Ken Lyndon-Dykes’ Column
The Experiences and Thoughts of a Saddle Fitter.
This month: Warnings and forebodings.
I have no idea how many parents of pony-loving children read PEGASUS. I would like to think it was a lot because it's a magazine that contains a huge amount of valuable information. I would like to add some cautionary advice that is particularly appropriate as we approach Christmas.
Some years ago clever copywriters came up with the phrase 'A dog's not just for Christmas…'. This followed the recognition that an awful lot of the sweet little puppies bought as Christmas presents had been purchased with no thought for the care and management they would need as they got older and bigger. In the majority of cases the cruelty that sometimes ensues is rarely deliberate. Rather, it results from failure to understand the animal's needs. Unintentional abuse begins when it becomes apparent that caring for the animal doesn't fit easily into the family's timetable. Like human babies, puppies and kittens need regular feeding - not easy to organise when the family is out all day. What happens when animals, too young even to have been house-trained, have to be shut indoors for hours on end? Dogs need regular exercise if they are to be healthy and happy - but commitment becomes an issue when the entire family has to rush off to school…college…or work.
It's possibly easy to understand how people fall for the small and cuddly without giving thought to the bigger picture. One would assume the same thing just doesn't happen in the case of horses and ponies - but it does. Every year, just after Christmas, I am called out because a new horse or pony owner - more often the latter - is in trouble. Parents who've bought a pony for an offspring whose total experience amounts to a year of weekly riding lessons at the local school. The child who has managed to persuade her (it's usually little girls) parents that 'a pony doesn't eat very much' and 'I'll look after him myself' and 'the money we save on lessons will pay for his keep' - the inference being that when I've got the pony I won't need lessons! Children can be very, very persuasive but it's very unfair to them, and even more so to the pony concerned, to enter into ownership without considering the management factors and expense involved.
I have actually been called out on Christmas Day itself. On this of all days I don't really welcome such a call - even from a long established client whom I know well. When it's someone I've never even met, and who certainly isn't a customer, my patience is sorely tried. It would be easy to tell the caller to go away - and possibly not even bother to come back another day - but when the 'emergency' involves a child and/or an animal it is difficult to refuse. One year I was called out because 'the saddle doesn't fit my little girl'. The saddle had been fitted by a competitor 'No - we can't get him on the telephone - he's gone away for Christmas and our little girl is breaking her heart.' I arrived to find the pony had been very adequately equipped by my competitor but, yes, the saddle was far, far too small for the child concerned. It turned out that he hadn't seen 'our little girl' because 'we want it all to be a lovely surprise on Christmas day'. The 'little girl' turned out to be a seriously overweight ten-year-old who really needed a cob of considerable proportions to accommodate her very big bottom. Instead the parents had bought a Welsh section A 'because she's so pretty'. What a dilemma! I was faced with explaining the problem to the parents in considerable detail.
Another time the friend.. of a friend.. of a friend… rang to ask me how to assemble the bridle they'd bought to go with the new pony. At least I didn't have to leave the house - and I'm afraid I forbore asking how they came to own a pony but couldn't put a bridle together! Perhaps the very worst occasion was being called out because 'the saddle is making her go bald'. In answer to my obvious question: 'No, we didn't have the saddle fitted, it wasn't necessary because we bought all the tack with the pony.' As I've already mentioned - children and animals and it's difficult to refuse. I drove some thirty miles or so to find a rather sweet pony mare rubbing frantically on a fence rail in an effort to free herself of lice!
In retrospect these stories seem quite amusing - but at the time they certainly didn't make me laugh. Before buying any sort of animal as a present it's essential to make certain all the circumstances are right. Discovering the problems afterwards can lead to heartbreak for all concerned.
KEN LYNDON-DYKES specialises in fitting competition horses and difficult fittings. He is available to give talks, lectures and demonstrations for any type of equestrian group. Telephone: 01622 844440 (head office) or 07973 501873 (mobile).
