Youngster growing at an alarming rate!

[Sleipnir]

My big gelding is 17hh and massive - he was 16.1hh when I bought him as a 5yo and then had a steady growth spurt until he got to the size he is. He's a good size, I actually don't prefer riding anything bigger, and, being just 5 ft 3" myself + with a bad hip, I can do with smaller horses too.

So, when I found a youngster I liked and learned that both of his parents are a lovely 16hh, I thought - great, that means he'll be roughly the same size, right?

Got him as a 8mo. He's everything I've dreamed of - great character, trainability, and also a nice mover. And, at 2.5yo, he's...already quickly exceeding 16.1hh, and it's obvious that he's still got a LOT of growing to do! Eeeeep! There goes my hope for a smaller horse. Guess I should start saving up for a larger mounting block?

(Just a disclaimer - he's not being pampered or overfed - lives out 24/7/365 with a nice and active herd, and thrives on just hay, grass and a handful of soaked grass nuts to mix his very basic supplements in.)

 

[FestiveFuzz]

I feel your pain! I bought my boy as a weanling and expected him to make around 16.1hh. He’s 3 in March and already 16.1hh with plenty more growing to do and I’m 5’4 and haven’t grown so much as a millimetre in many years ??

 

[SpotsandBays]

Mine is also about 16.1 and is 2.5! Although he’s all legs, and has only just started to fill out. He looked like a foal on stilts for aaaagessss ?
I was told he would be approx 16/16.1hh (good thing I’ve got long legs!)

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

You won’t like this but..

My old horses sire/dam and full sister were 16hh - he was 17.2hh!

My current horses sire is 16.3hh, his dam is 17hh and he is 19hh (with shoes on).

 

[BeckyFlowers]

I don't think it's fair to give us this update without pictures.

 

[ihatework]

It’s just a complete lottery isn’t it!

I’ve got a rising 5yo who is about 15.3hh out of a 16.2hh mare and by a 17hh stallion.

I’ve got a rising 2yo out of a 15.3hh mare by a 17hh stallion who is about 16/16.1hh already and has a lot of growth to go!

Another rising 2yo is bang on what you might expect, both parents approx 16.2hh and she is about 15.1hh now and growing evenly

One I sold in the summer was out of a Welsh sec D mare and was the best part of 17.2hh at maturity.

No rhyme or reason

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

It’s just a complete lottery isn’t it!

I’ve got a rising 5yo who is about 15.3hh out of a 16.2hh mare and by a 17hh stallion.

I’ve got a rising 2yo out of a 15.3hh mare by a 17hh stallion who is about 16/16.1hh already and has a lot of growth to go!

Another rising 2yo is bang on what you might expect, both parents approx 16.2hh and she is about 15.1hh now and growing evenly

One I sold in the summer was out of a Welsh sec D mare and was the best part of 17.2hh at maturity.

No rhyme or reason

A 17.2hh Welsh D x sounds like a terrifying yet amazing animal all at the same time

 

[ihatework]

A 17.2hh Welsh D x sounds like a terrifying yet amazing animal all at the same time

Ha ha, there was nothing terrifying about him at all, one of the most straightforward and honest horses I have ever had!

 

[doodle]

It’s funny isn’t it. One friend got a weanling, parents 16hh and 16.1hh. She gave up measuring once he got over 17hh. Another, mare and stallion both over 16.2hh. The foal didn’t even make 15.2hh.

 

[daffy44]

Total lottery!

I bought a foal that was rejected from the foal auctions because she was too small, her dam was 16.1, sire 15.2, her full sister matured at 16.2, she was cheap because of the rejection from the auction, I liked her, and thought it was worth a gamble, she matured at 18.2.

I bought a yearling, that as a yearling towered over her contempories, her sire and dam were 16.2 and 17hh, she matured at 16.1, never grew an inch after she was 2yrs old.

Another foal I bought matured at 18hh his sire and dam were both 16.3.

If anyone tells you they know how tall a foal is going to end up, dont believe them! At best its educated guesswork.

 

[spookypony]

My mare's sire was a 13-something PBA show pony stallion. I gather his parents were both bigger, and his progeny seem to come in all sorts of random sizes, from 12hh to my mare at 15hh! I think my mare was meant to stay pony sized, but she had other ideas! She has a very short back and sturdy barrel, fitting in 5'6" or 5'9" rugs, and long legs. Sort of like my shape, actually...

 

[Whoopit]

My KWPN is 2.5yrs (recently gelded too as proving a live wire with quite the opinion) and currently 16.3hh but not bum high and no obvious growth spurt appearing other than having a neck like a giraffe that makes him look about 18hh! He just gets a basic chaff, sprinkle of garlic, decent quality ad lib hay (or haylage) and bumbles about the field every few days (and magnificently cops for mud rash just at the sight of a muddy puddle).

I’d actually like him to make a little bigger although he’s a nice height now but sure is 16.3 and dam 17.1 so he’s there or thereabouts anyway.