[KristiKGC]

I prefer to buy something at least 17 hands. I've got a 38" inseam so finding a horse to take up my leg is challenging! However, my younger boy was a 16.1h 3 year old when I bought him and he took up my leg rather well then. I figured that even if he only grew another inch I would look fine on him. (He grew another hand+). People laugh when they see me walk out with my 18h guy tacked up. Then they realize he doesn't look so big with me on him!

On the other hand, I've been riding a 14.2 pony lately and she's rather round and people are amazed I don't look ridiculous on her. I've also ridden the haflinger pony when he's naughty and I do look quite ridiculous on him, but he listens!

[achcosuva]

I've got a 38" inseam so finding a horse to take up my leg

What about pants to take up your leg? Wow! I have a 36" inseam and I have a time and a half trying to find appropriate pants for work that I can wear with flats, much less dress shoes (ie: heels). I usually just wear skirts for heel days.

What about riding breeches? I know my longs usually come to mid-calf, so I wear knee socks over them. Have you found extra long breeches?

[twofatponies]

For the longest time I only rode horses that were 16hh and up - just happened to be what was available - Irish Sport Horses, Hanoverians, TB crosses, Dutch Warmbloods, draft crosses, etc.

Then two years ago I took a couple of trips in Latin America and happened to ride some of the local horses there - and some really well-trained ranch horses, too, not tourist-ride horses. I was amazed and impressed. They were in the 14-15 hh range. I think that compact build contributed to really comfortable gaits (not a lot of "spring"), and to an amazing agility and handiness. It reminded me of how much fun it was to ride ponies when I was younger and smaller. It's also so nice to be able to just mount the dang things without having to stand them in a hole. It's so nice not to be six feet in the air!

That said, I have what I have - a 16hh warmblood and a 15.2 Morgan. I still occasionally ride other people's horses that are 16-17 hh. I don't love it. I would be delighted to get a 14-15 hh horse if I ever get another horse. And I'm 5'8".

[Blinkers On]

I like athletic good moving horses. I don't mind a small "barn pony" but I do like a horse with some scope that isn't narrow. Lately I have been amazed by 2 year olds that I can't reach the middle of their backs. I would consider them too big if they weren't athletic to boot. Big or small I want a free moving "package." Bigger can be better for resale after their racing career.
But really all I ask is they do their job and aren't clunky.

[BCEVENTER]

I like me a stocky 15.3/16. I am short, but bigger boned. I need something that is small enough to use my leg and big enough that the horse doesnt look like a shrimp.

[Bluey]

I think that our preferred size is inverse to our age, the older we get, the smaller we like them.

I am 14.3 hands, 4'11" for the mathematically challenged, but never cared what size horse I rode, big jumpers or tall race horses were fine, as were the little bitty cowhorses.
Now, give me the very short ones, unless someone else will get off to open wire pasture gates for me.

I have one 15.2, several from 15 to 14.1.
Some of the shorter ones ride bigger than the big one.

I think that we normally like whatever does the job we are doing with them.

[Georgette_Morris]

I have two- One is 15'2 and the other is 18hh. The littler one is DEFINITELY handier! I would say in general, 15' to 16' is most comfortable to me, but I just fell in love with my big guy.

[Mini_Me]

I'm 5'3" and while I don't mind a tall horse, I don't like the monster 'freight train' WB's. Give me a 15.3 to 16.1ish typical TB any day of the week.

The big WB's are just too big, too heavy, too much to package, especially when I can't even begin to get my leg around them.

[ddashaq]

I like the 15-16hh range, but currently own a midget (14.2). He is a blast to ride, but the next horse will be a more appropriate height.

[Beverley]

Well, at my 5 foot 7 size, I've ridden as short as a tiny evil Shetland (to break and train) and as tall as 18 hands. Horses I've owned ranged from 14.2 (current new horse) to 16.2 (a warmblood, a tb, and current appendix is close to that).

I read eons ago, Littauer perhaps, that the ideal size for the horse, from the horse's point of view- musculoskeletal etc- is 15.2 hands. And I believe it, having owned a 15.2 hand quarter horse that I hunted hard for 20 seasons, w/o any lameness issues save those caused by external injury (bruise, stick in a frog).

I have to say I am having a blast with the 14.2 hand 3yo. Down side. She is VERY athletic (I am tempted to try her on cutting) and can buck, very well. So we hope for no more bee stings. Up side. Real sweetheart, sooo easy on mounting and dismounting, and has big horse gaits, no trouble walking with bigger horses on the trails. The big appendix? A sweetheart, too. And, at age 5, a packer, I'm pleased to say I haven't messed him up since acquiring him at age 2 and I could put my grandmother on him for a trail ride. I have no trouble getting on him from the ground...but in 10 years, when he's 15 and my little mare is 13, she's gonna look awfully good...

