At Earthquake Arabians we pride ourself on having a program that allows kids to start as young as 3 years of age. I know many parents struggle with finding activities for young children, trust me I know I've been there as a parent! You may think, how is it safe that such a tiny person can ride such a big animal? Well let me tell you the little ones ROCK it and if they stick with it they are amazing by the time they are 7/8years old killing the competition that started late. SO... how do we do it? First we have amazing lesson horses, I only approve the safest of horses to be part of the Tiny Tot program. These horse must stand quietly, tolerate small hands touching everywhere, not afraid of screams of laughter, and most importantly they are VERY easy to ride. We start all of our 3/4 year olds with short 30min lessons, this enables us to keep their attention and not over exert their physical ability. We keep the little ones on a lead so that the instructor is ultimately in control providing safety. Most of the time our 3 year olds that are consistent with lessons are riding confidently on there own by 4, and it's amazing to see what they can do! Most of my little ones are able to trot on their own by 4 and I do have the rare brave ones that can canter at that age too. I think the biggest thing when introducing the youngest of riders is to work at their pace and keep it fun, if they love the horses and they keep riding it's only a matter of time that they will be great at it. Pictured below is our barn mascot MINI Pickles our mini horse that little kids love to play with because she is "just their size"!
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