Tips when buying a jumping pony as a schoolmaster

Hi!

How lovely that you are thinking of buying a pony for your daughter 😃

Competition results and age tell you quite a lot about a horse, but not everything. I would pay particular attention to the following:

🥕 Even if a pony or horse has good competition results with previous owners or riders, that does not mean everything is sorted and ready to hand over to the next rider. It is very important that the pony's temperament and behaviour are a good match for your daughter. Try to ask how it reacts in different situations, and talk to your daughter about the type of horse she is happy and feels safe with. A pony might have jumped high classes with good results and still not be an easy ride (it could be hot, strong, spooky, easily frightened and so on). In that case it will not make a good schoolmaster and will need an experienced rider.

🥕 Even if your daughter is aiming for higher classes, she may need, and be happiest with, a pony that does not jump quite such high classes but is a really safe schoolmaster. That way she can aim even higher with the next pony or horse.

🥕 Be sure to ask to see the pony's previous veterinary records. No injury history sounds good, perhaps a little too good. Even if it has never been injured, it may have been treated for some other complaint, or as a precaution.

🥕 Look up the competition results yourselves in the Swedish competition database (TDB). Are the good results recent and consistent, or has there been a dip, with knockdowns, eliminations or spells with no starts?

🥕 Try the pony out several times and test different things, ideally outside the arena or indoor school as well if possible. Do the sort of things your daughter wants to be able to do with her horse. Get a feel for whether it seems to suit her, and you, since the whole family may need to be able to handle it: leading to and from the paddock, looking after it on the yard and so on.

🥕 Have a thorough vetting carried out at a clinic.

Good luck! 🦄