From: Robin
Dear Jessica, I was wondering if you knew of any guidelines for riding the proper-sized horse. Recently my trainer started suggesting that my horse, who I love more than anything, was too small for me. She said, "You're short but he's tiny." Simon is a small thoroughbred, 15.2 and I am about 116pds and 5 1". Of course, this upset me no end. I don't want people to think that I look stupid on him. I love riding him and have no intention to change horses. Unfortunately I board at a sale barn so they are always trying to convince me that I need a new horse. First it was his long pasterns, then it was how he goes, and now he's too small for me. Should I be concerned? I would appreciate any comments you may have. Thanks, Robin
There are quite a few ways to look stupid on a horse, but you're not even close to any of them. It sound as though you could ride your horse, or a much smaller horse, and look just fine. What's more important is that you are certainly not too big - in any dimension, height or weight - for any sound horse of 15.2 - or 14.2 - or a pony of 13.2, for that matter.
I really don't understand what your trainer is worried about. It's possible that s/he has been spending too much time at competitions where tiny riders perch on top of huge horses, and that s/he has come to think of THAT as the "correct" look. If so, s/he is very wrong. Some people don't want to ride any horse unless it's so tall that they can't see over its back when they're standing next to it, but that's just silly.
What matters most to horse/rider fit is not the height or weight of either one, but the relationship of the rider's leg to the horse's barrel. It's not complicated. Can you put your leg against your horse, at the girth and behind the girth, and apply pressure from your calf? Does the horse feel the pressure on the lower part of its barrel, below the widest part of its ribs? If so, you're just fine.
If a horse is too large for you, and your legs are in contact wtih the top of its barrel instead of the bottom, you'll find it harder to give signals and the horse will find it harder to understand them. In this situation, you'll find that you need to use cues instead of aids, because you're not in a physical position to be able to apply correct leg aids. If you ride a too-large horse, you can't HELP it - you can just SIGNAL it.
If you can cross your feet under your horse's belly, it may be too small (or it may be a stick horse from the toyshop). If you can mount the horse just by lifting one leg slightly and stepping across the horse's back, it may be too small. If you are jumping and the horse never touches a jump, but your feet are hanging to the horse's knees and YOU are kicking over each jump as you go over it, the horse may be too small.
The key words in your letter were "sale barn". Without necessarily intending to insult you, the staff at a sale barn are likely to push, almost automatically, for every rider to change horses as often as possible. They make their money from sales, not from riders who enjoy and keep one horse for many years. For a sale barn, the ideal rider would be one who saw her horse as a piece of sports equipment, and was constantly in search of the newest, latest, most fashionable piece of equipment - the one that would "give her an edge", at least until an even newer and MORE fashionable item came along. Pasterns, way of going, size.... next it will be colour or markings or the thickness of his mane or tail! Don't take any of this seriously. If you are comfortable on your horse and he is comfortable with you on board, that's all that matters.
By the way, it might interest you to know that pound for pound, inch for inch, and bounce for bounce, ponies consistently outjump horses - and ponies can carry much more weight in proportion to their size, over much greater distances. "Big and tall" doesn't mean "extra-strong and athletic and able to carry more weight", it just means "big and tall". The larger, taller horses are actually LESS likely to be weight-carriers and LESS likely to stay sound.
Your horse - the 15.2 Thoroughbred - is very much what the cavalry bred, selected, and used, because cavalry mounts had to have quality, heart, endurance, and the ability to go 20 miles a day, day after day, carrying soldiers and their equipment (totalling up to 300 pounds). Most of the horses were 15.1 and 15.2. Most of the soldiers were well over 5'1", and most weighed a great deal more than you do - even WITHOUT their equipment. Taller horses weren't wanted, because weight-carrying ability and soundness were essential - sometimes a matter of life and death - and those qualities were more reliably found amongst the horses of average (not "short") height.
I suggest that you learn to smile cheerfully at the people who tell you why you need to get rid of your horse and buy another one. Smile, say "Thank you for sharing", and go right on enjoying your horse.
Jessica
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