It's very hard to find affordable good broke show ponies out there for sale. This problem is two fold. One: less than 300 ponies are registered each year in our breed. Not all of those are show quality and even fewer of that number end up in show homes. Then there are those show homes where a pony ends up on the back burner and NOW, now we have a broke show pony shortage. The other side of that issue is that people can't always afford what a good, broke, kid safe pony costs. I've raised them and trained them, I want to get paid what my pony is worth like everyone else but I also want to see more kids showing. So what do we do about this problem?
There was some great brainstorming happening on our POA Facebook group of POA owners. But one comment had me struggling. I think this goes back to the new way of parenting. The new way where we as parents don't want to let our kids learn the hurt of failure, the pain of losing, the heartbreak that comes with going against odds that are bigger than you are and pushing through anyway. But folks - we need to. We need to teach our kids that they can fail, they can struggle and when they do have those moments of success, they will be that much sweeter. Why? Because they DID it. They didn't get it handed to them, they did it. Themselves. They did it with parents behind them telling them that they could do it. They would do it. They SHOULD!
The comment was that kids today don't train their own anymore because they can't compete with the trainer ridden ponies. My response to that is bullshit. Yes they can, my kids did. They rode green broke ponies that we trained ourselves. When I shared that fact, their reply was that not every kid has "horsie" parents that have the skills to help them. You know what? My kids didn't either. There was a good part of our time showing horses and ponies that Libby knew more than I did. Heck - she knows more than me still today. She knew more because she worked harder than anyone you have ever seen. She and Sophie had too.
Let me explain. When the girls were little, we were poor. Every extra cent we did have was used to just get to the shows. We rode in cheap tack, borrowed or bought show clothes at Goodwill and had ponies that were green broke when we got them. Our ponies didn't have buttons. I'm not sure how many buttons they even had by the time we were done with them, to be honest. I remember Libby taking an English lesson (we bought a lesson here or there, whenever we could afford one) on Giggles the first year she showed her. I asked the instructor what she thought. She said, "she's going to be great once she figures out that pony's buttons." I laughed, "unless kick to go and pull to stop are buttons, that pony doesn't have any." We knew right then that we needed to up our game because we were going to have to be installing buttons on our ponies. We didn't have the toolbox to do that. However, what we did have was amazing friends. We got our start showing in the best open show circuit. People were not afraid to offer tips and advice. People were not afraid to show what worked with their horses. We followed around more experienced riders/trainers and offered to help them at shows. We listened and we learned.
When we started breed showing, so many kids had full time trainers. We couldn't afford trainers, but we could listen. Libby watched and she listened. She watched those other kids get their lessons in warm up pens and she listened to every tip and suggestion. Some she could do, others she just filed away in her toolbox for later. Those kids with full time trainers should have had the advantage. Sometimes they probably did, but my girls held their own just fine. I'm not going to say they didn't get frustrated. I'm not going to say they didn't complain that it wasn't fair. But they got told the same thing that all kids NEED to learn, life isn't fair. That's the truth and the only thing you can do is work hard to make the best of the situation.
We also also watched videos. You can learn anything on Youtube, I swear. We had good ponies, but honestly I remember the one year I told Libby that she may never have the best pleasure horse to win a pleasure class, but she could darn sure win a pattern class, especially showmanship. She set to work watching Congress winning showmanship patterns on Youtube and trying to teach her pony everything that those Congress horses could do. That year she went to Champ Show and placed 3rd. It was a beautiful pattern and she has only continued to get better at showmanship since. A lot of what she knows she owes to being self taught from watching videos.
Horse showing isn't easy. Your trainer can't do it for you. In the long run, even those ponies that sit at a trainer for months on end have to be ridden by you. You need to put in the work. You need to learn how to ride. You need to strengthen your body, your mind and your connection with your pony. If you don't practice and practice and practice, you won't have the muscle memory to make correct riding automatic. When it is all said and done, it comes down to you, the rider - not the trainer, when that gate closes.
My girls started with a disadvantage in horse showing with their project ponies and having to do it on their own. But as I look at them now, as young adults, I'm kind of glad we were poor and they had to grow up the way they did. Maybe the kids that really didn't have it fair were those that had it handed to them? I love the horsewomen my girls have become and I would place my bets on them in a class every single time. Even if they are riding in training saddles and Goodwill clothes still today. And when they place in a class they know that THEY did it. They trained their own pony, they put in the months of literal blood, sweat and tears and that ribbon, that placing, that championship is just that much sweeter. Why would anyone take that away from their child? Don't do it for them, teach them to do it for themselves.
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