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  That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
 
| How tall are your horses...especially the ones you have for sale?? Last night we measured 20 horses from 20 different owners. It was commical to see how tall they thought their horse was and how tall the horse really was. 18 of the 20 measured were off by at least 2 inches, and most were overstated. So my advise is get yourself one of the $30 measuring sticks and actually measure your horse if you are going to sell, make claims, give advise and compare your horse to others based on height. (it happens here on BHW all the time.) |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
  
Location: Kansas | You have a bad day spencer? |
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | Depending on whether or not she has shoes, my mare is between 14.2 and 14.3 hands...I just measured her with a tape measure and did the math. My gelding is still growing, and I can't measure him right now because he is at the trainer, but I believe he is between 14.3 and 15.0 hands. His but is high, so I'm thinking his front is going to catch up one of these days. |
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Red Hot Cardinal Fan
Posts: 4122
| I'm guilty of this. 
I don't have a measuring stick, but broke out a level and tape measure a few months ago. I was kinda surprised. Lol. But now I know better in the future I guess.
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 A Barrel Of Monkeys
Posts: 12972
Location: Texas | Agreed. I've never actually seen a 17 hand quarter horse, and yet..... |
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Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | woah hold on.....my gelding is 15.5hh, get it right man |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 725
| We have a tape measure and they're like $4!
http://www.sstack.com/Horse-Care_First-Aid_First-Aid-Kits-Supplies/... |
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That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| Oh no Hoofs. This was all done if fun. We were roping and I was telling a couple guys that my horse sticked at just over 14.3 h. They didn't believe me, they thought he was taller. Then of course everybody wanted to measure their horse. Some of them were sure their horse was 17h. Lol, over compensating SOB's.
Edited by Whiteboy 2015-04-08 11:00 AM
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I AM being nice
Posts: 4396
Location: MD | This is a huge pet peeve of mine. I stick everything. I guess maybe it harkens back to my years in the H/J world, where we get measurement cards on everything in order to show in the appropriate divisions. |
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What Name?
Posts: 1994
| hoofs_in_motion - 2015-04-08 10:55 AM woah hold on.....my gelding is 15.5hh, get it right man
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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | Hum... I really should measure my gelding! I know that when I'm looking for horses I always rule out something that's 14.something because I think it's too short.. I really, really,really doubt that my gelding is under 15.something, but maybe I will be surprised and not rule out so many horse! haha... I will be buying myself a stick! |
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 Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | Actually I'm usually a pretty good guesser. I do stick them or use a tape on them some, but I'm generally with .5" to 1" guessing. I've known for a while my 3 year old was around 14.3. I measured her 14.3 on the money a couple months ago with a stick. I learned a long time ago that the bottom of my chin is right at 15 hh. I go from there. |
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 Cute Little Imp
Posts: 2747
Location: N Texas | oija - 2015-04-08 11:09 AM
Actually I'm usually a pretty good guesser. I do stick them or use a tape on them some, but I'm generally with .5" to 1" guessing. I've known for a while my 3 year old was around 14.3. I measured her 14.3 on the money a couple months ago with a stick. I learned a long time ago that the bottom of my chin is right at 15 hh. I go from there.
I'm pretty good at guessing too, but if I ever go to sell one, I measure to be positive. I have an actual measuring tape for horses, so measured everybody one day and was pretty proud of myself how close I was. Ponies on the other hand, I HAVE to measure them because once they go under 14 hands, it gets a little harder for me to guess. |
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That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| Gunner11 - 2015-04-08 11:20 AM oija - 2015-04-08 11:09 AM Actually I'm usually a pretty good guesser. I do stick them or use a tape on them some, but I'm generally with .5" to 1" guessing. I've known for a while my 3 year old was around 14.3. I measured her 14.3 on the money a couple months ago with a stick. I learned a long time ago that the bottom of my chin is right at 15 hh. I go from there. I'm pretty good at guessing too, but if I ever go to sell one, I measure to be positive. I have an actual measuring tape for horses, so measured everybody one day and was pretty proud of myself how close I was. Ponies on the other hand, I HAVE to measure them because once they go under 14 hands, it gets a little harder for me to guess.