[nightsong]

Well, we've got a bit of dichotomy here. The one I feel most COMFORTABLE on is a 13-hand pony. What FITS MY LEG (and so, I can ride most "corectly," and most likely, EFFECTIVELY as well) is a 16-hand Thoroughbred. Sigh...

[tkhawk]

15.3 is my max. Beyond that-well I do trail so don't need bigger. About 15 with a nice built frame is perfect. My mustang is 14.1 -built nice so let's see how he does.....

[WhisperHeart]

i like between 15 and 16hh and i'm 5'6" with a 30/31" inseam


My Qh gelding i have is 15.1hh and is built nice and i like be able to get on him easily from the ground with out having to strain or stand on something,..i also like being able to mount him bareback from the ground without alot of hassel.


but i also own a 17hh TB gelding had been a dream of mine for awhile to own a tall(over 16hh) TB who was calm and easily ridden....and luckly i found him and couldn't be happier with him. hes a sweetheart and just a gentle giant and he's safe enough i can put my non-horsey hasn't-ridden-since-high-school dad on him and he'll take care of him and only go as fast as my dad wants to go.


before i got my Qh gelding i was looking at a 18.1hh TB gelding...kinda glad now i didn't get him i find 18+ hh is to tall for me and would rather stay on horses that are 17hh and below.

I have also ridden a POA mare who was 14.1 on her best day and loved riding her so fast and quick and was really well trained. i loved that little mare tried to buy her but her jerky owners who didn't care for her well wouldn't let me and left without any notice.


i also have a 15.2hh mustang mare who i bet ould be great to ride but she not trained so riding isn't an option...or atleast right now its not.

[imjustjoking22]

I am not very tall (about 5ft5 or 5ft6) but I think I fit well on my boy- he is about 16.2. I looked like a midget on my old guy though, who was 17.2, and I wouldn't buy a horse bigger than mine now.

[jophoto]

Do I look about right on her? (yes, my stirrups were a little high, I was seeing if it would get me in a better position when I was jumping that day).

http://www.jodieotte.com/blog/1108/mepippi.jpg

I THINK she is 15.3. I could be wrong. My friend thinks she is 16 - that's possible. I can't figure it out. I've tried to measure and when I measure, I always screw it up.

I'm 5 feet 3.5 inches.

I feel right on her... love her barrell - she is nice and thick. I can't stand riding thin horses. I feel more balanced on a thick horse.

My teeny tiny 9-year-old rides her 15.0 horse - they look nice together even though she is tiny... My 12-year-old son who is taller than me looks good on his 15.2 Perch cross - but she is very big barrelled and she takes up his long legs just fine.

[equineartworks]

Something really low to the ground so when I fall off it wont hurt so much.

seriously though..around 15 is probably best for me.

[turningpointequine]

My stallion is 15.3 and I feel soooooo good on him. He's got a good body on him and I just feel secure.

My mare is 16.1 and she's honestly the biggest I think I want to ride. Any bigger and I'm really not comfortable.

I'm only 5'2" by the way.

[GotGait]

I have Pasos. They are short, I'm short, and it's a short trip to the ground should I happen to come off. In short, I like short.

[KristiKGC]

What about pants to take up your leg? Wow! I have a 36" inseam and I have a time and a half trying to find appropriate pants for work that I can wear with flats, much less dress shoes (ie: heels). I usually just wear skirts for heel days.

What about riding breeches? I know my longs usually come to mid-calf, so I wear knee socks over them. Have you found extra long breeches?

Tell me about it! I just laugh when people tell me they'd love to be as tall as I am; I remind them that at least they can find clothes that fit! I've found that I can sometimes get work pants by ordering from a catalog and asking for them to be unhemmed.

The only breeches that "fit" me are TS and pikeurs and even those only come to my calf, but I've learned to deal with it because I've yet to find them in extra long. I really wish they'd wake up and realize that tall people ride too!

[onelanerode]

I tend to gravitate toward 15.1-15.2 ... but at 5'2", well, it's not like I have that much leg to take up. Current mare is just a smidge over 15 hands and still growing. I like the honies ...

I feel OK on substantial large ponies/cob types up to horses about 16.1. Taller than that and I start getting intimidated. I know that's silly but I feel so tiny and so high off the ground, and most of the time I don't feel like a very effective rider as my leg is only about halfway down the horse's barrel. I think 16.3 is the biggest I've ever been on. That was too big, LOL!