agree it seems inches do tend to add $.
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I had the opposite problem when I was horse shopping this summerâŠ. Iâm 5â2 and I swear there were no dressage horses for sale smaller than 16.3. It ALL depends on how you feel. Barrel, withers, head and neck all make a big difference. I tried some smaller ones that were got away from despite their size and sat on some 17 hand super light types. If the horse ad checks all the box but size definitely go.
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Oh, Morgans are a can of worms! There are types within the breed, with a lot of strong opinions, including mine of course. The old type is the Justin Morgan Had a Horse lookalike, like my Brooke. They are a minority within a minority breed. Lippitt, Brunk, Government, Working Western, and a couple of others are the Foundation/Traditional lines. Thereâs a Saddlebred Lite type (thatâs MY name for them) which are the classic park horses with quasi-set tails and check reins and weirdo hoofs and all the rest of it. And the newest on the block are the Sport Types, which to me just look like nice little generic sport horses. Often not so little either. So to find a traditional Justin Morgan Morgan, you have to dig for them. If youâre serious, PM me and Iâll send you some links. New England is the hearth of the Traditional Morgan but there are outposts in other places.
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I donât ever worry about what I look like. I worry about what it feels like. Can I have an effective leg on this horse?
If the answer is no, the answer is no.
If the answer is yes, I keep trying the animal to see if heâs a good match for me in other respects.
Iâm 5 ft 6, have ridden a 14h pony competitively, as well as a 16.1h horse. I was not effective with my friendâs 18h horse.
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Iâm 5â7 and most of my riding horses were under 14.2. One POA one Appy, a grade Morgan, an Arabian. I did have bigger ones too, but my favs over the years were the ponies.
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most are sold through relationships between owners
as has been said there are two lines within the breed, the New Line who are more like saddlehorses and the Old Line which are extremely versatile enjoying doing many disciplines well⊠they can switch with ease between Dressage then to Working Hunters then to Working Ranch⊠and be highly competitive in all the divisions. They enjoy the challenge
Ours are the old lines, lately we have been buying weanlings from a ranch in North Dakota.
Our first Morgan, Shamrock Foxie Joy was Lippitt, her blood lines went Way Back in a few generations⊠in four you are back nearly 100 years
The Morgan Nationals starts Saturday Oct 7th
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Iâm 5â9" and prefer over 16h. My appendix mare is 15.3 on her tiptoes and she is fine to ride, but I do prefer my 17h warmblood, especially when it comes to the fit of my leg for dressage. I donât think I look bad on the smaller horse though.
Smaller horse:
Big horse:
And just for fun, on a 17.2-ish Shire:
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OP, you might love the rideability of a smaller horse (generalizing hugely here). Iâm currently leasing a horse who I am told is 15.1, but he seems much bigger than my previous horses, who were 15hh and 14.2 (and different breeds). I adore my leased horse, and he is entertaining and affectionate and is meeting me more than halfway in my clunky out of shape riding, and he is in fact a far-higher-quality horse than my own were. But to me, he is nowhere near as light on his feet, light to the aides, or as easily rideable âback to frontâ (or front to back, for that matter) as the smaller horses. I feel like I am driving a large SUV vs. a sporty little compact. (I should acknowledge that I am just getting back into riding and my fitness/coordination is not what it was or should be.)
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But those things are the way the saddleseat Morgans are presented. If you trim and shoe their hooves normally, they are normal. They may show a bit more natural articulation in the joints, but so do the European WBs now. Morgans have really good uphill conformation for dressage.
More here-
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daughterâs dressage horse can easily trot with the best of park horses if asked, her bloodlines are park horse but the pretty little mare only grew to 14h which was not desirable.
I think the mare has chip on her shoulder to prove every one wrong about her as she is becoming a multiple discipline force
After being in a pasture for her first five years the mare went from never been ridden to winning her introduction dressage division at a large regional open dressage competition against all breeds in under two months. She was first saddled in mid May, early July was the dressage show
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First, you have to ride what makes you happy. If your past experience with a smaller horse means that you would always feel apologetic and âless thanâ if you got a smaller horse, then stick to the bigger ones.
I would think that hunters is the discipline in which a judge (and fellow riders) feel that the look is only right with a horse 16.2 and up!
An upheaded horse will look taller than one that carries its neck level and, of course, a round barreled horse will take up more leg. But what looks âtop heavyâ also depends upon breed and discipline. Stock breeds seem fine with low headed horses and taller riders.
When I was looking for a horse and wanted one 15- 16 hands, I found that I had to look at listings of 15.1 and up to avoid finding ponies! I live in New England and one town over from what used to be a famous Morgan breeding farm, yet my Morgan (just shy of 15.1) was born in Texas and I found him in New Jersey! My saddle fitter was sure he was 16 hands when she first saw him. 
