18 + hands... gawd help me!

Fools Motto

Fools Motto

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I've lived a sheltered horsey life! Anything over 16 hands is big, 17 hands is massive and beyond that, well, I've never gone beyond that really! So, new horse at the yard, and I'm getting vertigo just looking at him! How the bejesus do I, as groom, groom him... or tack him up? I can barely reach above his elbows!!! (minor exaggeration there!, but you get the jist!) I'm just about 5'4''. I fear my arms/shoulder/neck and my tip toes may suffer.

Those with BIG, really big horses, how do you manage?

I prefer those around the 14.2 mark...
 
Laughing at the image of me walking around with a chair, laughing at the other girls laughing at me with chair....
If needs must though! Poor horse.
 
Fools Motto said:
I've lived a sheltered horsey life! Anything over 16 hands is big, 17 hands is massive and beyond that, well, I've never gone beyond that really! So, new horse at the yard, and I'm getting vertigo just looking at him! How the bejesus do I, as groom, groom him... or tack him up? I can barely reach above his elbows!!! (minor exaggeration there!, but you get the jist!) I'm just about 5'4''. I fear my arms/shoulder/neck and my tip toes may suffer.

Those with BIG, really big horses, how do you manage?

I prefer those around the 14.2 mark...
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One reason why I would never buy anything over 16.1
 
i had exactly this issue myself, i'm a little taller at 5ft7 but still he was a lot of horse for me, and i had to ride him for his owner and he was strong too.... annything over 17.2hh is a mans horse in my eyes, not because ladies cant ride them just because i think men can get more out of them as they are big animals (please no one take offence my observation comes from riding two 18hh horses regularly)
 
I used to think anything over 15.2hh was big... now my horse is 17hh and he's normal-sized to me, 16hh looks tiny, and friends 17.2hh looks big-ger, and I regularly used to ride an 18hher so whilst big, not scarily so... I also only needed a step to mount him, but I am 5'9" so have a height advantage...

It's what you're used to, you'll soon adapt!!!
 
i am only 5ft and currently helping a friend with turnout out and bringing in her 17hh cob, he is a gentle giant but did try and get away with me the first day so i changed the lead rope so i had a decent hold instead of it running through my hands and now he is so well behaved, glad i dont have to groom him though.
 
Maybe you could dig a trench for him to stand in to be groomed and tacked up?

We used to have a shire, he was 19.1 unshod, slightly taller when he was shod. One day our farrier decided to shoe him in the stable which was a bit of a fail as we then couldn't get the horse out of the door, the shoes made him too tall to fit. Had to take the bloomin' things off again.

So, um, yes I can sympathise with your problem, I think a chair is going to be a regular feature in your life from now on!!
 
With that height difference, I'm not sure if it would make you tall enough to reach, if you bought one of those combined step-up grooming/tool boxes. But at least it would look perfectly normal for you to drag it with you around the yard, compared to a chair.

Regardless what you decide to use, if anyone laughs, remember...

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Something you get used to i guess, was around big horses regularly from about 12/13 so got used to the bigguns :) how i ended up with a 12hher ill never know!
 
I have a 14.3 arab and I'm 5'4 and have also contemplated this as my youngster is 16.2 and rising. He will probably reach 17 hands. A sturdy step seems the way forward:)
 
OP I symphasise! My husbands horse is about 17.2 - never actually measured him so could be bigger. But BIG with it, all giant feet and head! I manage most things from the ground bar his mane which I use a step for. He's very good and lowers his head for the headcoller. I don't like putting his HW rug on, it weighs a ton and it's likes putting a boat cove on the titanic. Though to be honest he's easier than my three small ponies!!!! They're naughty, the big chap is much to placid so despite his size, I feel completly safe!

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Milk crate and manners are all you need.

Here is my big lad, I bought him at 6 months, this picture was taken at 18 months old, he finished at 18.1hh. Pure bred RID.

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AdorableAlice said:
Here is my big lad, I bought him at 6 months, this picture was taken at 18 months old, he finished at 18.1hh. Pure bred RID.
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Beautiful!

I've ridden a few bigger horses but not many. I'm used to my little 14.2 connie but absolutely loved riding this 17.1hh beauty with the equestrian society! Such a gentlemen but it was a heavy landing when i threw myself into my dismount at the end, forgetting how high up I was!

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Love said:
Beautiful!

I've ridden a few bigger horses but not many. I'm used to my little 14.2 connie but absolutely loved riding this 17.1hh beauty with the equestrian society! Such a gentlemen but it was a heavy landing when i threw myself into my dismount at the end, forgetting how high up I was!

15.2 high and wide tomorrow !! you have to chip the mud off first.
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They do definitely get smaller over time somehow. When I moved to Canada I'd been used to my 15hh Arab and 13hh welsh b. I ended up working for a guy with short man syndrome...of the 11 horses in my charge I had 3 horses that were over 17.2, and the rest were 16.2 plus (bar little Harry at a runty skinny 15.1, bless, he looked so out of place with the big boys). After a while I didn't notice the size, they were so well mannered, they were easier to handle than my little 14hh Spanish I have now.
 
Adorable Alice he is magnificent! Love, I know where you are coming from. I rode a 17.3 a few weeks ago. Ended up on my backside trying to dismount as the floor was 11 inches further away than expected!
 
I had to fit a saddle to a 19.1 once and I had to stand on a bucket to get to see the saddle properly much to the horse and rider's amusement.
Stood on a low wall to fit another 18.2 Shire's saddle and was bending over looking up the channel of the saddle for clearance (rider was on board so looked like I was peering up her posterior) when the horse walked off, I slipped off the wall and ended up laying across the horse's rump dangling like a groaning pair of saddle bags, I can still remember the laughs of the girls round the yard as I slid off and landed just missing the muck heap!
Oz
 
nearly 2, I think the photo was at Kings Heath Horse Show which is in May.

He was a big boy, Coleman was the dam sire and he tended to put a lot of size in.
 
My usual lad is 15 2hh, the first time I rode my 17 + hh I was scared to ask him to walk on, it was a long way down (I'm 5' 6"), now if I need to I can mount from the ground, I stand on tip toe to groom and tack up, he lowers his head for the bridle
 
My 17.2 used to stick his nose in the air for some people, hilarious! It's odd, but I felt safer on him than on my little cob.

I have a grooming box which is also a step, very useful cos even when my 15.1 sticks his head up, it's a reach to get the forelock looking like Dwayne Dibbly's. :biggrin3:

cremedemonthe said:
I had to fit a saddle to a 19.1 once and I had to stand on a bucket to get to see the saddle properly much to the horse and rider's amusement.
Stood on a low wall to fit another 18.2 Shire's saddle and was bending over looking up the channel of the saddle for clearance (rider was on board so looked like I was peering up her posterior) when the horse walked off, I slipped off the wall and ended up laying across the horse's rump dangling like a groaning pair of saddle bags, I can still remember the laughs of the girls round the yard as I slid off and landed just missing the muck heap!
Oz
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Brilliant, Oz! :D
 
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