Hey, I've been starting a three-year old paint gelding. I've been working with him for about a month now. When we first started working with him he was terrified of everything from the currycomb to fly spray. His name is Els and he's a sorrel and white paint (i forgot the difference between overo and tobiano) with one blue eye and one brown eye. Idk how tall. He's a pony. No mounting block required.
So through ground work etc. I can now mount and ride him with no problems. He goes on the trails and does well at a walk. He doesn't need to be able to do anything other than that but we do pony rides and I know that kids will spook him. How do I begin to get him accustomed to kids without totally freaking him out?
I've had one of the grandkids ride him and they did okay, they were a little scared though. He needs to be able to be on a pony sweep and get ridden all day by kids of various ages.
Suggestions?

Where your pony is green (I'm assuming this so please correct me if I'm wrong) I wouldn't put young kids on him for a while. (your own family is one thing but I would wait on paying customers.) You can introduce kids to him on the ground to build his confidence of them. This can be done through patting and seeing how another fully trained horse reacts to kids and just genteral interactions. Another thing you can do (this worked well for my daughter and I) is when you're working with him have your grand child around and have them do simple things like brushing. (with your supervision.) Develop a plan with your grandchild so if something should happen they know what to do to stay safe. Once he's comfortable with your grandchild (and a lot of riding time) and you don't question how safe this pony is, then I would start allowing other children to ride him. If you even have the slightest doubt on how safe he is don't allow any children on his back. You might want to check in your area and see if there is a reputable trainer willing to work with you. Good luck and I hope this helps.

I would have kids start doing basic grooming (supervised). Get him accustom to kids being around him on the ground, once he reaches a comfort level start ground work.

These are all good sugestions. In addition, during YOUR (as in no kids around) riding sessions, start getting him used to no-no's like running up to him, jumping up and down around him, yelling and squealing on his back, turning around in the saddle (kids love to tunr arounf n talk to their buddies on trails), little accidental bumps and on his sides and mouth.

When he is comfortable with all of these things, start with an expierenced child that has confidence in herself to know what is acceptable and what is not. It takes a young horse all of .4 seconds to figure out he can get away with the moon when a kid gets on his back if he is not shown differently immediatly. As i have said for years (though no one ever seems to listen) the fastest way to ruin a horse or child is to put a baby with a baby. The horse figures out he is bigger and dosnt have to listen and the child looses confidence b/c the horse wont do what he/she asks it to do.

WHY?
I didn't read anything that suggests he is suitable for what you plan.

Is there any particular reason, he needs to be on a hack/party line.
If it's your business thats great- but why not sell him to a single owner and get something more suitable for that job.

Thanks to everyone. We had him on the pony sweep today with the other ponies so we went ahead and put kids on him. He did excellent. I'd already did some no-nos in the saddle like leaning the wrong way and all that and I've been riding him ALOT so I was confident he'd be okay. I did stay by his head the whole time to keep an eye on him but he was great. So proud of my little guy. I'll be posting some pics soon.