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I owned and rode a 15.2 horse for years. His big barrel âtook upâ my leg, all right. What I realized after I retired him and rode some larger but smaller barreled horses, was that I never could really drape my leg on him because of that barrel. The next horse I had â briefly â was 17 hands. Ten minutes into our first lesson my trainer said I rode that horse better than I ever rode my now retired one. It was because the bigger horse had a smaller barrel and my leg could drape down his sides.
Try the smaller ones, but be sure your leg can drape down the barrel. âTaking up the legâ isnât always a good thing. You have to be able to use your leg, and you canât if youâre sitting on the equine equivalent of a picnic table.
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It sounds like the teasing you received as a teenager riding a small horse is continuing to live rent-free and reproduce itself in your adult head.
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I canât really drape my leg on my mare. I think my dressage stirrups are as long as they can go, and in photos I still have a bent knee! I canât use spurs easily because my heels are nowhere near her body, I have to really move my leg. I also learned fairly recently that I have a long femur short calf which doesnât help with draping. Anyhow my mare puts me in chair seat in multiple saddles which doesnât happen on other horses.
But I have always thought big barrels were desirable for lung power and all around athleticism and âslab sidedâ was a conformation fault in my old horse books. There is too round, roly poly pony or draft. But I feel very secure on my big barrel Paint. I just donât look elegant.
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âBut those things are the way the saddleseat Morgans are presentedâŠâ
This is true to a large extent. My trainer who worked with Morgans said that a lot of the park horses, once allowed to be normal horses, were in fact pretty nice.
On the other hand, there is certainly a real split between those breeders who focus on the traditional lines and type, and the other Morgan breeders who are selecting for modern competition potential in whatever discipline. Their line in the sand was when Saddlebred (and Hackney, apparently) genes were deliberately introduced in the 1930âs. Before that, every Morgan traced back to Justin Morgan. Iâve been to the Lippitt Show in Vermont several times, which has some classes open to all registered Morgans â the difference in type was unmistakeable, in the individuals I saw.
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Your knee is bent because you have to put it in front of your body; it canât hang down. Thus, the chair seat.
A horse that doesnât have a large barrel isnât necessarily slab-sided. Thereâs a world of horses that fall between really big-barreled and slab-sided.
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Thatâs true, but I would argue that the modern Morgan is actually better for dressage. Probably not great for pulling logs out of the woods though.
I agree. Modern dressage requires a highly specialized horse, and Morgans are generalists if they are anything. That is one of their best qualities. In fact there is a contest called the Justin Morgan Competition, which involves the same horse competing in a stone boat pull, a harness race, a race under saddle, and an English Pleasure class, all in one day.
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My archery horse William Tell is not quite 15 hh -I am 5â9" --looks ok to me. 
Seems to look OK fox hunting too â(wearing polo knee pads as I just had both knees replaced and didnât want to hit them on trees) --the other horse in the photo is WD-4D --heâs 15 hh. Both are first flight fox hunters . . .
And one more comment --each to their own --but I fox hunted at another hunt last year (we do a joint meet every year at a different hunt location). At this hunt, having a âreally bigâ horse or having âthe biggest horseâ on the hunt field seems to have taken on a life of its own --now at MY hunt, we do live hunting with a pack of real live hounds who, on a good day, find a real live fox or coyote and we have a real case over all kinds of country side --fields, forests, up hill, down hill --jumping what is in our way --to do that and keep up with the hounds, one needs a good horse --my QH --I hunt two --are very good at this --they dodge trees, have a knack for finding good footing and take fences willingly. They also stand still when we listen --HOWEVER as I said at the hunt were I was a guest --which is a drag hunt (more for show than go) âthe members seemed to vie to have THE BIGGEST HORSE on the field to the point of what I thought was RIDICULOUS! One woman, maybe 5â1" --was riding a SHIRE that had to be well over 18 hh --another had a Belgium that was as wide as he was tall! At least 10 riders were following suit on huge draft or draft type horses. I understand the appeal of a big horse (I have a dressage horse thatâs 16hh+) but to me, what the horse can do and how I feel as he does it is much more important than size or color --I will admit that had Will been advertised as 14.3 --I probably wouldnât have looked at him --however, I bought him at an auction (the good kind, where they sell ranch horses for ranch work) and had the chance to ride him before I bought him. He is such a great horse to ride, that his size doesnât matter --at the same auction I did decline to even try a 13 hh pony --so I guess that makes me a bit of a hypocrite âanyway, ride the horse then see what you think.
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Love this. Iâm 5â7" on a good day, more leg than torso, and rode a 14.3 longish-backed, broad-bodied cutting horse line QH mare in low level dressage and eventing for many of her 28 years. Fully agree that itâs the horse who matters most. I wish trainers could show these pictures to their clients insisting on a certain size.
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