Is your horse as big as you think??

Bought ours as a 13.2hh, got him measured & was 13.3 & 6/8's so now I just say he's 14hh. Have been thinking about this a lot myself lately as he will be up for sale next year, do I advertise him as 14hh or full up 13.3hh????!!
 
Reggie is about 16.2hh/16.3hh, but he's generally very solid (he's full TB, but in very good condition and very muscled) with long legs so he does look a lot bigger although he acts like a 12hh pony!

We had a mare who we were convinced was about 15hh, although her passport claimed she was just scraping in at 14.2hh (closer to 14.1hh). Then we saw a team photo of her looking about 3 inches smaller than the next smallest horse who was also 15.1hh (LHC) and realised she just acted bigger, lol!
 
I bought a 15.1hh 4 year old as my ideal was 15.2hh. He is growing, a couple of months ago he was 15.2hh & I am sure he is still growing. My answer to it is not to measure him ever again & then I can be happy with my 15.22hh !!! If anyone asks I can say 'Well he was 15.2 the last time I measured him'
 
my mums latest horse was sold to her as 15.2 but was infact only 14.3-didnt matter though as she was a chunky, solid girl.

pony was 13.2 when we got her but filled out and grew an extra inch :D so with the stick she's definitely 13.3
 
Loads of people over estimated the height of Dancer, I think its cos she is so slender and leggy and looks like a mini horse. Loads of people said she must be 15.2hh but I measure her as bought a measuring stick and she is 15hh (the height at which we bought her)

I know soooo many people who over estimate the height of their horse though. One woman at my old yard said her horse was 16.1hh and cos mine was taller she said mine must be 16.2hh. In reality her horse was around 15.3hh- 16hh and mine was 16.1hh at a push lol.

I am a bit obsessed with measuring my youngster though lol. I have now put the measuring stick away till october and hopefully i'll get a surprise :P
 
I would love to put a measuring stick to all the horses on my yard and see what they come out as, I bet hardly any of them are actually the height they're passported at. When I had my gelding, I sometimes hacked out with a friend on her Norwegian Fjord mare - both our ponies were passported at 14.2hh, but when we stood them right next to each other, there was a difference of at least two inches. Never measured them though, so I don't know if she was actually 14hh or he was actually 15hh. My new mare is 15.1hh on her passport, and when I tried to measure her I came out with 15hh, but I was using a flimsy tape measure rather than a proper measuring stick so it wasn't very precise. I'll get her measured properly one day, just out of interest.
 
My boy is 17'2 but has a huge wither, generally looks up to height thoughs coz he is big all over. Not fussed about height, my first horse when I was 20 was 14'3, learned to ride on 16'3 Cleveland Bay and 17'3 IDH, I don't mind about height as long as they are wide and have good bone :)
 
Genie is passported at 14.1hh (haha!) but is 15hh with shoes on. Titchy is currently approximately 15hh at the bum... I guesstimate this as at the moment her bum is the same height as Genie's!
 
Bug2007 said:
Seems to me a lot of people add inches to their horses.

Serveral friends have said thier horses are 16.2hh or above and then I have hacked out with them on my 16hh horse who at a stretch might get away as 16.1hh defo no bigger...and she is taller than said 16.2hh but instead of them saying oh my horse must be smaller, they add the inches to mine and say no way she is 16hh she must be 16.3hh at least etc...:o:rolleyes:

I mean I have not had her height done offically but the tape can not be out by 3 inches surely. :rolleyes:

Views???
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Actually tapes are a crap way of measuring :) Showed my mare as 16.2hh bought a stick and she`s 15.3 / 16hh, showed CB as 17hh and she`s just short of 16.2h
 
Harvey measures just over 16.1 but looks much bigger, he also has pretty flat withers. Takes a 7'3 rug! Nemo measures 14.2 but he looks smaller and has high withers.
As someone else asked, what does 'full up' mean?
 
Unfortunately yes. I normally only like small horses as I'm 5ft5 and a slight 8st, my ideal height is 15hh-15.2.
My horse was around 15.3 when I got him. He's now a full up 16hh, well 16hh 1/2 actually (we have a measuring stick). However he has a high head carriage which when he's tacked up makes him look a bit bigger! My friend thought he was around 16.3hh the other day! He also has big shoulders which also make him look bigger, when I got him he was a 6ft-6ft3 in rugs and now because of his huge man shoulders he's bursting out the front of a 6ft6!
I do think however that a lot of people overestimate the height of their horses, I know of a few '16.1hh' horses who are definitly smaller than my horse! ;p
 
CeeBee said:
As someone else asked, what does 'full up' mean?
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A horse that has no withers or low withers is full up as the height of the back will be near to the height of the top of the withers and a horses height is measured to the top of the wither.
 
