11/15/13

Not a pony hater.

Someone emailed me last night and-jokingly-asked why I was such a pony hater after them reading through my blog-not completely through, I'm guessing, LOL-and as a new follower, they were curious to why I refused to have a horse under 14.3 and around that.

There are a lot of reasons why I prefer bigger horses, but first off-totally not a pony hater. ;) In fact, I own one mini and we're getting another in February. I like ponies, they are totally cute and Spirit, my mom's little 14.2/14.1 Appaloosa could so kick my butt and I wouldn't get on him for my life. The first horse I ever rode was a pony. A cute little grey pony with a 'tude but all in all, he was amazing and I loved him. But, I always feel awkward on a horse that's smaller than 15HH and I feel comfortable on horses bigger than 15HH. For instance, I rode my cousin-in-law's horse who measured at a little over 16HH and I loved her size. But, I've already stated something-my next horse, which trust me, I won't be getting another one until Red passes away, and I pray that he will be around for another 40 years.-will be a little cow horse. Red, realistically, is too big to do reining without damaging his joints and etc and my horse's health is far more important than reining and etc. He's measuring at 15.1 right now, but honestly, it changes like the weather. One day I measure him and he's 15.3, the next day 15.1, the next day 15.2. And yes, I measure correctly and even at the same exact place. My vet even measures him when she's over and while he hasn't lost any muscle, he's measuring a bit smaller. Not tiny by any means. Even if he was like, 13HH, his stockiness would make up for it. He's a big guy. Foundation Quarter Horse, they're supposed to be big.

If I could choose right now, I'd love to own this little guy:
I have zero info on this guy but he's little, cute and a cutting Quarter Horse.


But I won't be trading my big Quarter for him. Red has the spirit and will to take me anywhere I ask him. He has a lot of cow/goat sense, as we discovered on our first trip to the fruit & berry patch, when a goat was loose and it was up to Red and I to herd it back in because the other horses were flipping out. Right now, I'm thinking about a few different disciplines. Ranch Pleasure is obviously one of my dreams but like I said, I don't think Red could handle the sliding stops that are necessary. Don't get my wrong, Red hasn't had any kind of issues with anything. No hock problems, no leg issues, no arthritis, no nothing. He's never coliced, foundered once-which I'll admit was kind of at our fault. Rushing him into summer grass in a much different state wasn't smart but he's fine and never got bad-doesn't have any kind of hoof issues, the only vet visits he's had is the standard checkup and for shots/coggins. I wouldn't be bragging if I believed in jinxing. ;) ;) But, I'm not going to take my huge horse out there and make him do stuff that's meant for smaller sized horses. We may try a bit of that stuff later on with the help of a trainer, but I'm not going to try anything that I have any worry about. I'm not gonna mess up my horse, when I got him, it was my dream to make him better and I have, although honestly, he's helped me way more! I do, however, think he'd be great at roping, maybe some typical ranch work. I've thought about getting into 4-H but I have no trailer, so it would make transporting him hard.

And I'm still exciting about the English thing. When I ride tomorrow-and hopefully the next day if the rain stays back-I'll probably ride Western because we'll be doing a lot of the heavier trails. Before I take the English saddle out on stuff like that, I want to use it a bit in our own trails and in the roundpen. But I don't know, maybe I'll use it tomorrow. Time will tell.

Right now, these are the disciplines I'm most interested in.

English:
  • Dressage.
  • Hunter Under Saddle.
  • Endurance.
Western:
  • Cutting. We'd do this at a minor level until I'm positive that we can both stand it, lol.
  • Ranch horse.
  • Trail Class.
  • Halter.
  • Roping. (Breakaway)
  • Goat tying.
  • Pole pending.
(PS: Through writing this, I realized how much jumping was involved in English, therefor the small list, LOL. No jumping for us. ;) )

So, we shall see what happens...but anyways.

Not a pony hater. ;) But I wouldn't get one to ride unless it was an adorable little Quarter Horse cow pony. Even then, I'd be hesitant.

8 comments:

  1. For me, it's all about their build. My old horse was 15.2hh.. so fairly short (especially in the hunter/jumper world). Miles is 16.1-16.2hh and I feel just as comfortable on him. Also, funnily enough, Miles is a blanket size SMALLER. Yeah.. all about build!

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    1. Build is really important!! Red was actually shown in the pony division for a really long time, super stocky, and everyone went nuts over him because he was the STOCKY pony type. I'm not a big fan of dainty horses.

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  2. I, too prefer horses over ponies, for the same reason. I would feel awkward riding a pony since it would be a couple inches shorter than I am.

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    1. I'm really tiny but I still feel really weird, lol!!

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  3. LOL. I did a post about this last year when I found a horse that was wonderful but I felt like I giant on her! http://canihaveapony.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-size-of-horse.html You have to feel comfortable riding the horse and smaller horses or ponies don't work if you are too tall.

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    1. Ah, I remember that post!!! Yes, being comfortable is the most important thing. It's funny, because I'm about 5 foot even and really...dainty, I guess, and everyone assumes that I would totally LOVE a smaller horse but-NOPE. No tiny horses, lol.

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  4. I want a really fancy large pony that I can ride and then sell for a lot of money ;)

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  5. Kiowa is a mustang that is a solid 15 hands. He's not as stocky as Red but he's not dainty either! lol! I love him so much! I have plans to buy him as my first horse!

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