Slight rant* Knowing what height your equine is.... only 4" in a Hand

[welsummerchicks]

The 'hand' measurement, cubit and other measurements using parts of the body, probably originated in the Mediterranean or nearby in Egypt, but has hung on in Britain and the US. In Europe today, horses are generally measured in centimeters.

I don't think most non horse people or inexperienced people realize the digit past the decimal point is actually inches, not a decimal fraction of a hand. I am always a little leery of someone who has a horse for sale that's described like this:

16.5 hands, gilded, loves music, 17 years old, great jumper, train your way.

That said, if the ad is for a hunter, and the ad says 16.1 hands, the horse is 14.3. If the horse is a family horse and the ad says 15 hands, the horse is 17 hands....or 18....

 

[ultasol]

Love the ads where they are selling a 15.1 or 15.2 hand horse because it's "too small for my teenage daughter." What is the daughter, a giant? Does a tween or teen need a 17 hand horse?

 

[Bunnylady]

Or let's go to the other end of the equine world, Miniature horses. With minis, the exaggeration tends to go smaller, rather than larger. I suspect that a lot of the people writing the ads don't understand what a hand is, how else can you explain the claims of 3.2 hand adult minis?

 

[babyblue]

I have to lol at the pet peeve of hating overestimating hight. my Qh gelding is not 16 hands. hes 15 hands 3 inches and a little bit with shoes on and in need of a trim lol. so no that does not make him 16 hands no matter how you look at it. my paint mare was 14 hands 2 inches and my younger sisters old Tb was a beat with giant withers and measured close to 17 hands, but no not 17 hands lol.

 

[welsummerchicks]

Ultasol, in some riding sports, 16 hands is small. In others, it's huge. In some riding sports, you can't hardly sell a 16 hand horse - because it's TOO SMALL.

I see gigantic huge men riding little tiny Quarter Horses in reining. I see tiny little children on gigantic hunters and parents having hysterics because their child's horse is 'too small' and they need ' a taller horse to win'. Every riding sport is kind of weird, to be honest. Each one of them has things that are 'okay' in THEIR sport and would be hooted at in another riding sport. Rein handling, position, shoes, horse size, rider size, training methods, you name it.

 

[AkTomboy]

I have been a 4-H leader for 11 years and joined 4-H at 9, every year we would and still do go over how to measure a horse the correct way. It just drives me nuts that so many people just guess or have no want to even try and learn the correct way.

I also agree with the smaller mini sizes, when I was looking for a new mini to add to the crew after traveling 300+ miles one way to find out this 30" mini was a 14 hand pony....talk about grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

And I also have had the fun conversation about how a 15 hand horse is just fine for your tween child.

 

[Haviris]

You know it doesn't really bother me to see one listed as .5 because I just assume they mean half, so 15.5 would be 15.2. But I know what you mean. I've also seen the over (and under) estimated heights to.

Personally I think people are overly obsessed w/ horses heights, I don't even know for sure how tall my horse is, I figure she's either tall enough or she's not, and she is, so what difference does it make what her exact height is? Of course if you are horse shopping, you may 'need' to know how tall the horse is before driving x miles to see it.

When people see my brother in law's horse, Magic (who was mine for 6 years), they always comment on how big he is! He seems average to me and I always told people he was around 15-15.1 hands. When my farrier saw him he also commented on his size, and I told him he was around 15 hands, he guessed him at 16, measured him and he was just under 16 hands. My mare is the same height, actually all four of our horses are pretty close in height, so now when people ask I tell them they are around 16 hands. My mare was advertised at 16 hands, my sister was advertised at close to 16 hands (I bought Magic just before he turned two and he was advertised at 15 hands then). Someday I may bother to get exact heights on everyone, but for now I think that's close enough.

 

[AkTomboy]

I can understand how most people see it as a no biggie on if or how people say the height of said horse, pony whatever is. Look where I live....Alaska.

The nearest stoplight is over 100 miles from me, I look at lots of horses down in the lower 48 and Canada not just for myself but it is very hard to find a horse for my 4-H'rs in this state.

When I look at spending X amount of $ on a horse plus the the $2500.00+ on the shipping not counting the vet, feed and board until the trip up would start. If that said equine gets to my place after close to $10,000.00 and its not whatever height it was said to be is its not such a pretty picture. Or fly down to ahorse and have the same thing happen, 2000 a round trip ticket just to the west coast from my home isnt cheap.

I guess being in and around 4-H for so long has taught me to want to learn what I can and help teach those who do not. Any and all of us around equines know we will never stop learning or know it all.

 

[michickenwrangler]

Quote:
Big one of mine too. When DH was looking for a horse, SO many people told him he'd need something at least 16.2hh. DH is 6'2". I told him, "You need something about 15hh and sturdy." He got himself a 15.2hh Appaloosa (a "real" one like George Hatley breeds) and looked just fine on him.

I'm 5'2" and my half-Arab is 14.2hh and people constantly think she's bigger than she is and are surprised when I get out the measuring stick to prove it. And then they promptly ask me WHY I want a horse that small? "Because I'M only 5'2"!!"

One of my friends with Arabs had a co-wowrker who constantly bragged about her 16hh QH. One day co worker needed to buy some hay so followed friend home. Co worker saw Copper, a non-registered Arab/Morgan who is about 14hh. "Oh, this is about the size of my horse."

Most people really have no idea how big horses are.

Also, in ads "should mature 16+ hands." Of course the mare is 15hh and the stallion is 14hh, but THIS horse SHOULD mature a whole hand higher?

 

[michickenwrangler]

Quote:
When I sold my 14hh purebred Arabian, I advertised her as a youth horse since a friend's 11 yr old daughter competed on her all summer. People who contacted me about buying her mostly shied away from her height. "Oh, she's only 14 hands? I need something at least 15.2 for my 12 yr old daughter."

"How tall is your daughter?"

"5 feet tall."

The people who ended up getting her got her for their 12 yr old daughter who was about my height but long-legged so she actually looked really nice. Last I heard they were still very happy with her.