What horse for tall 13 year old?

whenyoufeellikeyourflying

whenyoufeellikeyourflying

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Sep 29, 2019
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Hi
I am a thirteen year old horse rider who has only ridden at a riding school. I can happily jump 90cm courses but am not that confident a rider when doing things like cross country or hunting. I am also very tall 5’9 nearly 5’10 and I was wondering what height horse would suit me best. At the moment I ride a 14hh pony and love her so much but I do feel way too tall on her. Any advice would be much appreciated. I am looking to loan a horse for the summer so was just wondering what kind of horses I should be looking at.
Thank you very much,
Sophie:)
 
Look for stamp rather than height. My 14.1 Welsh cob, who is not a heavy example of the breed, has had a 6ft rider on him and not looked ridiculous or struggled because he has a good depth through the girth, is wide sprung across the ribcage and has a good length of rein. The same can be said of many of our native breeds.

I think because you're coming out of a purely riding school background and used to riding ponies you'd be better off not going for something too big - while they are all bigger and stronger than us so many people feel more intimidated if things start to go wrong on the ground with a bigger horse and certainly with the more powerful bigger ones the casual strength can be a problem if you aren't used to it. Look for something not too tall but stocky and pay a lot of attention to temperament because owning your own is very different. Get a nice sane first pony/cob/horse and if in the future you want to do more than it's capable of it will always sell on easily. As I said before some of our native breeds would probably be very suitable, but generally anything purebred tends to come with a decent price tag unless there are problems.

Just re-read your post and see you're looking to loan which will severely limit your options to what is available.Go in with your eyes wide open - there are genuine loaners out there but there are also some who are hoping to get a horse sorted out for free and won't tell you of problems. Given what you're used to riding I wouldn't go above 15.2 even though you have the height to ride bigger. However I doubt you'll find it easy to get something on loan just for the summer, that's usually when people have least trouble keeping their horses going and if they are struggling then they don't want it back as soon as the weather turns.
 
carthorse said:
Look for stamp rather than height. My 14.1 Welsh cob, who is not a heavy example of the breed, has had a 6ft rider on him and not looked ridiculous or struggled because he has a good depth through the girth, is wide sprung across the ribcage and has a good length of rein. The same can be said of many of our native breeds.

I think because you're coming out of a purely riding school background and used to riding ponies you'd be better off not going for something too big - while they are all bigger and stronger than us so many people feel more intimidated if things start to go wrong on the ground with a bigger horse and certainly with the more powerful bigger ones the casual strength can be a problem if you aren't used to it. Look for something not too tall but stocky and pay a lot of attention to temperament because owning your own is very different. Get a nice sane first pony/cob/horse and if in the future you want to do more than it's capable of it will always sell on easily. As I said before some of our native breeds would probably be very suitable, but generally anything purebred tends to come with a decent price tag unless there are problems.

Just re-read your post and see you're looking to loan which will severely limit your options to what is available.Go in with your eyes wide open - there are genuine loaners out there but there are also some who are hoping to get a horse sorted out for free and won't tell you of problems. Given what you're used to riding I wouldn't go above 15.2 even though you have the height to ride bigger. However I doubt you'll find it easy to get something on loan just for the summer, that's usually when people have least trouble keeping their horses going and if they are struggling then they don't want it back as soon as the weather turns.
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Thank you for your advice we are looking to buy as well and not just for the summer but at the moment I ride a 13.2hh quirky mare and I haven’t just ridden at a riding stable sorry for being vague. I ride at a riding school at the moment but when I was younger -5 I had my own pony I also ride my dads ex racehorse polo horses that are very naughty buck and rear and nap etc so I’m not a purely riding school rider but I only ride these in the summer and winter holiday as they live in australia and I am hoping for a horse that’s a bit of a step up from a first horse. I am not quite sure what I’m looking for I think something between the ex race horse crazy and a first horse if you see what I mean. thank you so much for your reply x
 
Good luck with the search. Agree with carthorse - something solid that will take up your leg would be my advice too. I'm 5'2 and rode my old boy, 13hh 3 and not that chunky and I think I looked bigger on him than I do on my 13hh, VERY solid cob! In the end, for a first horse, temperament first, as long as your feet don't drag on the ground!
 
