How big is the biggest horse you've ever ridden?

[Fools Motto]

Just ridden a big mare for some lovely friends.
I say big, probably mean enormous! The stick goes to 18.2 hh and she is bigger. I'm 5'4'' btw!! She is my biggest I've ever ridden, so got me thinking - who was yours and how big?
I had a nice time - long way up, luckily the mounting block was of a good size. And it was a long way down. lol
Awaiting photos from said friends.

 

[Micky]

18Hands..big fella who when he felt like it, would lift his head a fraction so it was impossible to get his bridle on..exhausted just to tacking up, but to ride, he was smooth, just lovely and temperament to boot..took me a while to get used to the huge canter strides though!

 

[Flicker]

17.3 shire cross. Competing advanced medium. Once I found his buttons it was like riding a Bentley - big but powerful and super light. He also loved his jumping but was unfortunately more Russian Sherp all-terrain vehicle when it came to that discipline!!

 

[tda]

Ha ha I once sat on a 16.1hh Cleveland bay, soon got off ? I'll stick to ponies ?

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Ive sat on a couple of 18hh clydesdales and a 16.2hh suffolk punch who was wider than she was tall ?? bit of a change from a tb anywho!

 

[Cortez]

18.1h is the biggest I've ridden, and he had a half brother who was 18.2h. I have seen a 19h three year old, who sadly never made it to four as he had serious soundness problems. Riding the big fella (the 18.1h) was lovely, I won a few dressage competitions with him and he was 5th in the heavyweight hunter at Dublin, the only problem was getting on, and we had to dig out the floor of his stable door so he could fit in.

 

[honetpot]

An 18.2 drag hunter. I can not say I rode it, I was sixteen and literally just steered it to follow the horses in front. It must have looked like Thelwells riding school sized up. My normal ride was 17.2 and honestly was easier to ride than some 13.2 ponies. This is the day when horses came out of farmer fields not really bred for the purpose, so even when they were hunting fit they were not really sharp, even after their day off.

 

[Snowfilly]

18.3 Clydesdale, although he had high withers so was more like 18. Which is quite enough.

You got to the end of the school side very quickly! He was a delight to handle and own but I got a bit fed up with having various bits of tack and harness specially made for him.

He was incredibly sound aside from a couple of abscesses in his last year.

I always rode him with safety stirrups as I didn’t trust that my weight and height would be enough to get my leathers off if there was an accident. Dismounting took a long while!

 

[Starzaan]

19.3hh shire. I love big horses and mine are all over 17hh but I don’t particularly like heavy horses. It was fun to have a sit on such a giant though.

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

18.2hh Clydesdale. That horse is incredible; perfectly light off the leg, collects like a dream, so much power but at the lightest touch.

I own a 17.1hh Suffolk but he's an overgrown pony.

 

[spacefaer]

18.2hh hwt warmblood. At a time when I was competing 16hh TBs - he felt ridiculously huge (and very wide )

Now have 2 x 18hh sporty RIDs who don't feel particularly big at all!

 

[shamrock2021]

17.3 I am only 4 foot 11 With very short legs. so I looked stupid on a horse That big. If I was teller and had longer legs I would try a 18 hand horse.

 

[doodle]

18.2 and old bosses shirex. She was lovely but in the school took about 3 strides up the long side. Hacking out was easier!

 

[blood_magik]

Current big lad is 18.3hh and built like a house. He’s a dream to ride - just need a little more time to prepare for turns.

 

[ihatework]

I have an occasional ride on a 17.3/18hh at the moment, a lovely Kannan sj’er. That’s probably the biggest. Ridden a few around the 17.2hh mark. A few years back a fellow livery had a warmblood dressage horse that was close to 19hh which is utterly obscene.

 

[SEL]

We've got 2 over 18h at my yard - Shire and a warmblood. Make everything else look tiny.

I rode for a dealer in my teens and she got an 18.1h Suffolk through called Doris. Only 4 but wow she was lovely. I'm 5'3.5" (the 0.5 being very important) so I looked ridiculous up there ?

