If your child is keen to learn to ride, but you're struggling to find a centre who caters for tiny tots, have a look at our list of riding schools who take children under five
1. Stag Lodge Stables, London
Pony Park Lessons for three to six-year-olds. 30-minute lesson – £25 weekday/£30 weekends.
A pony park lesson is a 30-minute lead-rein lesson in Richmond Park. These are lead-rein sessions, with a trained instructor leading one of the school’s Shetland ponies. The lessons include walking and trotting, and may also include on-pony games such as ’round the world’, but will not include cantering.
3. Feather Bed Stables & Riding School, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire
Two-years-old and above. Tots Ride – 15-20 minutes for £15. Sunday Morning Tots session – 30 minutes for £20. Kids Club for £35.
The school teaches young children how to handle and care for ponies. The kids’ club allows children to be involved in grooming, tacking up and caring for their pony before and after they ride.
One-to-four-year-olds. Pony Playgroup for £6.95 and individual 15-minute lesson for £14.95.
Pony playgroup is a parent and toddler group offering a varied programme of indoor and outdoor games, activities and experiences. It is suitable for children who are walking, up to four years of age. Two small ponies are available to groom and ride in an individual lesson.
Two-years-old and above. Walk in the Woods — 30 minutes for £24. Individual lessons from four-years-old — 35 minutes for £23.
The half an hour walk in the woods includes children being introduced to their pony and taught how to mount and hold the reins. Depending on ability, children can walk on or off the lead rein through the woodland.
Four-years-old and above. Pony days – 9-4pm for £45. Group lesson for an hour for £20.
Pony days start at 9am and include a break for drinks in the morning and a packed lunch/picnic at lunchtime in the paddock, which includes some fun games.
Telephone: 07884 231361
Don’t miss this week’s issue of Horse & Hound magazine (13 April 2017), where we find out what the perfect age to learn to ride is
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A graduate from Durham University, Madeleine joined H&H in 2011 and became Features Editor — producing content across the magazine and website, including the popular inside back cover article ‘The horse that made me’ and the weekly ‘The best of my fun…’ interview. She has written on topics as diverse as hay making and headcams, to hot totty in the horse world and circus horses. Madeleine now works as a freelance feature writer for Country Life, The Telegraph, Horse & Hound, cntraveller.com, The Spectator and The Field, as well as writing obituaries for The Times.
