Put my mind at rest - a height question.

JJS

JJS

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As some of you will have seen, I had a baby BOGOF born on the 19th May out of my 14.2hh mare and a 14.3/15hh stallion.

Despite a few comments about how large she is, including from the vet, I assumed that she would mature around 15hh maximum, especially as Mary (her dam) is a maiden.

However, I've just seen a post on a foaling group that has me slightly worried! According to one experienced breeder, if the foal's knees are the same height as the mare's at this age, you're looking at a mature height of around two hands bigger!

Mayflower's were higher than Mary's at birth, which has now left me slightly concerned that I could have a baby behemoth on my hands. She is growing like a weed, but I just thought that Mary was doing a good job of feeding her!

Here she is at two days old...

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... six days old...

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... and 10 days old.

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I'm not really looking at 16.2 plus at maturity, am I? I figure that it might be a bit of a skewed estimate if only because Mary at four probably has some growing left to do herself, plus two hands just sounds a little excessive to me!

I can't string test and get an accurate result until she's at least a year old, so someone please tell me I'm not about to have a giant on my hands!
 
Friends horse was out of a 16hh mare by a 16.1hh stallion. Her horse is now well over 17hh. Don't think she has measured him but he is nearer 18hh! Sorry!
 
Can't really help you but my maiden 15.3 mare and 16.0 stallion produced a youngster that topped out at 16.2. Her next foal by a 16.2 stallion made 17.1. Another of my mares who was 16.2 and a 16.3 stallion produced a foal that couldn't fit under his mum's belly at a day old and he is now a smudge over 17.2
 
you could try the other measurement of knee joint to coronet band to give you a vague idea center of knee has a dent in it you measure from there round all the curves 14 inches = 14hh etc
 
You jave a 50/50 chance of her being bigger than mum and dad. But honestly i wouldn't worry about it.
 
SEL said:
I think she's going to be much too big and need a home in my herd.... 😊
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Or here with my big beasties


My sisters two year old is 15:2ish now, he is half brother to both of mine and they are 16:3 and 16:2 parents are 15:3 and 16hh.
 
SEL said:
I think she's going to be much too big and need a home in my herd.... 😊
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I'll send her in the post, shall I? :D

I know that it's possible, but it just doesn't seem very likely to me. She's a big baby, but I just hadn't accounted for her being THAT big, especially because she's built like a little tank. More than anything, I just wondered whether anyone else had ever heard the knee height theory before, because I hadn't.

The real irony will be if Mary suddenly shoots up too - then we'd know exactly where the height came from! My gelding gained three inches between six and seven, so I guess that anything is possible!

I do love hearing all of your anecdotes, BTW :) Aren't genetics fascinating?
 
I heard that if they could walk under mother at birth they'd be same size, if the brushed along her or couldn't fit then they would be bigger. I think that's it!
 
spugs said:
I heard that if they could walk under mother at birth they'd be same size, if the brushed along her or couldn't fit then they would be bigger. I think that's it!
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She managed to just about squish under Mary on the day she was born, and has never managed it since. By day two she had no chance!
 
When I looked up the name of the stallion you posted on the other thread, it said he was 15.2. Looking at Flower, I think she could well make at least that height. We had a foal out of a maiden mare here. Mare was 16hh and sire was 16.2hh. The foal is now 18hh at just turned five. I think he may grow some more. But my guess on flower is 15.2 - 15.3hh.
 
Foal I bred was out a 15'1 cob mare (her mom was a 16'2 IDxTB, dad 14'2 cob) and by a 15'3 tb stallion. As a 3yo he was about 16'1 and growing.
Techinically you can't accurately string test them before about 1 year old but I found it was reasonably accurate when done with milo at around 1 month old (it said 16'2 then) - essentially string from ground to elbow then fold up from elbow and thats the adult height approximatley
 
You can string test at birth, I have done it for over 100 foals (nearly 200), and it is very reliable. But the measurement is from the ergot (at the back of the fetlock) to the elbow, leaving the end on the elbow, swing the fetlock end up and over the wither - that is the mature height.
 
Wagtail said:
When I looked up the name of the stallion you posted on the other thread, it said he was 15.2. Looking at Flower, I think she could well make at least that height. We had a foal out of a maiden mare here. Mare was 16hh and sire was 16.2hh. The foal is now 18hh at just turned five. I think he may grow some more. But my guess on flower is 15.2 - 15.3hh.
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Hmm, All Breed Database has him as 15.2hh, Coloured Contacts has him as 15hh, and South Western Association of the WPCS and a sales advert I found both have him as 14.3/15hh, so maybe he's a little bigger than I thought.
 
