Do people over estimate the height of their horses?

Paint Me Proud

Paint Me Proud

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There was a discussion at the yard today about how big my lovely gelding is, the guesses were bewteen 16.2 and 17.2

To settle the debate we got out the measuring stick, one of those metal ones with the spirit level.

So the verdict? He is 16.1h

I wasnt too surprised as my guess was 16.2, he was 16.1 when i measured him a year ago and i though he might have grown a bit but evidently not.

However everyone else was really shocked, some actually refused to believe me! They all said he must be bigger and the stick is wrong as 'that horse is 16.1 and yours is much bigger'

My boy does look big but i think its more due to his build and his massive big head but to the wither he is only 16.1, he's a bit of an optical illusion!

Now it got me thinking. Is the stick actually wrong or do people tend to over estimate the height of their horses so when they are presented with a true 16.1 they think they must be taller?
 
I had something similar, people kept saying my Connie was bigger than I said which was 15.1hh, though I did keep saying he was not allowed to grow anymore! He is 15.1hh in his stocking feet��
But yes people do seem to think the horses are bigger than they are a lot of the time.
 
Generally people over estimate and it can be by as much as a hand , the only exception seems to be when someone wants to sell a big, over 17hand, horse and thinks, probably correctly, that it will be easier to sell if it is advertised as 16.3, on your yard I suspect most of the 16.1's are nearer 15.2 but it does not matter as long as the owners are happy with what they have, passports sometimes have a height on them but they are not verified in any way so may well be way out.
 
I think so many people guess that their perception becomes a little skewed, and they end up comparing horses to others whose heights are only an estimate. My boys are both good examples of this.

I got my 7 year old in June 2014, measuring 15.1hh on his tiptoes. He very obviously grew between 6 and 7, with people's guesses ranging from 16hh to 17hh. I ordered a measuring stick to settle the debate, and found that he was 16hh exactly.

I measured the 12.2hh pony at the same time, purely because I was curious, to find out that he was actually a smidge over 13hh.
 
Yup! Everything at work is 16hh or 16.2hh. Nothing is smaller anything that is really big is 17hh but that is few and far between!

My grey lad is 17hh on the stick but he has high withers so is in really more 16.2-3hh. Same as my big chestnut - 17.2hh on the stickbut more 17hh anywhere other than wither and jumpers rump lol!
 
I tend to underestimate if anything. I always presumed the shetlands to be around 8 hh and 9hh. When they were measured for their passports (many years ago) they came out at 9hh and 10.1 respectively.
I had the elephant youngster down at about 16.3 ish and was a bit surprised when the vet last measured him and found him at 17.2, and that's without shoes. By eye I'd have said the TB was 16.1 but he's actually 16.2...at least that's closer!
 
i have measured my boy on the stick about 3 or 4 times in the two years i've owned him and he alwasy comes out at 16.1h. But he does look bigger to the eye and when people ask his height and I say 16.1 i get utter disbelief, but bizarely I have found if i say 16.2 the reaction is more of quiet agreement, its really strange, it's only 1 inch difference, lol!
 
monkeynut said:
Yes! My cob youngster was advertised at 14.3.
He's actually standing at about 14hh
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Mine was advertised at 14.3 too. I intend to measure her when she has arrived because although I can usually guestimate fairly accurately on finer horses, the width of Orca has me stumped! Because she's a weight carrier, height (give or take a little) didn't matter much, fortunately. I think she's about right, maybe a little under but it will be interesting to see how wrong I am.
 
the measurement on the stick is one thing but there are so many other things that affect our judgement od a horsees size such as is the neck set on high or low, how much topline does the horse have, is it short coupled or long backed, is it narrow or wide in it's chest etc etc.Unless you are showing or have a pony, I don't think it matters that much, it's what they feel like to ride.
 
My mare was advertised at 148 (14.2), and she is actually just 141 (13.3). Fortunately she is a real "leg in each corner" type, and has never been bothered about my weight.
 
My cob was advertised as 13.3, more like 13.1. He looks like he's grown loads, now he's much more like 13.2/13.3! He's very compact though, can just squeeze a 16 inch saddle on him. Still bum high but I think he's going to stay that way sadly.
 
Yes they do, very much so. I have measured my youngest one at 153cm (which I think is 15hh ish?) but have friends with smaller horses that they tell me are 15.2hh. Even knew someone who put her stallion forward for grading without measuring him correctly first, I seem to remember he was three inches under height...
 