Haven't read all your replies, but having had a height certificate done on my mare in the past I know height can be very misleading!! My mare to stand with shoes on and have a height stick put on her is 15.2 bang on, BUT having done the whole shoes off and to a vets for a height certificate where she initially measured 15.2 but then wait 10 mins for the horse to stand still, relax and all ligaments settle, she got a certificate at 15 hh and 1/2"!! Absolutely no-one believes this, everyone guesses at 16hh well before they would ever guess at that if I asked someone how big she was!! I basically say she's 15.2 because this is what she rides at and is generally day to day without the 10 min stand still etc, but thought it might be interesting to people! Her passport says 16hh!!!
 
Yeh people def add inches to their horses!! As a matter of fact I often get TOLD..yes TOLD that my horse is at least 17h but he is only 16'1, measured & everything but people still try to convince me that he's bigger!! so strange!
 
Mine has been measured at 16.2, quite happy with her height so have no desire to put inches on, that's normally a man thing is it not to think things are bigger than they truly are.:D :p

I know loads of folk who say their horses are bigger. seem to think there is some sort of kudos in it. I saw one a few days ago who i had been told was 18.2, no chance 16.3 at a push I reckon. Big built so looks big but never 18.2.
 
Unfortunately yes.... I just wish he wasn't :D
At last measurement, he was 18hh and a little arse high. Looking at him this morning, he appears to have levelled out... Quite frankly, I daren't put a stick on him and find out!!
 
My pony was measured precisely at 13.3 3/4 so I do admit to often adding the extra 1/4 of an inch to call him 14h :P Although lately I've been taking off the 3/4 inch to call him 13.3 because it sounds more impressive against his achievements xD

The mare has never really been measured, she was sold to us at 15h and when I put a tape measure against her the other day I would agree with this measurement, although she might be like the pony and be more 14.3 3/4 xD

I don't really see the point of adding height to my horses, although I get a lot of 'oh no my horse is 15h so yours must be 15.2' Err no, she is definitely not that big!! I also get a lot of people who seem to think the pony is 14.2, he also has never looked near that size to me xD
 
Ive measured all mine so I know, Freckles is 16hh, measured that when she was 3 and never grew another inch.. (thank goodness)

and her son Harley, though everyone thinks hes huge, hes only 15.2hh

Ticky is 14.1 and a half, and Champ is 11.2hh
 
Mine was sold to me as 14.2hh. I have had a stick on him and is spot on. If I took his shoes off and he was measured properly would be less, say, 14 - 14.1hh. He can grow to 16hh when he gets excited about something!

Don't care how big, he suits me. A lot of people I know add inches to their horse height, I have no idea why!
 
My pony has a passported height of 146cms and he measures dead on 151 so it is the opposite way round. Whereas our new ex-racer has passport of 16.1 and is 16.1 :)
 
we had a livery that she said was 16hh i said u sure as our hight restriction is 16.1 she said yes , when i went to pick him up NO WAY was he 16 hh

after many broken fences getting the stable of the brick's by leaning on it all the time we decided to measure him 16.3 he was and had high head and neck he was Clydesdale so we had to say sorry cant have him here no more. she still to this day says he 16hh measure stick cant lie..........
 
There is a great art to measuring a horse and the horse has to be trained to accept the measuring stick so that he remains relaxed.

A 16.2 horse is a tall horse. Plenty big enough for most people, including William Fox Pitt!

I agree that most people will over estimate a horse's height. They also have a false idea that extra height makes for a better horse! Horses over 16.2 are more inclined to have tendon and wind problems so bugger is not always better.
 
My mare is a smidge over 15hh! She has been measured recently by my vet.. We have people at my yard that say their horses are 15.2hh and there is no way they are that small they are a good 4/5 inches higher than Holly at the wither!
 
I know my full height, bare foot, is 15hh,& 15.1hh with my boot heel. It's a great way to guesstimate a horse.People can be way off when stating their horses height And yes, I know I'm titchy.
 
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