Pony care and stable management
Ready when: Parts of the pony and the tack (b1) done.
What you are learning
How to keep a pony well: the feeding and watering rules, the three vital signs at rest (temperature, pulse and breathing), and the signs of a pony that is sick, tired or hurt. This is knowledge to say aloud at home, not to practise on a horse.
Words on this card Pony, Vital signs
- Pony
- A pony is a small horse, under about 148 cm at the shoulder.
- Vital signs
- Temperature, pulse and breathing rate, checked at rest to tell if a pony is well.
Show it first for the one teaching
- Read the feeding rules aloud: little and often, plenty of hay or grass, fresh water always, no hard work straight after a big feed.
- Name the three vital signs and where an instructor checks each one.
- Show a picture of a pony that looks well (bright eyes, ears moving, eating) and describe one that looks unwell (dull, head low, not eating).
Your part while they practise
Ask "how do we know the pony is well?"
Step by step
- Say the feeding and watering rules.
- Name the three vital signs at rest: temperature, pulse, breathing.
- Name the signs of a sick, tired or injured pony.
How much: 5 feeding rules and 3 vital signs 10 min a session once a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Vet and owner
You play the owner and describe a pony; the child plays the vet and says whether it is well, and what to do.
Who plays: the child against you; swap halfway.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- You describe a pony in two or three sentences, such as "she is standing with her head low and has not touched her hay"
- The vet says "well" or "unwell"
- The vet says one thing to do: call the instructor, give water, rest, check the hooves
- 8 ponies, then swap
- Fair play
- The grown-up vet must name the vital sign they would check.
- Points
- 1 point for the right "well" or "unwell"; 1 point for a sensible next step.
- Fouls
- No points
- Guessing a medicine or treatment instead of calling the instructor or a vet
- Forgetting water when the pony has been working
- Winning
- More points after 8 ponies each.
- 6 points for 1 star
- 11 points for 2 stars
- 15 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
Three signs.
Keep a care diary for a club pony for a month.
What you will see, and what to say
- the child guesses
Check the book
Look it up together. - they forget water
Always water after work
Fresh water before anything else.
Self-check
The child states 5 feeding rules and the 3 vital signs.
Fitness for this
Warm up first: how to warm up, at workonfitness.com. For strength and stretching, its exercise library shows each exercise step by step, with an easier version.
This card trains knowledge, responsibility.
Intermediate is done when the instructor says the child canters in balance, jumps a small cross rail and rides out safely in a group.
awiseathlete.com/sports/equestrian/equestrian-i3