pony club horse height

[Ceffyl_Cymraeg]

Does anybody know of somebody that rides a 17.0-18hh for pony club

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Are you a member of the Pony Club?

 

[Ceffyl_Cymraeg]

Yes

 

[HappyHollyDays]

In that case I would talk to people in your club as it depends on what your expectations/ambitions are. Your previous posts are about mounted games and a horse that large wouldn’t be ideal, however if you want to event then a larger animal would be fine.

 

[misst]

As HHD says. There's no height restriction for PC but obviously mounted games need an agile nippy mount and a larger horse is unlikely to be useful competitively for this. If the horse looks much too large/too much horse for your ability an instructor or DC may suggest it is not suitable but size alone is not prescribed by PC.

I have known several big horses being used in PC for SJ and eventing by teenagers. Often they were tall and their riding ability matched the horse. One did not and for safety reasons it was suggested that the member rode a different horse if possible for rallies and obviously they would not be considered for teams.

 

[Peglo]

I’ve gone from a 16.1 to a 14.2 and if it’s games you want to do I would definitely go for the pony type. My 13.2 was better still.

 

[rabatsa]

Yonks ago I rode a large horse at Pony Club, he was 17 hands ish. I was not a great height. My older sister had a 14.3 cob.

We took them to PC camp and I think that the DC thought we should be mounted on each others horses, being tactful he told us all at tea time that the following day we could not ride anything that we were unable to mount without stirrups.

I spent a fair portion of the evening practicing and the next morning I swung up easily onto my mount. My sister was unable to get onto her cob and ended up riding a small pony for the morning session. We were back to our own animals by lunch time.

 

[Ceffyl_Cymraeg]

Unfortunately pc mounted games ends at 14

 

[Barton Bounty]

Crikey , I couldnt get off and on something that size lol ?im a midget

 

[Ceffyl_Cymraeg]

What do you guys think would be a good horse height for someone 5.8 and 14

 

[Barton Bounty]

If your doing pony club and mounted games, 14.1-14.2 ?

 

[Widgeon]

If your doing pony club and mounted games, 14.1-14.2 ?

Yes, if you're 5'8" and not heavy (10 stone-ish) you should be able to stick with a slightly chunky 14-14.2hh for a long time. Like forever.

(I like ponies!)

 

[Ceffyl_Cymraeg]

Would I look to tall on a tb cause I know their quite narrow

 

[SilverLinings]

Would I look to tall on a tb cause I know their quite narrow

I am 5'7'' and a few years ago I owned a 15.3hh TB (a fine one, ex-flat racer) and I definitely did not look too big. The soles of my feet were above the bottom of his chest, and I did not look too tall above the saddle. I currently ride fairly fine 14.2hh Connemaras, and again don't look too tall- in fact when I have sent photos of us to friends they have been surprised that they are ponies as we are a good fit. Again, my feet are above the bottom of their chest/girth, and I have no trouble with leg contact or balance. As I have a long body I would possibly feel top-heavy on anything much under 14.1hh, but 14.2-15.2 is probably about perfect for me, although I could obviously ride anything larger too.

In PC a lot of the lessons have to accommodate riders on ponies, so if you have a very large horse (above 16.2hh) then you may find schooling manoeuvres and jumping striding difficult as it will have been set up to work for the majority of the group, which is unlikely to be made up of 17hh horses. Most PCs hold rallies at a variety of different yards and riding in smaller maneges (particularly jumping) is definitely easier on something <16.2hh . Finding a suitable stable at PC camp for an 17hh-18hh horse would be a big problem for most branches too.

I am a PC area examiner and trainer and personally I would say that if you are looking to buy a horse for PC at 14yrs old and 5'8'' you would be best looking for something around 15hh-16hh. Many PC members in that age group are still riding ponies, and even in the older age groups I rarely see anyone mounted on a horse over 16.3hh, and that includes the tall male riders. Something 14.2hh-15hh may be fine now, but if you grow any taller then they may not last you very long.

 

[Barton Bounty]

Would I look to tall on a tb cause I know their quite narrow

Probably on a neat tb at 15.hh you would be fine

 

[GSD Woman]

I'm 5'7" and when I was young and slim, around 9 stone, I was often asked to get on various ponies that were acting cheeky in lessons. Some were smaller ponies, 12.2-13hh and my long legs were an advantage with those. My favorite pony was 14hh and I looked OK on her. My own gelding was 15.2. Now a days if I was looking I would be looking at 15hh and under.

 

[WelshD]

Plenty of 16hh+ horses in our PC

What I've noticed though is for younger riders the size and ability of their horse can put them outside their peer group and it can be quite a lonely life being in with older kids. If you're interested in competing and PC teams I'd stay on ponies as long as you can