AShetlandBitMeOnce
Well-Known Member
My boy is 19hh with his shoes on.. I love bigger horses, he doesn’t feel huge to me any more and he is also not particularly wide which I think helps.
How big is the biggest horse you've ever ridden?
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scats
Well-Known Member
17.2hh I think.
Though I have ridden an elephant, that was pretty big!
Though I have ridden an elephant, that was pretty big!
Chinchilla
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15.3 hh lol!!!! can you tell I'm scared of heights 
Jeni the dragon
Well-Known Member
Did a charity ride on a lovely 17hh hunter many moons ago. He was so nice and polite to ride it was a real fun outing!
Also rode a friends ex-showjumping vaulting horse who was just under 17hh. He arrived with the nickname Fred West as was so naughty but ended up such a fabulous person and twice went to WEG with a team of vaulters. After he retired from that level he visited RDA groups. Lovely boy.
At 5ft1 I think the daft mare definitely suits me best at 13.2hh!
Also rode a friends ex-showjumping vaulting horse who was just under 17hh. He arrived with the nickname Fred West as was so naughty but ended up such a fabulous person and twice went to WEG with a team of vaulters. After he retired from that level he visited RDA groups. Lovely boy.
At 5ft1 I think the daft mare definitely suits me best at 13.2hh!
SpotsandBays
Well-Known Member
17.1 I think! But a fairly light/mid weight so they didn’t feel overly big. I’d love to have a sit on a true heavy!
ycbm
Einstein would be proud of my Insanity...
My husband's 18 hand 7/8? Shire. Like a ginormous pony ?
LadyGascoyne
Well-Known Member
Just over 18hh.
Lovely horse but far too much of it for me. I like my little Araby and Spanishy types. Inconveniently though, as I’m 5’8 and not as slim as I used to be.
Lovely horse but far too much of it for me. I like my little Araby and Spanishy types. Inconveniently though, as I’m 5’8 and not as slim as I used to be.
SatansLittleHelper
Well-Known Member
18.3 Clydesdale x Hanovarian....he was bluddy lovely. While I wouldn't want to have to finance such a big horse, I do love them. Sadly, due to health issues, I struggle with anything over 16.2 and ideally less chunky these days
Equi
Well-Known Member
Id love to try something bigger. My lad is 17hh but very narrow and i feel like a giant on him a lot of the time. I have a very long leg and body but am only 5'8 but i suppose the flab makes me look bigger. I know taller people who can look tiny on a 15hh! Id love to look like im in proportion to a horse lol just once.
ILuvCowparsely
Well-Known Member
17.1hh back in the 70's none bigger since as I don't enjoy riding horses that big 16.1hh is my maximum as I like to look at my horses face, face on without getting a crook neck.
J&S
Well-Known Member
I rode a really big (for me) Dutch warm blood in Holland, he must have been 17 hh plus. I have ridden the Clydesdales on Dartmoor a couple of times, one of them seemed quite neat and small but the second one really seemed too big a horse for me to ride comfortably though he was good as gold.
Lintel
Well-Known Member
I've hacked out a 4 year old 18.2 WB.... I must have only been 15 or 16 but still remember how fabulous it was!
Super chilled, expensive and very well put together youngster!
Have also done a farm ride on a 18hh Shire.
Genuinely terrifying when at full speed and the ground is so far away! Would do it again in a heartbeat though!
Super chilled, expensive and very well put together youngster!
Have also done a farm ride on a 18hh Shire.
Genuinely terrifying when at full speed and the ground is so far away! Would do it again in a heartbeat though!
skint1
Well-Known Member
I'm 5ft 6 and not a great rider. Had a lesson on a 17.2 Shire cross who b**ggered off with me a couple of times. My first mare was 16.3, I had to train her to stand by the mounting block to let me off because it killed my ankles dismounting . My current mare is also 16.3 but she just feels a lot bigger and has a much bigger stride and having had a couple of unplanned dismounts from her, a long old way down! In between I bought my gelding who was 15.3, tbh that is a much more comfortable size for me.
ecb89
Well-Known Member
Mule
Well-Known Member
The biggest one I've ridden was an extremely strong 18 hh draught giant. I'm 5"2. I was riding him at dressage lessons at a riding shool while the beast was unwell. He's not usually used for dressage so it took a lot of work to disusuade him from going about strung out with his head in the air. He was surprisingly very nice when he was working correctly. Not the best walk but a lovely trot and canter. Also quite sensitive. My riding has really improved thanks to him. Riding the beast is like driving a sports car, he is so easy in comparison.
