when your youngster didn't grow big enough..

I have a 4 (rising 5) year old welsh he was bought to make 15.2hh but he is standing at just a tad over 15hh but he went through stages of not growing and this winter he has grown an inch and 1/2 he is still really weedy looking so don't know if he has any more growing to do yet!? i would give up hope as when he was that age he was only just 14.2hh
 
My 3.5 year old Hanoverian filly who has a lot of TB blood looked spindly and not up to my weight last year. I worried she'd be a bit fine for me. A year later she is chunking out nicely and grown a good inch or more and is now perfect so I've asked her kindly to stop growing! Lol
 
Mine was so narrow at 3 I couldn't get rugs to fit round shoulder and barely 14.2. At 5 she hit 15.3 and I expect she'll just touch 16hh by 7.
 
I wouldn't worry about her not being to carry you. I sometimes ride my friends section d and he is only 14.1hh and i'm 5ft 9 and a bit over weight. He doesn't struggle to carry me. I have also recently bought a gypsy cob who is only 14.1hh at rising 3 years old. I think she will make around 14.2-14.3hh when she has done. I also used to have a 14.3hh gypsy cob who never struggled with me and was very happy to carry heavier riders than me. I also have a 16.1hh idxtb who is for sale as i feel a bit small on him and he is too talented to stay with me.
 
I'm a bit worried at the moment too! I've got a NF x filly aged 2 and a half. She is currently about 13.2hh (just) and I'm 5'6 and currently 10 and a half stone. I'm losing weight slowly and I am hoping to keep it up so that I can get down to about 9 stone, and then maintain it until next year when I can break her in. I've always had horses about 16hh, and this pony was bought to break in and sell next year, but I've already fallen in love with her and want to keep her. Every time I want a cake, or chocolate, I just try and think of her and how much I would love to keep her and ride her myself....
 
Might as well jump on the same band wagon too..... :D

Is there room for another on the bandwagon ? :D
I'm 5'6" and weigh 10stone. My previous pony (New Forest) was 13.2hh at 5yo (I very sadly lost her last year aged 5 :(). I bought her as a scrawny 2yo of around 12.2hh. She had no problems with my height or weight in any way whatsoever when I backed her. I did only get to ride her 12 times though before she died last April (grass sickness).
I now have a rising 3yo New Forest who was about 12.3hh when I bought her off the New Forest in May, and was 13.2hh 6 months later. Both of her parents were 14.1hh.
I also have a rising 4yo (D.O.B. 1st April) Welsh D who was 14.3hh when I bought her in September. I haven't measured her again yet, but I'm expecting around 15.1hh/15.2hh when she's fully mature. She IS a big boned, chunky girl though, and didn't even notice when I sat on her a couple of times :D.
Like others have said, leave backing her until she's 4. There's plenty you can do with her from the ground before backing :).
I certainly wouldn't even think of owning anything bigger than my Welshie.
Our native breeds are more than capable of carrying adults and competing against horses :)
 
I don't know much about Welshies but my WB filly had a big growth spurt aged 5 - 6 ... She grew nearly a whole hand in that year, from 15.3 to 16.2... And from a narrow to medium saddle to a medium to wide!
 
One of mine is now 7 and he grew that precious inch from 14.1hh to 14.2hh in this last year. I've had him since he was a little colt and I always said I would sell him if he didn't make 15.2hh (quite confident that he would as dam was 15.2hh and sire 16hh) .... Yeeeeeeeah right. Standing at 14hh as a 4yo I decided to back him and just accept his size. He's a lovely little horse and now he's strengthened up he doesn't feel as small as he is .... I do have other horses I have sold, but a real soft spot for this one.
 
I'd be more worried about your saddle's length on the pony's back. My Welsh B is solid and takes takes a 16 1/2 " saddle - and that is plenty big enough. I'm skinny and fill it pretty much. Not sure where you would go from this angle - except on a diet. You have at year at least and even at a pound a week that is 52 pounds - half my full weight! Lots of benefits to weight loss, no drawbacks?
 
I'm 5'7" and have ridden a 14.2 cob, I didn't look silly at all. It was great fun :)

My Welsh Cob is 15.2 and at 7 years old, hasn't grown in height but is still filling out.
 
Currently going through the same thing myself..
I have a 20 month old filly, cob x TB, who is about 13.2hh (going to measure her again today just to check). Her dam was 14.2hh and sire, height was unknown, but being a TB I wouldn't expect any smaller than 15hh so could definitely be bigger.
The only thing is she has the tiniest legs ever, a lot of horses at her age have long gangly legs to grow into but hers are really quite small. I'm wondering if my hope for her to make 15-15.1hh is just absolutely delusional! Any smaller than 14.2hh really is unrealistic for me (5ft8/9 and need to lose some weight) so hoping that she does grow.
 
I looked at buying a welsh cob when he was 3 - I passed over him as he was lanky and weedy and not at all what I wanted. He came back on the market as a 5 year old, untouched had just been out in a field - I snapped him up he was superb!!

But I sold my welsh c who I bought as a foal she was to make a chunky 13.2hh and that is what her supposed parents were, yet she was 12.2 and weedy as a 5 year old. I now suspect her passport showing her breeding was a bit made up as to who the sire really was.
 
Well my Welsh d x tb had a 16.2 m/w full brother when I bought him at 2 so felt confident he'd make at least 15-3 which wld have been fine for me. Lovely lovely boy but at 4 was still only about 14-3 so knowing that wld be too small even with another inch or 2 I sold him to a lovely petite lady who still has him some 10 yrs later. He's same size still & was never poor at anytime that I had him or before as I knew the breeder. He was the mares last foal so can only assume that might have influenced his size.
 
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