Do people over estimate the height of their horses?

my mare used to be 15'2 but now is 15hh, she is 30 so has defo shrunk! she lived out with my friends NF, my friend says he's a chunky 14'3, however he's a lot more than an inch smaller than my mare! I'd say he'd be 14hh at the most!

My gelding is 16'1, maybe bigger now, not measured him since last year! He was turned out with another horse, who was an x racer, a lot finer and defo not as big! they thought he was 16'3 but if that was the case then mine would have been about 17'1, which he isn't!

people defo over estimate their horses
 
I always said mine was 14.2hh but he actually measures 15hh on a stick. I still class him as 14.2hh as he's high withered and I can also get away with pony sized items/calling him a pony lol!
 
With native ponies 14.2 seems to be the magic number anything from about 13-3-15h seems to be advertised as 14.1 or 14.2. Having said that quite a few native ponies have a barrel shape with flat backs with very low withers so may look bigger than they are, compared to a finer breed with a more higher wither.

My new forest pony as my vet said would measure in as an easy 140cm when he measured him with the measuring stick, but was advertised as 146 not that it matters a bit as he is in the correct height range for his breed and I am not too big for him which is all that matters.
 
People def. do overestimate the height of horses and ponies, partly because, when they measure them, they take the measurement immediately. Anyone who has had a horse or pony measured officially knows that they can measure considerably more to begin with, up to a whole hand, especially if they've not often been measured before, the wither height is not a fixed point. So, giving them 5-10 mins to relax properly can make a huge difference.
 
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