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Veteran
Posts: 147
 
Location: santa clara, ca | Hi, I’m trying to get some feedback on estimating what my horse fully grown height might be. Here is a little info 2yrs Shire (foaled May-05) around 16.2-16.3 now (was 16.1 when purchased in September) Sire:18+h Mare: 17.3 I would say he would get around 18h considering drafts keep growing till 5-7 years old (although mostly weight in the later stages) Here is a link of his dad (Tribute0 with some pics of him and his mom (Titan (now Roahn) and Brandy) http://www.baroquelegacies.com/photo.html Thanks |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1069
Location: MI. | TALL............Sorry, I couldn't resist. |
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Expert
Posts: 1205
Location: Danielsville Georgia | Try measuring from the hairline of front coronet band to center of knee joint.The younger the horse the easier it is to find CENTER of knee joint.At about 18 months that part of the leg is done growing in length.I measure some at 3 months,6 months etc.just to get a idea.I've used metal tapes,fabric etc.The inches you get is the app.hands the horse will be.18.1 inches is 18.1 hands.Wife and I have measure MANY adult horses and its almost spot on compared to a height stick or tape.Try it.Let us know how many inches you come up with.I've got a Saddlebred x Walker colt who's had a little over 16 inches since 90 days of age.Have a coming two year old Qtr colt who has had a shade over 15 inches since he was about 12 months.His has NOT changed since.My Driftwood stallion same deal.He had about 15.2 inches forever and coming 5 he is a 15.2 hand horse. |
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Expert
Posts: 3853
 
Location: Vermont | If you don't geld him, he'll be smaller than he could be... |
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Veteran
Posts: 147
Location: santa clara, ca | he is already gelded.... I don't have a problem with him getting around 18h...but if he gets much bigger we might need a new trailer(7'4" tall now) and obviosuly a bigger truck.... The fact that he also has no clue of his size doesn't help: righ now he is medium-high duty stock pannels as he just broke the normal horse pannels.... |
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Expert
Posts: 1205
Location: Danielsville Georgia | Did you measure his leg/bone length yet? |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 824
Location: Kansas | OK, stupid question time-do you run the tape against the leg as you are measuring? Or let it go straight from coronary band to knee with gap between tape and leg? |
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Expert
Posts: 1205
Location: Danielsville Georgia | We generally use a metal tape and let it contour in slightly. Also,on your leg measurements,each quarter inch equals one inch in hands ie:15 3/4 inches = 15:3 hh.,etc. |
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.jpg) Expert
Posts: 2828
Location: Southern New Mexico | and let it contour in slightly How slightly? I'd like to measure my filly. |
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Expert
Posts: 1205
Location: Danielsville Georgia | Slightly.Measure some of your grown horses that you know how tall they are for practice. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 824
Location: Kansas | Thanks 'dog! I knew about the inches but have never been able to get a straight answer about the contouring! |
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Veteran
Posts: 147
Location: santa clara, ca | Sorry for the long wait.... the measurement came out at 17.1...quite happy with that(around 16.3 right now): measured the other two horses: 12yrs NSH 16" versus real life 16.2H and buckskin PMU rescue (quarter horse...something else) 15" versus 15.3H now (5 years old). So I would assume that Rohan(the Shire) would get 17.3H + here is a video of us playing(he was probably 16.2h at that time...i'm 6'3" w/o boots) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKzcUKAUsWU |
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Expert
Posts: 1205
Location: Danielsville Georgia | The more ones you measure the better you'll get.Finding the center of the knee is the trick.The ones we have measured have been closer in measurement.Couple of friends that tried it swore theirs measured like 16.1 but 5 y.o. horse was 15.3 etc.My wife remeasured with them watching and she came up with 15.3 etc.Measure as many as you can and see.We found it much easier then using a height stick or tape for some reason. |
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Veteran
Posts: 147
Location: santa clara, ca | I'll give a few more tries: right now they all have their winter coat (well for California....) but ounce it stops with the rain/wind we'll give them a nice clip and hopefully it will make it easier to to find the exact spots to measure |
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Veteran
Posts: 147
Location: santa clara, ca | new update: "measured" my horse yesterday (18 days till he officially turns 3). Front 16.3+h Back 17.1h seems like he is going trough a front growth phase now, can't wait to see after we get back from our 2 weeks honeymoon, since everytime i don't see if for 3 days he seems a lot bigger than the last time.... |
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Veteran
Posts: 147
Location: santa clara, ca | make it 17h in the front....and don't want to know the back. as of now he just dwarfs the 16.2" NSH that we also have |
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Expert
Posts: 1205
Location: Danielsville Georgia | There is no reason to measure the rear legs;the formula is for the front leg only! On the yearlings,it's easier to find the center of the knee because your finger will kinda "fall" into the gap between upper & lower bones. The gap is less pronounced in older horses. Hope that helps you.The more you measure,the better you get at it. |
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Estimating Horse Final Height
