Adults riding ponies

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GSD Woman

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It seems to me a lot of adults in the UK ride ponies, at least more than in the USA. Are the native ponies built to be able to carry an adult? Some of the natives look pretty stocky, like a good weight carriers. So could a fairly tall woman ride one without feeling her feet are dragging on the ground?
 
I rode a 13.2 stocky welsh when younger, as a tall youngster, roughly the same weight as now @50kg.
30 inch legs wrap around a native belly quite well without dropping too low on the belly.

my friend has ponies and i was reminded how fun they are to ride...to the point of considering getting one....recently been scanning ads....OH wide-eyes said ‘nooooo’ ?

If the pony is slender-build then adult legs tend to be too long.
 
Ponies over here tend to be more refined, if that is the correct word. Some of the Morgans, Quarter horses and POAs are stockier and are good weight carriers. I love looking at the natives on H&H. They look so sturdy and useful.
 
I have a Dales x and she is 14hh but very stocky, I’m 5ft 9 and she carries me easily and takes up my leg. Highly recommend ponies, they are so much fun. In Denmark, my mare creates much interest as the don’t generally see anything with a lot of feather that small.
We have lots of Icelandic ponies but I’ve not yet met one that looked big enough for me to ride!
 
A lot of natives have more bone than much bigger horses. My lad is a 13.2hh welsh C, he wears bigger boots than my 15.2hh hunter did and the same size boots as one of the 16.2hh warmbloods on the yard.
They also tend to be fairly broad and take up the leg enormously.

I'm 5ft 4 and close on 12stone, My lad happily takes me for a gallop up a hill or 2 and seems to have no problem taking my weight.
 
My girl is a 14.2hh Welsh Section D. She's a compact tank, and has no trouble carrying me, and can even give the TB's something to worry about when we go for a zoom! I'm 5ft 10" and 65kg, she's plenty broad enough for her not to end up looking like a six legged beast when I'm aboard
 
My current girls are 15hh but I’ve had lots of ponies in the past. I’m just under 5ft 4 and under 9 stone so I look absolutely fine on most and I don’t imagine anything cobby would struggle with my weight. Pony in my profile pic was 14.1hh.
 
My boy is 13.2hh and I’m in my twenties and 5ft 2. There’s also a woman at my yard who has a 13.2hh Fell and she’s in her 30s. Both boys are chunky. Whilst mine isn’t a native, he’s quite cobby. I find ponies more fun (especially when jumping!) and I think I’d feel too small on anything bigger than about 15hh!
 
I used to ride a 13.3hh Highland and I'm 5'7". She was built like a little tank though and didn't have much by way of withers - so the 13.3hh was pretty much all along her back! I loved her, she was a great size. So much easier to care for the shorties (assuming you have plenty of paddocks without any grass)
 
Native ponies have been general-purpose working animals for millennia so have been bred for adults to ride doing jobs like shepherding in upland areas - they are a lot of horse for their size!! They are also very very clever.

one of the limitations is often the size of saddle they can take rather than the height of the rider, they can have short backs.
 
Even some of the smaller breeds make good riding ponies for adults. I still occasionally ride my littles (a 12.2 Dartmoor and a 12.3 Welsh). Both are great fun, and reward my attention with their enthusiasm.
Depends on the build - you want the solid hairy, short-backed types, nothing that looks like a show pony.
 
I only ride ponies - I really don't feel comfortable on anything over 14.2. Its just such a long way down.
My current pony is 14.1 and I'm 5ft2, but he feels big for me. He's really my daughters cob so I've sort of inherited him as mine while she does other things. I've just got my next ridden pony (for the future) and he will make between 13 and 13.2.

I honestly don't think you can beat a plucky little native. Once you get them on side you have a friend/comrade/partner in crime for life. They put there heart and sole into everything and try there heart out for 'their' person.
 
Unless you are big or need a horse to do a specific job riding a pony makes so much more sense IMO
Ponies are tough, cheap to keep, easier to get on, and generally seem 'wiser' than horses
I think there's an element of being 'looked down on' (metaphorically as well as literally) by people on bigger mounts, but that's their problem
 
cauda equina said:
Unless you are big or need a horse to do a specific job riding a pony makes so much more sense IMO
Ponies are tough, cheap to keep, easier to get on, and generally seem 'wiser' than horses
I think there's an element of being 'looked down on' (metaphorically as well as literally) by people on bigger mounts, but that's their problem
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The only problem is that finding a nice sensible, backed and riding away larger native is incredibly hard. I would have one if I could have found one, but despite an awful lot of looking there was just nothing under the age of about fifteen for sale. The bigger natives all seem to be sold as youngsters, which isn't much help if you're clueless and inexperienced in backing and producing babies.
 
This is me on my old 14hh Welsh Section D. I got him when we were both 13 - obviously I grew but he didn't. We were both 25 in this photo. I wouldn't have bought him as an adult as I did feel quite tall on him by the time I stopped growing but there was no way he was going anywhere and he was more than capable of carrying me. I'm 5'6 1/2", he was built like a tank, took up my leg well and rode far bigger than he was - so much so that when he died and I bought my 16.3" Irish Draft (who rode smaller than he was) I barely noticed a difference other than getting off! I always think my upper body looks tall on him but my lower body doesn't. I'd love another but have put on a fair bit of weight in the 17 years since this photo was taken (although I've just lost 3 stone I'd still be a stone or two above what I was here- I had a body protector on under my top so a lot smaller than I look in this photo) so would be too heavy for all but the biggest Section Ds these days - although an old Welsh farmer I know insists Welshies can carry a stone (a stone is 14lbs) a hand.
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I think that when you have adults riding ponies, it is the torso to leg ratio of the person riding that makes the difference to the overall "picture". If you have a long torso, you must have a bigger impact on the centre of gravity. If you have long legs, you are probably fine, but it is possible to "look" too big.
 
Tarragon said:
I think that when you have adults riding ponies, it is the torso to leg ratio of the person riding that makes the difference to the overall "picture". If you have a long torso, you must have a bigger impact on the centre of gravity. If you have long legs, you are probably fine, but it is possible to "look" too big.
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Yes, I'm the opposite - long body and short legs which is why I think I look big on him. I never felt like I unbalanced him though. He never felt for a second like my height was a problem.
 
I am 5'10 and my 15hh Dales takes up the leg as well as my 17.3 did. I switched when I lost yet another big horse. "Ponies" are far, far better over rough terrain, which we have a lot of. I can ride my Dales in places my WBs and TBs just couldn't have coped.
I bought my Dales as a 3yo and backed her myself, as working ones are impossible to find, they just don't get sold!
 
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