My lad is 15.1hh but bacause he is built like a tank most people think he is enormous, normally they say he is at least 16.2hh

I show so have a very good eye for height as I want them up to height but not over but the amount of time I've been to see a supposedly full up 15hh only to find it 13.2hh if I'm lucky
 
oldie48 said:
the measurement on the stick is one thing but there are so many other things that affect our judgement od a horsees size such as is the neck set on high or low, how much topline does the horse have, is it short coupled or long backed, is it narrow or wide in it's chest etc etc.Unless you are showing or have a pony, I don't think it matters that much, it's what they feel like to ride.
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Exactly this ^ :)
 
My pony's passport claims he's 14.2, but I measured him with a stick at 14.1. Someone measured my mare with a tape at 14.2, but she is clearly several inches taller than the pony, and her withers are much higher up, so that can't be right. I think she's 15.0. Now I want to find a proper stick and measure both of them again.
 
Here we have the opposite and everyone under estimates! I'm pretty good at heights and can usually tell to within an inch what a horse is, but my last ride was 17hh (I knew immediately) but sold as 16.1. New owner then sold her on cause she was too big! My new ride is 17hh but probably 16.3 1/2 without shoes and someone said he was about 15.2 if he was a day.
 
In my experience, ponies are usually under the stated height, it's the other way round for horses. So when daughter rocks up with her 14h pony, everyone else in the pony class towers above by a good six inches. When she's on her (16.1 according to passport) horse everyone else's are way lower (she's definitely very tall, probably 16.3)
 
Height of the withers isn't a very accurate indication of the overall height of the horse. Something with low withers will look bigger than you think it should be, for instance.
 
I really must get hold of a stick to measure my cob. I'm convinced he's no bigger than 14.3, but everyone on the yard thinks he's at least 15.2!
I bought him as a 4 year old, he's now 6 so perhaps I just haven't noticed him growing?
 
My girl has a long neck and a fairly big head so appears bigger than she really is. The vet guessed 16.3 and measured her at 16.1. An extra two inches is an absolute mile if you are trying to get on from the ground!
 
The size of a horse is so much more than just what the stick says, so it's easy to get it pretty wrong. We had a 15.2 cob on loan that was smaller than my dads LHC 14.1! Both are 600kg+ big animals though. A 17hh 400kg TB is actually a smaller animal.
 
If the horse is 16hh or over I'm usually spot on at guessing the height correctly. Under 16hh and I haven't a clue! So mine must be under 16hh, I reckon about 15.2 1/2 - 15.3 max but others think he's 16hh easy enough, I'm not convinced though.

One 16.1hh horse is 16.3hh according to Owner and anyone who'll listen to them, it's not been officially measured but I would place money that it's only 16.1hh and not a jot over! I definitely think quite a few over-estimate the height of their horses, not sure why though?!

As a side note, I prefer a smaller horse that rides bigger than a taller/larger one that moves like a pony!
 
rara007 said:
The size of a horse is so much more than just what the stick says, so it's easy to get it pretty wrong. We had a 15.2 cob on loan that was smaller than my dads LHC 14.1! Both are 600kg+ big animals though. A 17hh 400kg TB is actually a smaller animal.
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A 400kg 17 hh tb would be an RSPCA case :eek:

Show horses are often smaller than declared because bigger horses fill the eye more in the show ring.

Non show horses under 16.2 are routinely believed to be bigger than they are.

Horses over 17 hands are often described as smaller than they are because horses over 17 hands tend to be more difficult to sell.
 
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No it's not- I did a month working with young TBs and plenty of the colts come in around that in training. And they're not that rare to find in that height over the pond, we weighed them in lb but my british brain had to convert it! My 17hh young WB we struggled to keep weight on (for dressage, no where near RSPCA, just normal young gangly horse) only just tipped 500kg.
 
ycbm said:
A 400kg 17 hh tb would be ann RSPCA case!l.
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I was going to say the same!!!! My 17hh grey tb weighed in at 515-525kg when stripped racing fit and my 17.2hh weighed in at 545-555kg when racing. They were weighed weekly. Interestingly I used to weigh the chestnut on the way out of the yard and on the way back in every time he ran and every day for a week after. He routinely lost 15-20kg in a days racing which will be from water loss. He regained it fully within 2 days. A random slight insite into what goes on with racing TBS lol!
 
Was that as yearlings/2YOs or 4YO? Maybe they're just lighter in the US? They didn't look poor anyway and were regularly under 1000lb :)

16.3/17hh (not sure exactly what he was then as he grew!) and under 500kg= legs :p
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I think you have your conversions wrong rara as my 13.2hh show pony weighed 400kg! Anything 17hh and 400kg is going to be emaciated
 
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