horse/rider height

[Laney Humphrey <laneyh@mbay.net>]

Hi All!
	Consider this: the relationship between the horse's barrel and the rider's
leg length.  Obviously most larger horses have larger barrels than most
smaller horses.  Could the fact that shorter rider legs can't get around a
larger barrel be as important as the length of the horse's stride or
height?  Conversely, that a long legged rider feels uncomfortable on a
small barreled horse because it seems like their legs are going to meet
underneath a small barreled horse's belly?
	I have 3 horses (how I came to do that is another story!)  And, by the
way, I am 5'5" with very short legs for my height (Oh, Goddess of Shape,
1-2" more in the legs and less in my torso would have been more useful!)  I
also ride all 3 horses in the same Boz saddle. 
	1.a 14'1" Spanish Mustang/American Indian Horse with the longest shoulder
I've ever seen and also a really long stride.  He is also, putting it
politely, "fat as a tick."  I feel like I fit him just about perfectly and
everyone says I look good on him. 
	2.a 14'3" arab that is short coupled, and short backed and therefore also
round (he has great withers thought!).  I also feel like I can get my legs
around him.
	3.a 15'1-2"arab that is wide backed but straight sided and with a really
deep heart girth.  I haven't yet found my "place" on him.  
	In order to smoothness of gait #1 is smoothest, #3 the least, which also
factors in but I think a lot of issue is how far around the horse's barrel
the rider's legs can reach.  If your knees are above the widest part of the
horse's barrel there's no way you can feel secure because you can't get the
lower part of your legs down and around unless you have a joint in the
middle of your calf somewhere.  And I can imagine the opposite problem: if
your knees are down around your horse's elbows where is the rest of your
leg supposed to go?
Happy trails, Laney