Like this Equisis, cannot agree more!
I have a young BIG appendix now that gives me that excitement to ride, but I still have a wandering eye when I see a nice leggy bay TB float by… 
I used to be a big horse person and now I can’t imagine riding a 17 hand horse like I used to!
I think a smaller, big bodied horse is the way to go now. I have no idea the actual height of my 2 but I am guessing 15.0 & 15.1. I wish I had a measuring stick because now I wonder how much I am off!
I have this same experience. Leggy 16.2h wb who has a narrow build. At several shows, and now three different clinics, I’ve had trainers and riders make comments about how tall he is. I will say I’m quite short (5’1’’) so that does contribute to making him look bigger, but you’d think he was 17.2h the way people always comment on his height.
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I have a WB who is pretty big, but only about 17hh. But he’s built uphill, loves to stick his head up to look at everything (nosy bugger). People always want to know how big he is, or guess his height as “at LEAST 17.2”. I tell them “he’s big enough for me” (I’m 5’10 with a tall upper body) and that’s all that matters. He’s not a pony and he’s got PLENTY of stride to get down the lines. It honestly doesn’t matter how big he is. He spooked hard the one time I pulled out a measuring stick, and of all the things I’ve got on my list to work on him with, I’m not adding that one to the list. He’s big enough haha.
People get hung up on numbers, just sit on the horse if you are worried about size. I’d have missed out on some great horses had I been stuck on numbers, and I could have gotten some truly ill-fitting horses if I put “height” as a #1 deal breaker.
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I’m not that far from UVM and see a lot of Morgans from this program. I don’t see many downhill Morgans. I do see a lot of Morgans with long croups and weak loins from specific lines.
Morgans are one of those breeds that are testaments to the expression “there is more variation within a breed than without”. Some are big and tall. Some are long and leggy. Some are stout and cobbish. Others could be horses in a pony body.
I think this banner from Morgan Sport Resource puts it perfectly:
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Everytime I see a funny video of some parent getting on their child’s small pony to correct it and then flopping off over the front when it drops a shoulder I think “yes, that is my life”. i just need enough horse in front of me to have some hope of staying on should they act like a small pony.
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I like to think that I am humble enough to know that I may not be the very best person for every horse I own. Of course, the only horse I’ve ever called my “life time” horse I didn’t start identifying him as such until he was 20. So there’s that. At the same time I am arrogant enough to be certain there is no better person for me and I for him than my husband who is stuck with me. It helps when you aren’t using your horse as the other half of an inter-personal relationship. But that’s a whole 'other subject matter.
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Reminds me of Clyde crosses being marketed as WBs…lol no no… which is silly because they are great in their own right.
Every horse I have ends up being a lifer. Once it steps foot on my property they pretty much never leave :
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Hotel California - they can check out, but they can never leave.
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That’s always been the case with me (started with a lease horse!), but now that I own my own horse farm, I’m starting to collect them. 
My now retired 22 year old event horse is a red headed mare. She’s 15.3 (with long feet and shoes) and is the best horse I have ever sat on. I was looking for a training level horse (she was green broke when I bought her at 3) and we ended up running a handful of intermediates and even a CIC2*S years ago. Its just a color! I would buy another red headed mare in a heartbeat!
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