will land on his head!

[CMOTdibbler]

Ooh, I like the fishing net idea - sounds like you could have lots of fun with that.
I was intending on doing some groundwork over tarpaulins anyway and some balloons/umbrella exposure.
Will investigate the sports day kit - over the summer we'll have a bit more time to play

Thank you so much for the ideas !

[Butkin]

DD just did the Mounted Games zone final with her pony club team on Saturday. Their games (juniors) were bending race round poles, sock race (where you have to put a rolled up sock in a bucket, ride up to the end and dismount to collect another sock which gets passed to the next person); stepping stones race (where you ride your pony up to 6 upturned buckets and run across them leading your pony); mug race (putting mugs on the top of the bending posts and then collecting new ones from one top of a bucket at the end of the course); sack race (this requires a team of riders and sack jumpers); tyre race (where another team member on their pony holds your pony whilst you climb through a tyre - all members take it in turns to do this); cone race (where you put a tennis ball on top of a sawn off traffic one) etc.

[Saggyoldclothcatpuss]

There's quite a good book called "bomb proof your horse" that might be useful.

[CMOTdibbler]

I'll have a look for that book. The mug race sounds fun and doable and maybe stepping stones.

Wish our local pony club had anything for under 11's

[Butkin]

CMOT - nothing for under 11s - that is unbelievable!

We have mini camp (for under 7s) and Junior Camp (for under 12s) and they take up more than 2/3rds the entire membership.

We have under 11 teams for jumping, x country, dressage, games, etc and they have also tried polo and horseball.

DD (8) has already competed in Pony Club Tetrathlon in a class called Tiddlers which for 8 and unders (about 30 competitors) where they threw (rather than shooting), swam, ran and jumped.

If you're struggling with local Pony Club then look at Mounted Games own website because they run tournaments/teams all over the country which are not Pony Club affilliated.

[CMOTdibbler]

I know ! But, tbh, it seems like they are struggling as they don't have mounted games or polocrosse teams at all.
But this year, my energy needs to go on schooling dpony and getting him used to life outside the yard and building up our family knowledge of going to shows. And practicing reversing the trailer

[EasyLife92]

i can thinkof one other idea that no ones said tbh this is more if you have more than one person though still good practice for balance and mounting up ... have a box at one end with something from a fancy dress costume (the whole things a little too much to put on) thats easy to put , race to one end , dismount put on the item(s) mount up or lead trotting back ... we did it alot on our pony days, ponys loved it too ...its amazing the items you find in the boxes , can get very creative

[olderyetwider]

I'm feeling inspired by the ideas here. I might try to organise a yard fun day in the holidays. I'd need a couple of others though, to share the flack if it all goes wrong and someone doesn't win anything! Anybody think musical staues on ponies could work?

[CMOTdibbler]

Not sure about musical statues - you might have everyone out straightaway.

yesterday, ds greatly enjoyed 'jousting' where he rode down between lines of cones with a stick in one hand and had to poke dhs upheld hand as he went past. We also played 'crossing the bridge' (I suspect dh cheated) to get in lots of whistling