# HOW tall do you think she will get?



## Country Woman (Dec 14, 2011)

Well maybe with the proper nutrition ,grain and hay


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## blue eyed pony (Jun 20, 2011)

I severely doubt it to be honest. My filly is 13.2 at not quite 13 months and she'll be lucky to hit 15hh. They're 90% grown by 12 months and 95% by 18 months. You MIGHT, with correct nutrition, help her grow to around 14hh but I don't think she'd go much taller.


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## GhostwindAppaloosa (Jun 3, 2011)

possibly. what height were her parents? she might not be genetically capable of that height. I would get her on a good nutrition program now.


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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

If you are lucky, your filly might be one of those slow growers. I had a solid paint filly that was about 14.1H as a two year old, she matured to 15.1H at about 4 1/2 years old. Good nutrition is essential, hopefully the filly had lots of good feed to help compensate for a lack of grain.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

blue eyed pony said:


> I severely doubt it to be honest. My filly is 13.2 at not quite 13 months and she'll be lucky to hit 15hh. They're 90% grown by 12 months and 95% by 18 months. You MIGHT, with correct nutrition, help her grow to around 14hh but I don't think she'd go much taller.


Maybe with ponies this is correct, but the slow maturing breeds will often shoot up as much as a hand, after turning 2. 
My hanoverian nearly 15 month old gelding, is 14.2hh at the bum, and 14.1hh at the wither (going through bum high growth spurt again!) - his sire is 17hh, and dam is 16.1hh. Sire throws quite big, usually over 16hh at least. 
If your assumption was correct, my yearling won't be more than 15hh - but at the rate he is currently growing I'd say he'll hit 15hh pretty soon!

My coaches old hannoverian mare was only 15.2hh as a 2 1/2 yr old. At 6, she was 16.2hh. Go figure!


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## blue eyed pony (Jun 20, 2011)

It's actually a figure based on Thoroughbreds, not ponies! Granted, TBs do mature faster than warmbloods, but I wouldn't have thought THAT much faster.

I had a friend whose mother's cleveland bay/holstein/tb/percheron was 16.1 at 4yo and didn't grow a millimetre upwards but DID grow a few miles sideways! Went from a 6'3" rug to a 7'0" rug in a year and STILL going at 6-7yo. There's science to indicate that all horses' growth plates fuse at roughly the same ages but the actual growth rates are very much breed influenced, so a 16hh yearling may slow its growth REALLY fast after that and only end up 16.3, or it might be a slow-growing breed and keep growing at the same rate for longer and end up 18hh+...

for what it's worth though I don't hold much faith in parents' heights as an indicator of the height of an eventual foal. My yearling's parents are 14.2 and 14.3 and it's looking likely Satin will be 15hh, but she won't go much taller. 15.2 if I'm lucky. I know people who've ended up with 16hh horses from 14.2 to 14.2! And I know plenty of people who've ended up with much smaller horses than they intended. All depends on the individual cross, AND the individual genetics the foal has inherited. AND nutrition to a degree. Full siblings can be two and three hands different in height!


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## Hunter65 (Aug 19, 2009)

I adopted Hunter at 15 months and he was under 13 hands. He had also not been fed properly for a growing baby. He will be 4 in April and is 14.2, when we did the string test we got 15 hh, so heres hoping he will still grow. He is a qh cross with ????


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Nature never designed foals to be fed grain except in the fall by providing wild oats, weed seeds, etc. There was a trend to pull babies off their mamas at 3 mos, stuff them with supplements and grow them fast. It pretty much backfired. Yes we were seeing big 2yr olds and by 5 they were suffering joint problems. Consider letting your yearling grow as nature intended. To determine height you really need to know what is in the parent's background for height as well. We see that in human families. Two tall parents can have a short kid that looks somewhat like a great aunt who was petite.


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## Hunter65 (Aug 19, 2009)

I actually never fed Hunter grain. I did have him on a feed made for growing horses though.


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## Alekazam (Feb 12, 2012)

I agree that some are slow to mature. My gelding measured at 14.1 when i got him as a 3 year old. He now measures between 15.3 and 16.0 hh. and will be 7 this year. I would never have believed it if I had not seen it. My farrier is amazed also. Funny thing is, I did not want a tall horse  But he just kept growing.


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## Hunter65 (Aug 19, 2009)

Alekazam said:


> I agree that some are slow to mature. My gelding measured at 14.1 when i got him as a 3 year old. He now measures between 15.3 and 16.0 hh. and will be 7 this year. I would never have believed it if I had not seen it. My farrier is amazed also. Funny thing is, I did not want a tall horse  But he just kept growing.



Oh yay there can still be hope!!!!


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## Alekazam (Feb 12, 2012)

One other thing, my gelding with the late/long growth spurt, he never looked very put together. He always looked leggy and awkward, even at 5 years old. Just between his 5th and 6th year he started to fill out and look really nice.


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