I am looking for a horse for a....

[LankyDoodle]

... 5'9" female (me) who has plenty of bone herself actually, and a nice amount of padding. She is slowly losing weight gained when ill but the emphasis there should be on slowly. She has quite long legs but not excessively for her height, and she rides lightly with a nice position, according to instructors. She is nearly 25 and has reached a time where she feels confident and knowledgeable enough to take her riding further and wants to do more RC things, attend XC and SJ clinics, do low-level comps and maybe even more serious stuff if she gets good enough. Her current horse is erring on the older side, but still has years left yet of hacking, hunting, low-level schooling stuff and maybe the odd little jump here and there, plus plenty of horsey holidays. She will certainly never part with him but her husband, having just lost his mare, would like to take him on as his ride, as he doesn't really want a new horse at this moment and his wife feels that really she is probably a little on the big side for this 15.1hh cob with 9 inches of bone, at the moment, which has been denied by some people and confirmed by one person who says that the horse is big enough if she wants to just hack and hunt, but if she wants to do more then she needs something 16hh+ (her husband is 6ft but is thin and doesn't want to expand his horizons as much). The person also says that the horse will need a decent amount of bone if she wants it to work for her.

What sort of horse does she need to be looking for? (breed/height etc)...

 

[Serenity087]

15.1hh cob with 9 inches of bone sounds about perfect... but then, at 5ft 8 with a lot of padding and a 15.1hh cob with less than 9 inches of bone (just, but now I can't remember... grr...) that does everything comfortably, I'm going to say that!

Even the amount of padding doesn't matter, I tend to share with my slightly more padded mother - in fact, she had a 14.3hh cob with 9 inches of bone for years!!

 

[Flibble]

I cant really help you but can advise its as much fun looking for a horse as drilling a hole through your skull with a Jack Hammer.

 

[Eaglestone]

I personally think that your current horse is the perfect size for you and someone has been quite 'unkind' to you

... I am sure you posted a pic and he was a lovely stronge chap

I also prefer to handle the smaller horses, that are perfectly capable of taking adult riders. My own is a 14.3 Welsh x and although I am a lightweight and 5' 3" (shrinking

), even if I was heavier, then I would still want a small horse, but with more substance

My other horse is a 16 plus TB and I hate riding him and feel dwarfed handling him, even though he is a good boy most of the time

Therefore I would tend to go for a similar one to your current, lovely chap

BTW ... I did not choose my TB, he found his way to me

 

[Parkranger]

At the risk of being flamed, I'm 5'6" and looked odd on my friends 15hh cob! I weigh around 11 1/2 stone and my 15.3 and 16.1 TB's take me fine - I'd suggest looking at an IDX type.....around 16.2

 

[Parkranger]

and just to add that on the 16.3 warmblood I had on loan I actually looked slimmer and smaller...so it's amazing what a proportionally sized horse can do!

 

[LankyDoodle]

Thank you

Park Ranger, why would you get flamed, lovely!? I'm a tall fattie, hehe!! Even if I was slim I would never be short!

George has never struggled to carry me, but the woman who said it is quite experienced and seemed to say it in the context of me wanting to do things like jumping... she said he's fine for me to hack and hunt, but probably wouldn't get me through a comp! I am sensitive about how heavy I am because I used to have a lovely figure til I got ill

But I am also sensitive to the needs of my horse so if I am too big, I am too big... although I love him, he will always stay with us as my hub is going to ride him, so that's ok

I do seem to look squashed up when I sit on him... as in I probably look fatter because I have to have my legs up higher, to get them round him!

Thank you to everyone. It sounds like these little cobbies are stronger than given credit for, but I'm a sensitive soul really!

 

[LankyDoodle]

See, this shows how tunnel visioned I have been. Would an IDX really be more capable of carrying me than a cob!? I know it is to do with bone and width of loin, but I don't know why, I always associate them with being finer than cobs (I know it's not true, it's just a perception!).

eaglestone, you are right, I did post a pic and everyone comments how strong he looks

 

[Weezy]

How heavy are you? I have a WB, she is 16.2hh, would do everything you want and more and is bombproof (well, as much as you can call a horse bombproof!) and carries me all day hunting etc and I am NOT light!