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tatty_v
Well-Known Member
17hh pure Irish draught. An absolute gentleman and one of the kindest horses I’ve ever met. He was massive though (wide as well as tall!) so I’m happy on my 15hh Connie these days! 
abbijay
Well-Known Member
My avatar is the biggest horse I've ever ridden, the 18h measuring stick dangled off the floor so we've always just said he's about 18.1hh. My very novice husband has ridden 2 different horses 18.3hh at Cumbrian Heavy Horses (10 years apart) and my children now age 7 have both mostly learnt to ride on our 18.1hh
This was my son's first dressage test.
I now have a shire horse who is about 17.2hh (haven't got a stick to check) and people laugh that I call him "Little One".
This was my son's first dressage test. I now have a shire horse who is about 17.2hh (haven't got a stick to check) and people laugh that I call him "Little One".
SEL
Well-Known Member
abbijay
Well-Known Member
SEL, I've done a new thread just for you (with a bit of video in it)That dressage test!! Oh I would have loved to have seen that
Sealine
Well-Known Member
When I was younger I used to ride a 17.3 TB. He was all legs and it was impossible to keep weight on him but he was an absolute sweetheart and a gentleman. My horse is 16.1 and I don't feel safe on anything much smaller. I prefer to have a lot of horse underneath me and in front of me
Orangehorse
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately I didn't get to ride him, but a yard where I helped exercise hunters one was 18 hands + man's hunter. I just gazed up and asked how we were supposed to get the saddle on!
daffy44
Well-Known Member
I had a lovely mare who was 18.2, and after her its my avatar horse who is 18hh without shoes, but neither felt particularly big as they are both well proportioned horses with good balance.
Annagain
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure! Arch is 16.3, Mont 17 and I suspect Charlie is about that too. I certainly haven't ridden anything bigger as an adult. At the riding school I used to 'work' at for free rides when I was a kid, there were two shires, Henry and Floss whom we used to ride two at a time. They seemed huge but I was only 11 so they might not have actually been that big. They were gorgeous though, proper gentle giants.
popcorn1
Well-Known Member
17hh.
I read once that in terms of soundness, a horse should be no bigger than 15.2. Any truth in this?
I read once that in terms of soundness, a horse should be no bigger than 15.2. Any truth in this?
AShetlandBitMeOnce
Well-Known Member
It's very rare that you see an 18hh+ horse that's over 20.. Whereas that isn't even really that old for a smaller horse. Take from that what you will.
They just aren't designed to be this big in terms of joints, soft tissue and standing up to work; that being said - I love them!
DottlebangBandersnatch
Well-Known Member
15'1 lol we only have under 14'2 cobs, Shetlands and one old quarter horse mare. She rode western and was a lovely lesson horse. I'd love to ride something bigger one day!
Ranyhyn
Well-Known Member
17/17.1, my old horse Murphy. A true gentlman.
Ranyhyn
Well-Known Member
Very rare indeed. But I know one, Patch who must be 17.2+, who I'm sure the lady told me was 25 as she cantered past me last month
NinjaPony
Well-Known Member
17.3hh sports horse type at a riding school. He was a sweetheart, and certainly made the jumps I was persuaded to do look extremely small. As someone who is pretty afraid of jumping, I have to admit I do see why jumpers like big horses!!
I’d never have one that big though. Just trying to steer around a circle is hard work when they are huge, and it’s much more difficult to keep them together for collected work. Plus the tacking up and rugging up is nightmare! My current two are 11.2hh and 14.2hh, and the next will be 15.2hh!
I’d never have one that big though. Just trying to steer around a circle is hard work when they are huge, and it’s much more difficult to keep them together for collected work. Plus the tacking up and rugging up is nightmare! My current two are 11.2hh and 14.2hh, and the next will be 15.2hh!
simsy6
Active Member
I ride a brilliant 17.3 sporhorse/cob mix at the riding school I'm at and it's great. I've always preferred big horses to small ones. My ideal size is 16.2 or 16.3, but I'm actually really liking riding a 17+ hand horse now!