 

[Pippity]

An 18.2hh-ish Shire at Cumbrian Heavy Horses. It was a bit of a mountaineering expedition to get up there (I'm 5'1" on a tall day) but, once I was up, it was just like riding any other horse. Until it came time to get off again... Fun for an occasional ride, but I'll stick to my 15hh cob, thanks!

 

[Fools Motto]

I'm surprised I don't look smaller on her!! lol

 

[shortstuff99]

I once rode an 18hh Shire x mare who was 5 years old when I was only 14! I'm 5'3 now so imagine how small I was then. I was doing as the owner was producing to sell and wanted to put ridden and handled by a small child on the advert ?. To be fair she was a lovely horse and sold to the first viewer so must have worked!

 

[shortstuff99]

I once rode an 18hh Shire x mare who was 5 years old when I was only 14! I'm 5'3 now so imagine how small I was then. I was doing as the owner was producing to sell and wanted to put ridden and handled by a small child on the advert ?. To be fair she was a lovely horse and sold to the first viewer so must have worked!

 

[oldie48]

17.2 WB, once I was on him I felt fine however, he had the most enormous trot and he almost launched me into space. His stable name was Orbit!

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

I had a full ID who was 18.2 and an absolute dote in every way. The only draw back every time I went to bring him in he would just stand stock still and lift his head out of my 5'4" reach lol! I did solve that with turning out in a leather headcollar with an 18" piece of rope left dangling.

 

[meleeka]

16.2hh which is my current Friesian mare. That’s as big as I’d ride, but wouldn’t mind a sit on something bigger.

 

[fiwen30]

'Rode' would be taking some liberties as to what I actually did on a friend's 17.1hh Novice eventer. The horse was so well mannered, but so far beyond my pay-grade! My job was to sit on it and provide a lead/nanny on hacks, whilst my friend rode the babies - the mare took as good care with me as she did with the youngsters, bless her.

At 5'3", it was a bloody long way down, and despite my legs barely reaching halfway down her sides, I was acutely aware of feeling like I was sitting on a polite rocket.

Wouldn't regularly get on anything over 15hh these days!

 

[Tarragon]

Another one who has ridden at the Cumbrian Heavy Horse centre - they are magnificent beasts and well worth the visit!

 

[teddypops]

An 18.2hh Shire x TB. I used to be a ride leader and would sometimes go from a 13hh exmoor to the 18.2hh! It took a bit of getting used to!

 

[Tarragon]

An 18.2hh Shire x TB. I used to be a ride leader and would sometimes go from a 13hh exmoor to the 18.2hh! It took a bit of getting used to!

My normal mount is also a 13hh Exmoor pony. I once rode a friend's warmblood and I just couldn't get over the size of the trot! It seemed endless and had me in a fit of giggles.

 

[teddypops]

My normal mount is also a 13hh Exmoor pony. I once rode a friend's warmblood and I just couldn't get over the size of the trot! It seemed endless and had me in a fit of giggles.

Ha ha! I used to get round the rides a lot quicker on the 18.2 although I felt like I was going much faster on the 13hh!

 

[windand rain]

18hh Percheron he was lovely very well schooled and a delight to handle but steering was like steering an oil tanker on high seas you barely got tuned onto the short side of the school before you were turning again

 

[cremedemonthe]

Biggest I have ridden was 17.3 T/bred, biggest I have fitted a saddle to was 19.1 (Warmblood near Oldencraig yard) and 19 hands (Wimbledon Rangers horse) I had to stand on upside down buckets etc to see the saddles.
I also fitted a saddle to a 18.2 Shire up in a Keston yard, I had the comfort that time of a low wall to stand on to look properly, as I was leaning over the back of the horse to look up the channel for clearance he decided to walk off. I was taken with him and was hanging over his rump like a pair of saddle bags until I slid to the ground, followed by howls of laughter from the woman riding him and the yard girls.
Oz