You Cannot Ride a Horse in a Hospital Bed.

"But they are so small!"

I do not blame people for having this reaction when they see the Corollas and Shacklefords. I do not blame people for not knowing that they have sufficient carrying capacity to carry a man my size fifty miles in a day. I did not know that myself several years ago.

I wish more people understood how much safer it is to ride a smaller horse than a bigger horse. This point is beyond debate. It is simple, (and I do mean simple), physics. One is more likely to be injured by having a 1200 lbs horse roll over on them than to have a 700 lbs horse do the same. One is less likely to shatter bones falling from a 13.2 horse than a 16.3 horse.

As a general rule a twelve hundred pound horse will generate more force while kicking one in the face than will a 700 lbs horse.

These are important considerations for kids, but they are even more important considerations for riders over forty years old. We bruise easily and break often. Healing is slow, painful, and often incomplete. I broke my pelvis a few years ago in a fall that would have barely dusted me as a teenager. The bruising was so extensive and the swelling was so pronounced that I did not realize that the fracture was there until the swelling finally subsided and I felt the the clearly defined ridge where the bone had cracked and healed.

Yes, these horses are so small and so sturdy, and so strong....and so safe.