DP isn't at all gifted (or ****y!) but his normal weight (he moonlights as a personal trainer and has a lot of muscle) is around 14.5 stones (100kg?) and i'd like it if we could have a family horse but that he weren't restricted by the horse's type, so when he's ready to jump he can, kwim? I do like the look of the ASH, reminiscent of the ponies i rode as a kid, just a hand or two taller, but same type, you know, solid but speedy. Maybe i could have a cob for him and the kids and an ASH for mummy to have fun on... Ah, dreaming of horses is so much cheaper than buying/keeping them

I'm in love with Irish vanners. You can get youngstock in Scotland right off the boat for a few hundred pounds if you're willing to take your chances. My friend had a beautiful black gelding, Ivor (as in Ivor the Engine, VERY apt) who was from Ireland. He was a little tall for me at 16hh, but SO much horse. 9 inches of bone, lots of feather, flaxen mane down to his elbow, forelock to his nostrils. Such a handsome lad. We used to ride him on the village green and jump the public benches on him. LOL. The owner of the old manse (no longer an manse and NOT occupied by a churchman anymore as demonstrated by the swearing) used to come out and yell that we were churning up the turf. Which i guess we were but you don't think about that when you're 100 feet up on the back of pegasus' evil twin do you?

Bx