Saturday, November 24, 2012

Your First Pony Purchase

By Heather Toms


If you are looking to get a pony, have you made sufficient budgetary provisions? Don't commit the blunder of assuming that your costs are over after you have paid for the pony. A horse could be the largest item on your program of expenses, but in no way is it the only item.

Before you set out to get a pony, you ought to have identified, quantified and made allowance for all items that are part of purchasing, riding and caring for your horse. These include accommodation for your horse, feeding and watering him, medical care, riding gear and riding attire for yourself. All of these items need to be attended to before you can even sit in the saddle for the 1st time. Making your budgetary provisions means making choices about a few facets of pony ownership. You want to decide on the kind of riding you want to do, the style and quality of riding gear you would like to use, the type and quality of riding clothes you wish to wear.

If your budget doesn't make allowance for new gear, you might want to visit horse shows, farm sales and used gear shops to buy less expensive tack that has been well kept. If you do buy new stuff, do so as far as possible from outlets that are within easy reach, to enable replacement of gear that doesn't fit or is other wise unsuited for your purposes. Of course, you need to make sure that refunds or replacements are allowed before you buy. If you're absolutely certain of your requirements, you should purchase from online outlets. There are numerous great purchase options online, but you want to be very sure of yourself, because returning goods purchased online can be a very pricey business. Whether online or off line, buy only once you have made certain of the seller's refund or replacement policies.

The most basic of gear you definitely have to buy are a halter and lead rope, 2 items essential to bring your pony home to start with. Note that if you're purchasing a young horse, you want to get yourself a suitable halter and keep replacing it as the horse grows older. If you purchase a mature horse, you want a halter for adult horses you can use for a long period of time. Nylon halters aren't very pricey and even leather ones that are not intricate show pieces won't cost you too much.

For riding the pony, you'll require a saddle, blankets or pads, a bit, a bridle and one or perhaps 2 sets of reins depending what type kind of riding interests you. Tack comes in 2 broad categories: western and English. Both western and English tack items are used for the same purposes, but differ broadly in size, shape and appearance. Usually, English tack is lighter and smaller, the saddles are minimalist, short of frills. They do not have horns, deep seats or high forks. The stirrups do not come with wide fenders. Comparatively, western saddles are heavy, with distinct horns, deep seats and tall, rigid cantles at the rear. Stirrup fenders and saddle skirts might be elaborately carved or may come with gold accents or silver ones. Both English and western style tack come in many variations, and therefore it's very important that if you are making plans to participate in specific disciplines you research the correct type of tack to acquire.




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