It's easy to see the potential benefits of riding one horse and leading another. Also called "ponying," it may be the only way you can give your second horse the exercise he needs. Or perhaps he's young or untrained, and ponying him helps you build his confidence and teach him to cooperate with other horses.
It doesn't seem like ponying another horse should be too difficult. After all, you're basically just leading him, right? Well, not exactly. It's a lot more complicated.
Handling two horses simultaneously, even if they're well trained and level-headed, can become dangerous and unmanageable in a heartbeat. Imagine that the horse you're leading spooks, runs behind your horse, wraps the lead rope around you, and then starts bucking-pulling you out of the saddle as your horse decides to move forward. All the situations and surprises you have to be ready for when you're riding are magnified when you're trying to control a second horse along with the one you're sitting on.
Does this mean you should abandon the idea of ponying another horse? Not at all. But it does mean that you should be an experienced rider, have a thorough understanding of how to pony safely, and be ready to deal with things that might go wrong. It also means that you need to do some basic training and ground work with the horse you'll be leading .
Above all, you must be riding a reliable, maneuverable and nearly unflappable horse. If your horse doesn't fit that description, don't just assume he'll grow into the job. That's asking too much-and the consequences could be disastrous. But if you think he has pony horse potential, here are some things to keep in mind.
Emotional Fitness
To understand the various things a pony horse must tolerate, let's start by imagining some of the ways he could get rattled. For starters, there's that other horse, who may or may not be providing a comfortable space between them. If the horse you're leading is insecure or confused about how to position himself, he could be crowding or bumping your horse continually. He might even be disrespectful and pushy-or trying to bite, strike or kick your horse.
Ponying Terms
When people talk about ponying, you'll sometimes hear the term "pony horse" used interchangeably to describe both the horse being ridden and the horse being led. To avoid confusion, we'll use "pony horse" to refer to the horse you're riding and "ponied horse" to refer to the horse you're leading.
If you've ever seen someone ride up close on a horse whose body language immediately shouted, "Back off," you know how important space is to horses. So your pony horse has to be able to tolerate what might be an uncomfortable proximity to, and possible aggression from, the horse you're leading.
The ponied horse might also be excited and jumpy, especially if he's young or green. Your horse needs to be steady enough to ignore the other horse's nerves and not get wound up along with him.
