Lil bit of a brag, and no pics, by last week, my son (not quite 4 1/2) and I played hookie on Wed. and went to the woods for a day long trail ride. He was on his ever faithful steed Ladybug, with whom he has really stepped it up in the last few months. His cousin was riding her pony with us, in the arena, a few months ago, and he asked if he could try to lope for the first time. I said sure, and he's been fearless, wild, and fast ever since.
Anyway, he's made several treks with me riding on his pony, but I've always been ponying her with a mecate so he has control, but I have a "just in case". I do let him ride by himself in an arena, but never outside before, and had no plans to change that yet. This trip, he asked if he could ride all by himself after an hour or so, and I again said sure. I'm a firm believer that if he thinks he's ready to step up, and has the wherewithall to ask me first, then I'm gonna let him have a go, assuming of course he's not asking to set the bed on fire. I also let him lead for a bit, and not five minutes later he accidentally let her jump a big log and got knocked in the chest by the saddle horn. I told him that he shouldn't have let her jump, and our standard saying, "If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough". He cowboy'd up, and went on without tears or complaint. Little bugger rode for 5 1/2 more hours all by himself with no mishaps, and I mean to tell ya'll that we crossed creeks, went up and down some hills, and didn't pussyfoot around. I'm very proud and highly impressed with his degree of horsemanship at the tender age of 4.

Just had to brag a bit...

I'll also add that he got a new saddle for his fourth B-day, and having a saddle that actually fits him has made all the difference. If any of ya'll have or know someone else with young kids and a saddle issue, I very highly recommend the Corriente Lil Buckaroo saddle. It comes in 10-12" seats (roughout available and also recommended by me) and really is a well made, stout, simply smaller version of a standard Mod. Assoc saddle. I'm sure that he could rope out of the thing. It's that sturdy, and has a nice high pommel, and cantle to really give a kid that good pocket to sit in and feel secure.

Thats pretty cool. I love to hear about kids riding horses. Ill second that lill buckaroo saddle too, Ive seen the kid version and ridden the full size, (15") and the only difference is size, they are well made saddles. Good on ya for getting him in the saddle.

I have 5 daughters and they have all ridden with me. As my youngest was learning to ride, I bought her a shetland something cross. My thoughts being that she could mount and dismount by herself and if she fell off. it wasn't as far to the ground.

As the summer progressed she started to not want to ride. After talking with her, she finally told me she got a sideache from riding. So I watched the next time out. I ride 16h horses. That move out. Her little shetland X was hard trotting to keep up with the longer legged geldings that her older sisters and I rode. That hard trotting was beating her up.

I sold the shetland and bought her a small 14-2h foxtrotter mare. The foxtrotter mare was only a hand bigger than the shetland. But it didn't hard trot. Which made every ride so much more fun for my daughter. Also I felt a little more comfortable getting on and trueing up the Foxtrotter, where as I felt I was too big to ride much on the shetland, so it got away with a lot since the kids couldn't control it's gait or speed.

In addition, I really like loading an elk onto a 14-2 H horse vs trying to heave quarters up onto my 16+ hand geldings.

Daniel77, you should be proud, my litle cowboy
is 12 now but i still remember the first set of heels he cought on my 16 hand head horse, the look on his face was priceless. Glad to hear someone else has used the corriente saddles
i have one of the ranch saddles think i paid 600
USD new shipped to my door. it has been through hell
use it catching cows and the tree has been as tough as any, highly recomend.