Huggy said:
Good luck with the search. Agree with carthorse - something solid that will take up your leg would be my advice too. I'm 5'2 and rode my old boy, 13hh 3 and not that chunky and I think I looked bigger on him than I do on my 13hh, VERY solid cob! In the end, for a first horse, temperament first, as long as your feet don't drag on the ground!
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Thank you I think I do want to go taller to 14.3hh at least because otherwise my legs look ridiculous. I’m not too worried about perfect angel first horse as I have ridden ex racehorses that have just come off the track and buck rear and nap so don’t want something too boring ;) but I also do want a horse that I can ride around tackless without feeling like I’m going to die and also a horse that won’t scare my mum to death:)
 
charmisthebesthorse said:
Thank you I think I do want to go taller to 14.3hh at least because otherwise my legs look ridiculous. I’m not too worried about perfect angel first horse as I have ridden ex racehorses that have just come off the track and buck rear and nap so don’t want something too boring ;) but I also do want a horse that I can ride around tackless without feeling like I’m going to die and also a horse that won’t scare my mum to death:)
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Yes, I can see at your height you'd need taller than my 13hh! Your feet really would drag on the ground. Your sizing of 14hh3 or up seems sensible. I look like a pea on a drum on big horses, though I do love riding them!
 
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If you father owns polo horses can you buy one of them? Or even a potential polo pony or TB type that didnt prove suitable?
I dont know about riding a polo pony tackless. In UK one is not allowed to hack on public roads with no tack.
 
Skib said:
If you father owns polo horses can you buy one of them? Or even a potential polo pony or TB type that didnt prove suitable?
I dont know about riding a polo pony tackless. In UK one is not allowed to hack on public roads with no tack.
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Well I can’t buy one of my dads because they are in Australia most of the polo ponies once being trained up are good tackless but I would like to compete in eventing more than polo :)
 
I'm struggling a bit with the differences between your original post and your later replies, particularly when you say you've only ridden at a riding school but then say you ride your dad's ex-racehorse polo ponies - which is it? I still say get something sane and safe, you want to have fun and also there won;t be someone there to sort it out for you. As a rule when an ad says "not a novice ride" or "suitable second pony" you want to be careful because the owner may be trying to cover themselves and the horse may have a few "interesting quirks". They're phrases that don't really need saying.
 
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Reading between the lines, I think the op might be saying that there parents are separated and one now lives in Australia, so when they go to visit they ride the polo ponies.

Op If you are that tall i wouldnt want to ride anything smaller than 14.3. Im 5.2 and i have a 14.1 and a 14.3. I use to feel comfortable on my 14.1, since i got my 14.3 i now feel the 14.1 is small for me. But both are cobs so take up my leg with there width.
Im not hugely confident and have ridden a couple of 16hh but they were extremely narrow and i felt unsafe on them. I do like a bit of width under the saddle.

For your height you might feel happy on a 16hh horse, but for a teenager you might equally find yourself over horsed. I would aim for around the 15+hh range if it was me. But it might not have the jumping scope that 16hh would.

For me it also depends on temperament.
 
carthorse said:
I'm struggling a bit with the differences between your original post and your later replies, particularly when you say you've only ridden at a riding school but then say you ride your dad's ex-racehorse polo ponies - which is it? I still say get something sane and safe, you want to have fun and also there won;t be someone there to sort it out for you. As a rule when an ad says "not a novice ride" or "suitable second pony" you want to be careful because the owner may be trying to cover themselves and the horse may have a few "interesting quirks". They're phrases that don't really need saying.
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Sorry I meant that I ride at a riding school but ride my dads ponies when I visit once a year sorry for he confusion so I mostly ride at a riding school but am capable to ride slightly greener horses sorry for the confusion. I think I will try and find something that is completely bromproof hacking and quite straightforward but a bit forward going thank you for your reply x
 
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chunky monkey said:
Reading between the lines, I think the op might be saying that there parents are separated and one now lives in Australia, so when they go to visit they ride the polo ponies.

Op If you are that tall i wouldnt want to ride anything smaller than 14.3. Im 5.2 and i have a 14.1 and a 14.3. I use to feel comfortable on my 14.1, since i got my 14.3 i now feel the 14.1 is small for me. But both are cobs so take up my leg with there width.
Im not hugely confident and have ridden a couple of 16hh but they were extremely narrow and i felt unsafe on them. I do like a bit of width under the saddle.

For your height you might feel happy on a 16hh horse, but for a teenager you might equally find yourself over horsed. I would aim for around the 15+hh range if it was me. But it might not have the jumping scope that 16hh would.

For me it also depends on temperament.
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Yep your right about my parents being separated :). I do ride a 13.2hh pony at the moment and don’t feel to big but she doesn’t jump that height and I’m looking for a level up. I think I will be looking for something in the 15hh range, I don’t really want to jump anything bigger than 1metre at the moment and hopefully 1.1m in the future so bigger jumping scope won’t be a problem :)Thank you for your reply ?
 
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