THE HORSE GAZETTE
training
A horse, Of Course
are bigger horses better?
By Don Blazer © 2010
Big, big, big. Phooey! and excessive size contribute under 14.3- ridden by Arme-
What’s this preoc- significantly to all of the un- nian and Bashi Bazouks, con-
cupation with big horses? soundness caused by concus- sistently performed, “beyond
“I want a big horse,” sion. the capabilities of the English
says the dude. “Why?” asks the How do you deter- Thoroughbred cavalry.” Gibley
cowboy. “I don’t know,” says mine the size of a horse? Most also told the marches of the
the dude, “I’ve always looked references and horsemen use British regiment in Sudan, in
up to ‘em.” the standard of 14.2 hands as which the 14 hand horses were
Does this silliness the division between horses and “marvels of endurance.”
come from the misconceived, ponies. A “hand” measures 4 D. Peschkof, a Cos-
but familiar phrase, “A good inches, so a 14.2 hand horse is sack, left Blagovestchensk,
horse is better than a good little 58 inches at the withers. Siberia, in November of 1889.
horse?” Today a 14.2 hand He and his tack weighted 180
Big isn’t better. By horse is considered to be small pounds, but he rode his pony,
definition, big is “large.” Better and just about every serious which was only 12.3 hands,
is “more desirable, more useful, horseman, no matter what the 5,478 miles in 193 days. The
of superior quality.” But bet- breed he prefers will tell you, pony, named Seri, crossed Sibe-
ter isn’t big unless you desire “I like ‘em big.” ria in the winter and averaged
something exclusively for its It’s even true with 37 miles per day. Incredible!
size. pony people. Show records at So, if big horses
Let’s look at horses least on the West Coast, indicate aren’t more durable, quicker,
for what they are as individuals, larger ponies usually come out healthier, or better weight car-
both big and little. on top in halter classes when riers, what are they?
Does a big horse height classification lines are They are good at
carry weight better? Not nec- crossed. Yet there is nothing pulling. There’s no doubt
essarily. The ability to carry to prove good conformation is that when it comes to hauling
weight is controlled by a num- granted by height. cannons, combines or heavy
ber of factors, including length Let’s look at the past, wagons, big horses are best.
and conformation of the spine, the time when horses really had But there are exceptions.
muscle system, conformation to work. Justin Morgan was
and soundness of legs and The knights in their only 14 hands, yet he out trot-
feet. shining armor rode big horses. ted, out ran and out pulled
It’s the little burro But the days of the knights were horses much larger than him-
who usually gets stuck with short lived. Unless the dragon self. In addition, he founded
packing the baggage. stood still or the enemy knight a breed, an accomplishment
Can a big horse run rode straight at you, you were that no big horse has achieved.
faster than a smaller one? No. bound to get into trouble. It’s Actually, all draft horses are de-
It’s been proven scientifically true the big horses carried a lot scendants of the Tundra Pony,
that it’s not the length of stride of weight then, and later, but it’s heavily muscled and standing
which determines speed, but also true they didn’t do it very about 13.2 hands.
the individual horse’s ability well. Big isn’t better. It’s
to retract his stride. The horse Sir Walter Gilbey just a fad. Unfortunately, there
extends the leg in forward mo- wrote a book entitled, “Small are a lot of little horses being
tion, but just before putting his horses in Warfare.” In it, he overlooked for the worst reason
foot on the ground he retracts cited example after example of of all. The looker knows big,
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