# How tall will my horse get?



## Horsecrazy4ever (Nov 29, 2011)

ok, this is a really stupid question, but how tall do you think my horse will get?

He is a 2 yr. old QH gelding that currently stands 14.1H. Is this short for a 2 yr. old QH? 

I really would like to hear responses from those of you that have raised a QH and seen how they grow. Any answers appreciated. Thank you


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## animalartcreations (Oct 26, 2010)

Take a measurement in inches from the hairline on a front hoof up to the soft spot in the middle of his knee. Take that number and turn it into hands. That is, if he measures 15 inches, a good guess is that he will be 15 hands.


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## Horsecrazy4ever (Nov 29, 2011)

animalartcreations said:


> Take a measurement in inches from the hairline on a front hoof up to the soft spot in the middle of his knee. Take that number and turn it into hands. That is, if he measures 15 inches, a good guess is that he will be 15 hands.


Thanks for the advice! I will try it this morning and let you know what the measurements are.. thanks!


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## animalartcreations (Oct 26, 2010)

Oh, and at 2 years old, he still has plenty of growing time left. Some QH lines are late bloomers, too.


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## LynnF (Jun 1, 2011)

It is hard to say exactly but if you find out how tall his parents were chances are he will be a similar height.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

My qh was 13'1 yearling, 14 at 2. She's honest 14'3 now at 7. My other one was 13'2-13'3, now 15'1+. :wink: So they still grow after 2. Try string measurement (mid of knee to coronet band) to see what it gives you. I measured mine while back (I was afraid they never gonna make it horse size), and it gave me exactly 14'3 on qh, and 15'2 on paint, believe it or not.


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## nuisance (Sep 8, 2011)

I got my 4 yr old QH in July. She has grown a good hand since we got her, and I have had to let her halter out 3 holes already!!!


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Generally a gelding has 96% of mature height at 2 and mares 97%. But that's just a rule of thumb and some are really late bloomers. If you know the breeder you can ask how their brothers/sisters grew.


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## Horsecrazy4ever (Nov 29, 2011)

animalartcreations said:


> Take a measurement in inches from the hairline on a front hoof up to the soft spot in the middle of his knee. Take that number and turn it into hands. That is, if he measures 15 inches, a good guess is that he will be 15 hands.


I measured him and I got 15 and 1/2 inches... So 15.2H? 

Thanks everyone for all the excellent advice/testimonies =)


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## candice and mateo (Mar 4, 2011)

i just measured my paso and he is 13 inches right now. with the measurement from the middle of the knee down says he will be 16 inches... i cant say i believe that...


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## candice and mateo (Mar 4, 2011)

oh and he's a year and a half old


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## crimsonsky (Feb 18, 2011)

guesstimating adult height is always interesting. 

when taking into considering adult height of a horse's sire and dam, do you assume the horse will end up in the middle or leaning more towards dam (if a filly) or sire (if a colt)? if the sire hasn't reached full growth yet, how do you guess then? 

someone mentioned percentages of adult height based on age and gelding or mare. what difference does being a colt make in that?

hahaha so many questions! sorry!


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## CecilliaB (Jan 21, 2010)

My long 2 year old is 14.2.....or she was last time I measured  String test says she will be about 15.1...which sounds about right. 

Your measurements sound right. At 2 they have allot of growing and maturing to do


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

Growth cannot be determined by age at all. Growth at a certain age is totally dependent on how hard a horse is 'pushed'. Horses fitted for sales and for show are fed for early growth. They will have their mature height several months to even years ahead of horses fed grass hay, pasture and other low protein, high fiber diets. Horses that run out and are not fed supplements and high protein diets will get as big they would have gotten if they were pushed. It just may take them a couple more years to do it.

As far as genetics goes -- it depends on individual horses. I have a stallion that is 15.1. He got a little big for reining and cutting, but he is a super cow horse and can handle anything on the end of a rope. He is very deep in the heartgirth and he sires very few foals that are smaller than he is, even out of small mares. Some, out of mares that stand 15.0, hit 16 hands. We are riding two now. We figured out very quickly that if we wanted little cow horses, we had to breed tiny cutting mares to him. 

Different stallions are more 'prepotent' than others. If I cannot go out in any pasture and pick out the foals of a certain stallion, he is not prepotent enough to work for me.

I also tried the coronet to mid knee measurement on a good many of the horses I measured. I found it only worked about 60% to 70% of the time -- at best. It was not so accurate in big horses with short cannon bones and low set hocks - exactly what I have always liked in a horse. It also makes a difference on horses with very long pasterns. That is so variable in horses. 

I think there is definitive proof that geldings get taller than stallions of the same breeding. Testosterone has been shown to make the epiphysis' of the leg bones close earlier -- thus, geldings castrated prior to 18 months of age will grow taller than horses not castrated.


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## HUSAngel (Apr 18, 2010)

I've heard the string testing (knee to coronet) is fairly accurate. And I've heard it's not. I'm hoping it is...I have a QH yearling & weanling, full sisters, dam is 15.3 and sire is 17.1 (TRUE). My girls both string to 17h, have BIG knees and LONG cannon bones. I'm hoping it's right!  I show HUS and bred for taller horses.


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