 

[LankyDoodle]

I think I am defnitely heavier than you, weezy, looking at your lovely pics! How much bone does she have?

 

[Weezy]

Not that much I would say, I am a LOT heavier than I look, even my doctor was amazed (in a bad way) about how much I weigh. Fact is though sometimes the finer horses carry weight remarkably well, so don't think you have to have something big and stocky to do the job you want - if you are balanced yourself then that helps the horse out a great deal.

 

[Syrah]

[ QUOTE ]
See, this shows how tunnel visioned I have been. Would an IDX really be more capable of carrying me than a cob!? I know it is to do with bone and width of loin, but I don't know why, I always associate them with being finer than cobs (I know it's not true, it's just a perception!).

eaglestone, you are right, I did post a pic and everyone comments how strong he looks

[/ QUOTE ]

IDs are excellent weight carriers even IDx if they have enough ID in them.

 

[Smash]

Define 'nice amount of padding' - that could be anywhere between 'actually has an arse' and 'morbidly obsese yet in denial'.

And why on earth are you talking about yourself in the third person?

 

[Weezy]

Agree with Molly, IDs and crosses are great at weight carrying - I have seen plenty with huge, unbalanced gentlemen bouncing around on their backs all day out hunting through plough and they seldom tire!

 

[LankyDoodle]

I think I am somewhere in the middle, smash!!! I'm not bed bound and my husband doesn't have to give me bed baths, but I'm not the world's most modest beyoncé lookie likie, either!

 

[Ottinmeg]

well im 5ft 6, weigh 13 stone and my girl is 15hh dales x. Do i look to big on her, or does she look like she is struggling. I think you would be fine on anything from 15hh upwards.

 

[LankyDoodle]

No, she looks like she carries you with ease to be honest! She is gorgeous! She looks to have a similar amount of bone to George, but is longer in the back

I am taller than you and a bit heavier than you (I can say that even without knowing your weight, because you fit in your saddle better than I do, hehe!), though, so I think probably you are right 15hh+

I need to lose weight. *sigh* I think I may leave it til the new year and try and lose a bit more. I have lost over 2 stone since March... but it's taking so long

 

[Ottinmeg]

[ QUOTE ]
I have lost over 2 stone since March... but it's taking so long

[/ QUOTE ]

maybe but you stand more chance of keeping it off if your losing it slowly

. I could do with losing a couple of stone myself ,i will get around to it one day.

 

[LankyDoodle]

Hehe.

I would describe myself as being a similar size to Becky Holder in this pic:

http://www.horseweb.com/articles/press/images/2006/0220_pinetop.jpg

I have a belly and big legs - that's where I gain weight, and have always, even when slimmer, had big boobs! However, I think you need to add about 6 inches onto her height!

 

[xnaughtybutnicex]

i dont think a 15.1 cob would have problems carrying u they're very strong. size is decieving im 5'4 n gotta say ridden a few shetlands n other little ponies that had no problems at all running off with me

i felt quite silly.

 

[LankyDoodle]

Teeeheee!

Well I've been riding him for 6 years and he's never made any complaints and his legs have never buckled lol. She was saying it, I think, from the aspect that I look silly on him because I am not just tall, I am also big!

She is very opinionated so I have to take that into account as well I think. I mean, my legs don't dangle round his knees! I have to have the stirrups on the 11th hole and my husband needs them on the 8th or 9th, so he definitely has more leg to take up!

I don't think I can get another horse til the new year anyway

Not that I want to cast G aside, it's just I'd like us to get back to being a 2-horse family. We have the house to finish off, some stables stuff to sort and I want to lose a little bit more weight. I think I am aiming to buy a new one in January.

And I have to say, people, I've been looking at ID and IDX horses, and blow me down, they are STUNNING!

 

[Parkranger]

Well, like Weezy, ppl don't believe that I weigh what I weight but I know that I look asthetically more pleasing on a larger horse....weezy has longer legs than me though! ha ha

I think even a nice ISH that's a bit bigger than you would look great. Chocolatelog rode Oscar and looked just right - although she is prob a few inches taller than me and oscar is like a razor blade!