Buy a pony or a full-size horse?

Hi!

How lovely that you are thinking about buying a horse 😀

I understand it is tricky to know what type of horse to buy. Here is what I think you should consider before you start ringing round adverts and trying horses out:

🥕 What do you want to do with your horse? What is your goal, not your very highest goal, but what do you want to be able to do with your horse in the near future? Sometimes you dream of competing or backing a young horse yourself, but often you need a different type of horse to learn a great deal on first, before you aim for that top goal. The horse you buy now needs to know, and be experienced in, what you want to do now. It is far more fun that way.

🥕 What can you do, and how much, right now? How experienced are you with horses, and with owning one? The horse you buy should match your own level, and ideally be more experienced and better schooled than you, because it is so much easier and more enjoyable to learn on a well-schooled horse. Buying an unschooled horse and learning together is both hard and risks becoming dangerous, and is not good for you or the horse.

🥕 The horse's build and size should suit both you and the type of activity you want to do. You mention you are 160 cm tall, which is great, as you can ride both ponies and full-size horses of various sizes, though it is nice to avoid riding one that is far too big 😊

🥕 What sort of temperament or personality do you get on with best in a horse? It is very important that you suit each other. This is hard to find out before you meet the horse, but do try to ask the seller on the phone how the horse behaves in different situations, and picture whether you like horses with that kind of reaction.

🥕 Pony or horse is hard to advise on. There are many ponies that are lovely to ride and could certainly suit you, even if you want to compete and do pay and jumps down the line. But bear in mind that, as you are 20, you usually cannot compete in pony classes and would ride the same classes as full-size horses, or pony classes hors concours. So if you are even slightly tempted by competing, I would choose a small full-size horse. There are many breeds and crosses where you can find individuals just over pony height that would surely suit you perfectly.

🥕 As for your partner, I think you should take one thing at a time. Get a horse that suits you and let your partner learn everything around the yard and how to handle the horse from the ground. If they enjoy it, it can be good to start with lessons at a riding school and then sense whether you should each have your own horse, at which point you ask all the questions above again. It is a little tricky to find a horse that suits you both. Treat yourself to a horse that suits you nicely and deal with the rest later 🦄

Good luck! 😃🐴