Do thick/shorter necks cause any problems??

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Jinx94

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Found a friesian x advertised and he looks lovely (need a discussion with the 'rents before talking to the advertiser). He's very hairy - looks much like a huge teddy bear, I've had a friend take a look at the pictures, the main comment she had was that his neck was pretty short and thick.

Do any of you have horses with thick chunky necks? and have they caused any difficulties at all?? Said friend is anti-chunky necks, won't touch them with a barge-pole but doesn't have a solid answer as to why.

Thanks! x
 
personal view:
A short thick neck is potentially very strong - just imagine all that muscle working against you in any situation from schooling to steering, bogging off etc
A short neck means the horse isnt balanced - he s going to be forever on his forehand. This is a physical thing and no amount of schooling will help enough.
Often an over short neck has a heavy long head at the end of it - again this makes a nice outline virtually impossible, and horse will struggle to even carry head higher than wither height. Downhill horses are not comfy.
Even cobs and traditionals all benefit from a decent length of neck.
However, if you want to drive , this horse will pull a cart all day long!
 
My cob has a short, thick neck.

He does find it hard to work in a outline in trot, but does not use his neck against me - I hunt him and he is reasonably strong but always responsive, and easily stoppable.

I wouldn't say he was heavy on the forehand at all either - my other horse who is far better built and works in a natural outline is far more liable to do that.

As for the previous poster saying that a horse with a short neck will struggle to carry its head above wither height, that is certainly not the case with my chap!

He bascules nicely when jumping but can go hollow in his flatwork so do try to ride him correctly to stop this affecting his topline.
 
I am far from an expert, but a very short neck can feel like there's nothing in front of you which doesn't always give a terribly nice ride - it can feel a bit scary especially when jumping and the neck disappears.
 
cornbrodolly said:
personal view:
A short thick neck is potentially very strong - just imagine all that muscle working against you in any situation from schooling to steering, bogging off etc
A short neck means the horse isnt balanced - he s going to be forever on his forehand. This is a physical thing and no amount of schooling will help enough.
Often an over short neck has a heavy long head at the end of it - again this makes a nice outline virtually impossible, and horse will struggle to even carry head higher than wither height. Downhill horses are not comfy.
Even cobs and traditionals all benefit from a decent length of neck.
However, if you want to drive , this horse will pull a cart all day long!
Click to expand...

^^ I agree with this. We had a cob with a short neck and upright shoulder and it really limited what one could do with him. Fine as a hack, but schooling was very difficult indeed and the poor horse used to get stressed too because he found working round so difficult. We sold him as a hack in the end. Conformation really does matter when you want to do a specific with a horse.

Adding to say my cob carried his head very high, which meant you could get bashed in the face when jumping.
 
Last edited:
Thanks very much for the responses! My family aren't massively horsey, and I don't have that many friends that know what to look for.

In the advert they've said that he's forward going, but very responsive. He's ride and drive but has been driven more so schooling will be needed!

cornbrodolly, thanks for your first point! Wasn't something that I had considered straight away. In the school, if he decided to throw a wobbler I could handle it, not so sure if he tried to tank off down a country lane though!

He does hold his head quite high - the friesian in him is pretty obvious!!

FubsyMog, the pony I first learned to jump on used to have a disappearing head and neck!!

I had been looking for something tall and sporty, so that I can start competing etc. But I saw him and thoughts of competing were out of the window. I'd be happy to hack around, do a little schooling and pop over a small jump every now and again - but nothing more strenuous.
 
Jinx94 said:
Thanks very much for the responses! My family aren't massively horsey, and I don't have that many friends that know what to look for.

In the advert they've said that he's forward going, but very responsive. He's ride and drive but has been driven more so schooling will be needed!

cornbrodolly, thanks for your first point! Wasn't something that I had considered straight away. In the school, if he decided to throw a wobbler I could handle it, not so sure if he tried to tank off down a country lane though!

He does hold his head quite high - the friesian in him is pretty obvious!!

FubsyMog, the pony I first learned to jump on used to have a disappearing head and neck!!

I had been looking for something tall and sporty, so that I can start competing etc. But I saw him and thoughts of competing were out of the window. I'd be happy to hack around, do a little schooling and pop over a small jump every now and again - but nothing more strenuous.
Click to expand...

Op - you probably know this but Friesiens are quite upright in build anyway. I have a Dales youngster (Dales have Friesien blood) and he has quite a high head carriage naturally. You only have to look at the Friesien driving horses and they are very upright and majestic. My advice would be to see the horse in the flesh and try him out - photos can be very deceiving. Good luck!
 
Mine's a friesian x ID he's (photos in my album on here) he's more upright through his shoulders but we've never had any problems because of his neck :)
 
My haffy's neck is as thick as it is long, so massive but short, I've never given it much thought but back in the days when he was a naughty boy, if he set it against me I had no chance. He works nice when he can be bothered though and I don't think it affects him in any way.
I did notice when I got on my friends mare her ears were miles away!!!:D
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Another one here with a short, fat necked pony!

Mine is NEVER heavy on the forehand - quite the opposite as he has quite high head carriage!

When I first got him, getting him working in an outline was extremely difficult but with schooling exercises ect. It has become easier and easier (and someone more experienced can get him carrying himself very nicely.)

When we jump he does hold his head high but I have never smacked myself in the face or anything!

It's personal preference really, now if I get on anything taller or longer I feel as if I'm too far away from their head or as if I'm going to fall off the back :D
 
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