If a horse is for sale, does it magically become 15.2hh?

ycbm

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Agree but surely an inch max?

It's definitely not limited to an inch. I've got a nearly 16.2 who will go to 17 hands minimum when I take him somewhere new and everything tenses up. And when you break a new horse in it's not unusual for the wither to pop up 2 inches when the rest of the horse stays the same size as the muscles/tendons/ligaments come into work.
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Inda

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Gosh, lucky you managing to find a 15.1 Spanish horse, especially in the UK. The very best kind of baroque type horses are rarely over 15.2 and it's getting really difficult to find them as the fashion now is for giant, modern sportshorse type.

Most people haven't a clue what height their horse is, don't have a stick, and if they do don't know how to measure.

I always thought my 15hh PRE was titchy! she rides bigger though, I always forget she’s a shorty. We have a collection of Iberians on the yard and she’s by far the smallest.

Think she will finish at 15.1 though, she’s currently 154cm so about halfway between the two
 

Caol Ila

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PRE Mares have to be 15hh or over and stallions 15.1hh or over to grade which has pushed them to be larger. Also the trying to match warmbloods for dressage ?.

Yeah, that's why Hermosa is only "half" a PRE. Her mum is 14.3, so never made the grade with ANCCE. So she's got a "fusion" passport with BAPSH. Whatever.

Carmin‘s niece Azizam is for sale too, out of her deceased sister.

I never saw Azizam when I went there to view horses, and she was in the age range I was after. She only showed me Macetero's get, not Golondrino's. I saw Hermosa and Ventarron (and the younger babies in Macetero's herd, and I didn't want a yearling or weanling...oh, wait...)
 

SO1

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It matter quite a lot if you are wanting to compete in a class with a maximum height.

I am a small adult 5.1ft 8 stone. I have a new forest and if he was 14.3 I would not be able to complete in bred classes as he would be over height.

I bought him as 14.1 nearly 15 years ago but he is so small in the classes so I expect he is more like 13.3 but he is a good height for me and definitely within height for his breed.

Peoples ideas on what height horses are is bizarre - completely skewed.
That said, peoples fixation on height I also don't get - it really isn't about what the stick says at the wither that makes one horse more suitable than another.
 

Cragrat

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This very true an unfit horse gets smaller I don’t know how tall H is but he looks smaller in August than he does in January when he’s fully fit .
Blue was hugely fat when he came he was sold as 16.2 and I would say that’s what he is now slim and fit and worked he developed a proper ( ish still a way go ) thoracic sling .
He looks narrower , he is but only a little , less than ten mm but as his front end support muscles have woken from their slumber he’s developed a wither and looks less wide and more up in his conformation .

One of mine has been off work nearly 5 months so far, and I was just saying how small he looks - not measured him but definitely looks to have shrunk :( I hope he grows again once he starts work!
 

Lucky Snowball

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When I was looking for a 15.2 they varied from 14.1 to 15hh. Eventually I started asking 'are you guessing or have you actually measured?' I also took a stick with me to 'prove' what the height was. I resorted to viewing a 16.1 only to find he was 16.3. Not sure what the answer is.
 

Pinkvboots

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One of mine has been off work nearly 5 months so far, and I was just saying how small he looks - not measured him but definitely looks to have shrunk :( I hope he grows again once he starts work!

Arabi looks smaller when out of work all his top line goes and his belly sags, its like he goes into slob mode and just let's everything go south, it does come back fairly quickly with the right schooling the muscles just come back.
 

LadyGascoyne

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I think the 15.1hh mare is still an option because I think her frame is large enough, and she will put some muscle on here. She was standing tall for her measurements though - it was windy and she was a bit high. I think it’s a fair measurement of the horse. I don’t think she’s 15.3hh/ 16hh - or that she would be, with muscle etc.

The 14.3hh is never going to make over 15.2hh.
 

Lady Jane

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Our vet is located next door to any army base and if there is shooting practice when they have a horse in to be measured it causes major problems. The army base won't give them advance warning of practice days
 

hollyandivy123

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What on earth did you say to the seller? Or more to the point, what did the seller have to say?
its not grey.....................

their response we had sold the grey and thought you'd like the chestnut..........

2h wasted trip, it got better though, got on said mare went to leave the yard and reversed into someone's garden instead !
 
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