Thinking about buying a horse, height?

Hi,
I'm sort of half looking at buying a horse now, sort of looking through the classifieds but in denial. Anyway this one add caught my eye for a TB x unbroken 5 year old. That is pretty much what I am looking for except for the horse being 14.2 hands. I haven't had a look at her yet as she is about 4 hours drive away but I am keen. I am about five foot seven, and the owner says she is a solid 14.2 hands. Obviously I can't sit on her to see if I will be underhorsed, but what do you think? Is she too small?

I want to do a bit of eventing, and apparently they have seen her jump and she's pretty good, I trust these owners for various reasons. Just not sure on the height issue.

Any advice would be great,

Andi

I think that height only really matters when you're talking about the owner.

For you... I'd be worried if you were taller (5 1/2 - 6 foot something), and somewhat larger in build. If the horse is lighter in build... it might be that you'd want a more "substantial" horse underneath you. But, if you're lightly built, even if you're somewhat taller, I'd say GO FOR IT. If you like the horse, height shouldn't matter too much... as long as you're not 6'8", 200+ pounds, and wanting to do barrel racing on a 8 hand high pony. :P

If you're really not wanting a shorter horse, then it's up to you. If height is really important to you, then don't go for it, and look for a taller horse. But if height isn't ALL that important to you... I'd say try and see if the horse's other qualities balance out the problem with the height.

Note... 14.2 isn't necessarily SHORT.

It's kind of hard to say. Are you asking lookswise or if you're just physically too big to ride the horse? A lot of it depends on things like the build and width of the horse and the length of your leg. For eventing you're going to want something that will fill your leg. If you've got very long legs and this horse is narrow, might not be good. A very stout solid 14.2 might be just fine. In the hunter ring it's important to match the sizing of horse and rider. My 5'7 friend rode my stout 14 pony the other day and looked awkward. While he very easily carried my friend around she would not have ridden him in the show ring. But I'm not sure how they feel about that kind of thing in the eventing arena (or how much you care). Unless this horse is just perfect I would be tempted to look for a bigger horse if I were you.