Cortez said:
You can string test at birth, I have done it for over 100 foals (nearly 200), and it is very reliable. But the measurement is from the ergot (at the back of the fetlock) to the elbow, leaving the end on the elbow, swing the fetlock end up and over the wither - that is the mature height.
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Thanks, Cortez, I'll give that a try :)
 
Cortez said:
You can string test at birth, I have done it for over 100 foals (nearly 200), and it is very reliable. But the measurement is from the ergot (at the back of the fetlock) to the elbow, leaving the end on the elbow, swing the fetlock end up and over the wither - that is the mature height.
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Cortez, how long is this test reliable? Is it something that is only accurate at birth, or can you use it for a little bit longer?
 
My maiden 15.2hh went to a 16.1tb. Resulting foal now stands just shy of 16.3hh.
He could walk under his mum for 3 weeks! But, he was very windswept when he was born.
 
Height can be very variable. I had 8 foals out of a 15.2 ID mare by a 17hh stallion. The biggest 19hh (but hewent to Exmoor at 18 months) The next biggest 17hh - most were 16.2-ish. Another mare, IDSH- 16.1, had 6 by the same stallion - most 16.2, one went to Exmoor as a 16.2 4yo - is now 18.2. I blame Exmoor for extremes. But another 16.1 pure-bred ID went to a 16.3 RID stallion, he was 17hh at 4 - and is now 17.3 - in Norfolk, lol. And her subsequent foals by my 16hh ID stallion - the first (a filly) is 16hh at 5, the younger boys are looking much bigger already. It's a bit like throwing dice.
 
LadySam said:
Cortez, how long is this test reliable? Is it something that is only accurate at birth, or can you use it for a little bit longer?
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It works on my adult mares - they have no height left to grow! ;)

I did it on my gelding and he came out at 16.2hh which worried me a bit as both of his parents are 15.1hh and I don't want something over 16hh. Luckily he's not grown that much and is approx 15.1hh (I haven't measured him recently but he's still shorter than my 15.2hh) and it looks like he'll never make the predicted height. So why did he string test so inaccurately? Well he's from very leggy lines (El Shaklan is repeated in his pedigree and he was a very long limbed horse) so his proportions are slightly off the average ones.
 
My share horse's dam and sire were 15.1 and 16hh respectively. He's 17hh and was known by his breeder as "the little man" as his older full sister was 17.2 when she was sold at 3. Mum was the result of a Shire x TB getting to a Section D so we can only assume she passed on more shire than anything else and the thought was that Dad (a TB) had a bad start in life and therefore didn't achieve his full genetic height.
 
LadySam said:
Cortez, how long is this test reliable? Is it something that is only accurate at birth, or can you use it for a little bit longer?
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It works for life, and the reason is that foals are born with their legs at nearly adult length. I'd say this test is about 85% accurate based on my own figures over almost 200 foals.
 
Cortez said:
It works for life, and the reason is that foals are born with their legs at nearly adult length. I'd say this test is about 85% accurate based on my own figures over almost 200 foals.
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Does this mean my own wont-stop-growing baby horse will shrink? Last time I tried the string test it had her smaller than she is :lol:.
 
Hmm, predictions on mature height do depend on the horse's conformation and breeders who breed a very particular type of horse will often have their own fairly reliable rules for that type, but those won't necessarily match other types, so I wouldn't panick.
String test wise - horses that are very leggy types tend to end up shorter than the string test estimate, and horses with a very large shoulder at maturity tend to end up slightly over the string test estimate.
Mayflower is large (chunky and tall), but I would guess that she will end up about 3" above Mary, looking at her now in comparison
 
Cortez said:
You can string test at birth, I have done it for over 100 foals (nearly 200), and it is very reliable. But the measurement is from the ergot (at the back of the fetlock) to the elbow, leaving the end on the elbow, swing the fetlock end up and over the wither - that is the mature height.
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Thanks for the clarification :-) It's a few years since I've done it :-)
 
She may end up closer to dad's height than mums. Blitz was his mums first foal, and although mum was only 148cm, he's currently measuring 164cm, and has overtopped his dad by 2cm (though that can be explained by the gelding).
 
My last foal was out of a 16yo having her first foal the stallion was 16.1 .
The foal was 17.2 when mature .
You get what your given .
 
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