Ever Measured your horse with a proper measuring stick??

[Kezza]

My friend bought me a proper measuring stick for Christmas, the one with the liquid in it like a spirit level so you know it's accurate. Anyway, after people telling me for years that my boy is bigger than 13.2hh, I just found out he's 14hh and half inch with his shoes on!! He's a very well bred Welsh Section C so he's over the breed max height!

 

[the watcher]

That is quite a difference, I discovered my 15.2 and 15.3 are in fact 15.1 1/2 and 16hh respectively, so I wasn't too far out and would certainly not have been challenged in any classes

 

[Kezza]

It got me thinking when we got another pony who was supposed to be 13.2hh according to his passport (hwe measured him at 13.1hh now) but was much smaller than my boy so we assumed the passport was wrong and he was about 12.3hh! My friend then went looking at a pony to buy around 13 to 14hh and kept coming back saying how small they were compared to my boy which got me thinking ...

 

[showjump2003]

I really need a measuring stick. I have a horse sold to me as a 16hh horse who I recon is just about 15.2 if that lol.

 

[Kezza]

They are so expensive though when you only use them once or twice, that's why I never bought one before! You could always buy one and then charge people to measure their horse for them I suppose, lol!

 

[Happytohack]

How much is expensive out of interest?

 

[Kezza]

Ours is metal and plastic and was about £24 I think.

 

[virtual]

You can get cheaper ones from ebay.

I've got a proper one and often measure my horses (and take off half an inch or 1cm for shoes). Its often interesting seeing the disparity between how big a horse is and how big it's owner/ex owner thinks it is!

For any of you measuring, the horse should be standing square on level ground with his/her head below the level of the withers.

 

[Thistle]

Also don't forget that a horse 'grows' when it is muscled up and fully fit. An unfit or dehydrated or tired horse will be smaller.

 

[jemima]

Kezza - we must have swapped somehow - my Welshie looks very like yours but was bought as 14.1 and measures a gnats under 13.3!

My other Welsh measures 15.1 exactly at the shoulder - but he looks small against many of the 14.2s jumping in the pony classes and tiny against the horses in his class.

 

[Kezza]

Yours must both be section D's then?

Mine is very big section C it seems!

I think lots of people jump ponies larger than 14.2 in under 14.2hh classes to be honest ...

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

I went to look at one advertised as 15h2" & I walked straight past his stable as he was clearly bigger....we tried & liked him & bought him anyway. When I measured him at home he was 16h2". I don't know how people can be so wrong with the size of their horses?

 

[Kezza]

Well I was never told the height of mine, I just assumed he was no bigger than 13.2hh because that's the max height for his breed

 

[virtual]

[ QUOTE ]
Well I was never told the height of mine, I just assumed he was no bigger than 13.2hh because that's the max height for his breed

[/ QUOTE ]

What breed is he?

I have a 15hh pure bred connemara (their maximum allowed height is 14.2hh, so he is registered as part bred)

 

[CrazyMare]

You could be suprised here though, I have a freind with a horse currently holding her Annual Height Certificate from the JMB as 147.6cm, or just a scratch under 14.2, this same mare we measured as 14.3 and a half at home with a measuring stick!!

The horse must be stood on a level surface, stood square and with the head held in a natural relaxed position.

When a measurement is taken for the JMB you are allowed to exercise the horse to help it relax into its enviroment I believe.

Also many horses like my mare, 'grow' when they see the stick through anxiety.

 

[Kezza]

He's a section C by the famous Synod William ...

 

[Kezza]

He didn't seem at all bothered by the stick and I had just ridden him ... I shall measure him again to make sure! People have alsways said he looks bigger and I always said "nonsense"! Eaten my words now.

 

[LEC]

Must get my horse measured I reckon hes 17hh but he seems to shrink and grow. I keep making it up when people ask me!

 

[Jemayni]

Well I know my 15hh worker is 15.2, but I am in complete denial; he looks like a pony anyway!

 

[kirstyfk]

My sister rode a horse for someone and on her passport it said she was 16hh but she was barely 15.2hh.

My sisters old horse was bang on 15hh but when doing workers he was often the smallest pony in the line up. Some 14.2s were bigger than him!

 

[WelshRareBit]

Well Murphy is passported 16.3HH but measured with shoes at 17.1HH.
Also a friend down the yard thought her horse was 16hh when he's only 15.1hh - its funny what you can get round to thinking (or believeing) without measuring to check

x

 

[Bossanova]

I can only get a stick on Boss when he's doped and then he comes out at 15.3, an inch bigger than I'd like him to be- I think he has grown in the time I've had him.
Moon would like to be 15.2, the stick lies. It says 15.1.