How big will my youngster be??

vroutledge

vroutledge

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My yearling is currently standing at 13.2hh and is bum high, his dam is 16.3hh and his sire 16.3/17hh do you think he will reach a similar height?? my friend thinks he wont make 16hh but i'm not sure either way as i had a horse at 15.2 at 3yrs old then when i brought him back in after being turned away for the summer he finished up at 16.2hh. ideas please???
 
No idea really but I bought mine aged 15 mths standing at 15hh, he is rising 3 this year and it almost 16.1hh (I was hoping he'd just make 16hh but me thinks he will be bigger!). I guess a lot depends on breed type and when they stop growing. Mine's TB x some sort of coloured sports horse type so I personally think he make about 16.2hh (ok, I HOPE that's all he get to!)
 
my lad is 2 next month. He's standing at 16.1 now and is expected to get to 17.1. his dam is 16.1 and shire 17.1. Hope this helps you to compare :-)
 
My yearling is a warmblood cross and is currently standing 13.2hh ish. Her parents are 14.3hh and 16.3/17hh and her full 3 year old sister is 15.3hh ish. Im hoping she will mature over 16hh!
 
Don't know if it is true but was told that measuring the length of the cannon bone gives a good indication. So if cannon bone 16 inches then should make 16 hands etc. Would be interested to know if anyone else heard this or knows how true/reliable this is.
 
jaijai said:
Don't know if it is true but was told that measuring the length of the cannon bone gives a good indication. So if cannon bone 16 inches then should make 16 hands etc. Would be interested to know if anyone else heard this or knows how true/reliable this is.
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i tried this. Foal Measured 16 3/4 inches. Hes just turned 3 and standing 16.1. So should make 16.2/3
 
Thanks Asha - so may be a guide then.
Mind you our boy was 15.2 when he was 7. When we bought him at 7 and 10 months he was 16.0 and at 9 measured 16.3. He was obviously a late developer!
 
A fairly reliable method is to measure from horse's elbow to ergot with a bit of string, keeping the end on the elbow turn the string up over the wither - whatever the height over the wither is, this is pretty much how tall he/she will end up. I've done this with foals for over 20 years with very good accuracy.
 
I tried the string method this morning and as he is rather gangly at the moment his legs seem very long so i turned the string around and then i got my OH to measure with a tape measure from the ground to the top of the string and we came out with 17hh so fingers crossed he makes that
 
And another thing i forgot to mention is he is an irish sport horse, he has lived out all winter and i feel the breeders took him away from his mum when he was very immature so i think he‘s a late developer :-)
 
competitiondiva said:
My lad was 14.2 at 12 months, and at 3 is now 16.2 for comparison, he's a warmblood btw
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My WBxTB was the same. 14.2h'ish at 12 mo. She's almost 5 now and 16.2h.

BUT! Her dam (also homebred) only made 15.1h and HER dam was 16.0h and her sire 16.3h. And the other full-sibling I bred made only 14.3h at maturity. Both were homebred, and well produced and well fed. So no excuses for stunted height or anything. Just good 'ole genetics mucking up plans! :rolleyes:

My 16.2h WBxTB's sire was only 16.0h so with her dam only being 15.1h she's definitely inherited her height from further back in her ancestry (grandsire on dam's side perhaps.)

Breeding plans don't always go as expected!
 
I have a late developing ISH filly too,she is 3 in June but still looks very much a 2 yr old,she is about 14.3/15hh and i'm hoping she'll make 16hh,mum was 16.1hh and dad was 15.3hh. Pics please of your baby :)
 
Without measuring, I calculate as follows: For a filly take dam's height plus (sire's height minus 2 inches) and divide by two. For a colt take (dam's height plus 2 inches) plus sire's height and divide by two. But of course you will get some anomolies.
 
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My youngster who is 1 on saturday is abour 15 hands at the moment. I got told measure from centre of knee to coronet band and the length in inches is height in hands. Or add 2 hands to a yearling or 1 hand to a 2 year old. My boys going to be about 17 hands!
 
iItried that technique too and both techniques i tried tell me he will be about 17hh, my friends youngster is about a month younger and is a similar height but she was kept in on a night over winter and was on her mother until about 1month ago as well as being fed whereas my youngster was shipped over from ireland at 6months then out all winter :-( poor lad so i think he is just a slow developer. if i added 2 hands to his current 13.2hh ish then he would be quite a lot smaller than both parents.
 
Generally they say a horse grows 1 hand between 1-2 years and another hand at 2years onwards.

I bought a ISH aged 4 and he was 15.3hh and vet said he wouldn't grow anymore. I only had him a year and he grew to 16.1hh. Think he ended up between 16.1- 16.2hh and was a proper chunky monkey! So ISH mature really late!
 
Oooh stop... you're all scaring me about how big my foal will grow to!

I bought him after being told he will finish at 15.1-15.2, but he is already 14.1 at 11 months.

I'm going to need a ladder if he grows any taller as I'm only 5' lol!
 
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