So I did a thing…I put a small deposit on an in utero contract for a purebred Connemara pony. Will probably be a little oversized as Stallion is 14.3 (WH Top Dun) and mom is a huge 14.2 that throws massive babies.
Anyway, I am 5’6" and slim, but still 5’6" which really isn’t “petite”.
Thankfully I won’t be in the hunter ring where 5’2" women ride 17.2 hand warmbloods! I only do dressage. And hope to do some driving (I’ve taken lessons and have a VERY experienced trainer for this).
So talk to me about the popularity of down sizing as we get older. I will be 50 in May and I quit jumping a couple of years ago and decided to follow my passion to dressage. I like being closer to the ground. Always loved schooling my daughter’s pony (who was a massive bodied andalusian cross).
Who is over 5’5" or so and rides ponies? Or maybe 5’8" ish and rides a very small horse?
Do you think the judges judge us differently? Do they just prefer to see massive imports? At the end of the day, i don’t really care. Mostly I am so excited for this journey. Even the wait is fun. And I am SO bored and missing riding during this covid craziness!
Share your stories. And if you own a Connemara and love him/her, you can tell me how brilliant I am for finally getting one 
Right? They are the best!
Had you posted in the Connemara group about considering a young prospect? If so congrats on taking the jump!!! I’m a Connemara convert and have a now coming 4yo PB going lightly under saddle. I’m 5’5", not slim like I’d like, but he’s substantially built, nice long neck, and has clean gaits- not warmblood gaits, but rideable. I think a lot of people would look perfectly balanced on a smaller horse than they’re accustom to
I ride a 14hh purebred Friesian. She is a tank and I don’t look overly silly on her being 5’7.
I love that she’s closer to the ground. Cob sized gear always seems to end up on sale too! She’s a bundle of attitude but I love her to pieces. It’s not as scary when she decides to have a buck as opposed to when my 16.3hh warmblood does it!
Ponies are awesome.
I had a 14.3 chunk of a QH that I felt totally comfortable riding. I’m 5’8” and fluffy. I never showed her though
I am 5’5" and “big boned” I have been riding a 15h1" Conn x TB for the last 20 years, and adore her. Dressage isn’t her “thing”, but she tolerates it because she gets to jump next. But she is a fabulous jumper, and the only horse I have jumped 4’.
She is hot and opinionated but I trust her completely.
I’m 5’8" and love the ponies! I pop on our 13.2 Connemara cross to school him occasionally for the lesson kids. I had a resale project a couple summers ago that was 14.1 3/4 on a tall day, and a pretty slim build. It’s a little more challenging to get and keep your leg on the narrower ones, like he was, but we still showed Training at local schooling shows with respectable scores considering his greenness - and also had a blast bopping around the hunter ring as schooling shows.
Last summer’s project was a narrow 14.3 hand Quarter Horse. He was wider through his ribcage which made it feel like I had more horse under me. It’s great riding the little ones - you have to be more conscious of your upper body and overall balance and it’s still easy to get up on them if you don’t have a mounting block! Ponies (and honies) are awesome.
Well ![]( am petite at 5’2" but I’ve been showing welsh cobs in dressage for many, many years. I’ve taken more than one to FEI including a section C welsh cob who hits 13 hands when standing on his tippy toes (buckskin). I feel I’ve been scored fairly for the most part. No one has said that I shouldn’t be on a pony but I did have one judge who asked “why don’t you want to ride a real horse, you’re more than accomplished???” LOL, I ride what I love and I love what I ride. My current main ride, a section D welsh cob gelding, is 14.2 (bay that is pictured). We’re solid second level having a blast…I’m very grateful to be riding something of appropriate size for me at 56. He’s only 6 so we’ll see how far this pony and I go.
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5’9"+ and this mare is 15.2-15.3. She felt small when she was 4 and more slab-sided, but just fine at 7 and more filled out. If I was shorter, I would love to have an athletic pony!
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I’m 5’2" and have a WH Top Gun daughter I compete in dressage who’s 14.1 and wide as a house. I had her full brother for a little bit, he was 14.2 1/2 at 4 who hadn’t gone wide yet. Even with the same genetics you never know!
LetItBe
Heck I badly want a Conn or Conn/draft for my next one some day, or a D section Cob (but those don’t really exist in my area)! I’m 5’8" and always “needed” the tall TB types, but seeing lots of evidence to the contrary. My dressage coach is taller than I am and her little WB is only like 15hh or so; I rode her once and loved the small package, SO much easier to put together than my PerchX!
Check out Diamonds in the Rough Dressage - she’s probably like 5’10 or similar and rides a tiny Welsh stallion and they don’t look at all ridiculous. That was probably one of the factors that made me switch my thinking for my future rides.
CLB15 - I had posted in a facebook group for Connies and got SUCH a great response! Actually, that’s how I found the breeder! Big Bear Farm! I pray for a boy…she’s keeping it if it’s a filly.
At Letitbe- show pics of your Top Gun baby!!!
I am 5’-7" and I ride a 14.1hh Haflinger. Having a hunter background it felt weird when I moved to a pony but now being closer to the ground feels much safer.
Big Bear is just up the road from me! Let me know if you come visit when the baby is born.
And I’m 5’5" and have a 2yo Connemara growing up who will likely be 14.something. You’ll be fine.
I am just about 5’5" and ride a 15hh Morgan. I feel just right on him. We haven’t shown rated yet but he wins all his classes at the schooling shows I go to and I’m confident his size will not work against us when (if) we do go rated.
I’m 5’8" and have been riding a 14.1 1/2 paint mare for 12 years, hoping that my kids would want to ride her (they picked up tennis instead). She’s retired, and I’m now riding a 14.2 QH mare with a BIG barrel, and very comfortable. I love being closer to the ground and not having to work so hard. I have a yearling TB x Mapleside Wish List (Welsh-Holsteiner) who will likely be 15.1, and I can’t wait to ride her.
5’8 and when I’m not driving my 14’1 fjord, I’m trail riding him or showing him in dressage. We did OK last year, although I mostly stuck to pony cup classes (but when we had to go in the regular classes he held his own just fine!)
Honestly, he rides so much like a horse that I kept “jumping” off him like a horse when I dismounted. You would think the 400th time the ground comes up MUCH sooner than expected, I might remember he’s closer to the ground… but you would be wrong…
LOVE HIM!!
I’m 5’7", 130lb and last time I measured my little redhead he had finally hit 14h (in the fall, so for all I know he’s grown since).
I did set up a camera to record myself late last summer, because I was so worried I looked like a giant. :lol: I haven’t shown him, he’s still on the greenbroke side of things but I am comfortable enough with our size match that I will take him out when he’s ready (and when there are shows to go to!).
I think you’ll be fine. Connemaras are stout little creatures.
Coming from the Land of Ponies, I look at sooooo many dressage riders on horses that, in my eyes, look far to big for them. 5 '3" on 18.2 WB? That just looks strange. I’m 5’9" and prefer smaller creatures. I can ride big horses, obviously, but feel more comfortable on the nippy pony.
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