I don't think I've ever bought a horse from someone that measured. They all just say, "oh he's about 15 hands". Yeah give or take 4 inches either way! |
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 Northern Chocolate Queen
Posts: 16576
Location: ND | I measure all of mine & have people argue with me that they're way taller than i say all the time! |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| Fun2Run - 2015-04-08 10:54 AM
Agreed. I've never actually seen a 17 hand quarter horse, and yet.....
My sister had a Firewater Flit/Flaming Jet daughter that was measured by the vet, Dr. Wells, at 17 hands. I didn't believe it either until I saw it with my own eyes. She was the kindest horse I ever saw and extremely athletic. She sold her a couple of years ago to a girl who wanted to breed her and had access to vets specializing in breeding problems. We didn't. I admit that they are very rare in the barrel horse world. |
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 Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | I know TurnLane can measure because the 16 hand horse I went to pick up from her is exactly 16 hands. I thought oh yeah sure, he'll be 15.2 which is big but not elephant size. Lo and behold, Streak is a legit 16 hands. That'll teach me to figure that everyone overstates their horse's height. LOL. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Whiteboy - 2015-04-08 10:44 AM How tall are your horses...especially the ones you have for sale?? Last night we measured 20 horses from 20 different owners. It was commical to see how tall they thought their horse was and how tall the horse really was. 18 of the 20 measured were off by at least 2 inches, and most were overstated. So my advise is get yourself one of the $30 measuring sticks and actually measure your horse if you are going to sell, make claims, give advise and compare your horse to others based on height. (it happens here on BHW all the time.)
I love to measure horses and show how tall they really are. I had someone telling me my 16 hand horse was 17 and I was like no way dude, hes a big body horse so that does make him look bigger, so I pull out my measuring stick that has a level on it and he was like wow.
Yept the best measuring stick is the one with a level on it.  |
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 Champ
Posts: 19623
Location: Peg-Leg Julia Grimm | I measure everything. I just bought a new mare. I asked her owner how tall she was because in the pic he sent, it looked like she was kind of short and very stout. He said 15 hands. She backed off the trailer in front of my house and was way bigger than 15 hands. I sticked her with a homemade stick and level. She's every bit of 15.3 after I pulled her shoes.
One of the best mares I have I ALMOST didn't buy because her owner said she was 14.1. She was 2 at the time. I bought her anyway and boy am I glad I did. She was 15.0 when I got her home and now she's 15.1-1/2 almost 15.2. Perfect.
Inexpensive way to make your own measuring stick. Go to the lumber yard and buy a lath or a kiln stick (6' should be long enough for most peoples horses) and a level (I have one that is about 12" - 18" long). Take a tape measure and mark 5 feet. That's 15 hands. Then go up and down the stick marking every 4". Then mark the inches between the larger mark. Label the hands. Viola you have a very accurate, cheap measuring stick. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 151
| All joking aside... I bought a mare sight unseen that I was in love with. The ONLY thing I was worried about was height. I told sellers this was important (I am tall and am not comfortable on shortys :) - so they went out and measured and texted me 16 hands!! I sent the $$.
She backed off the trailer at 14.3. I was devastated. So I'm with the OP, if you're selling learn how to measure!!
Edited by Skeetersmom 2015-04-08 12:02 PM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 596
Location: Somewhere in the middle of nowhere | Whiteboy - 2015-04-08 9:56 AM Oh no Hoofs. This was all done if fun. We were roping and I was telling a couple guys that my horse sticked at just over 14.3 h. They didn't believe me, they thought he was taller. Then of course everybody wanted to measure their horse. Some of them were sure their horse was 17h. Lol, over compensating SOB's.
This made me laugh! |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | I sold one that was 14.2 and everyone who came to look at her was convinced she was at least 15 hands. uh, no. She was a big mare, but short. Another one I sold, my friend sticked for me at 15.3. We were both like huh, thought he was bigger than that. The buyer who bought him sight unseen wasn't impressed when she measured him at 16.2--figured out later my friend was reading the stick wrong. LMAO! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 678
Location: Canada | We bought a calf horse sign unseen that was finished both ends as well for roping. He was never put on barrels but has barrel pedigree to sell an arm for.
Anyway we buy him a) because he's 14.3 and perfect height for calf roping and b) because he's small and never put on barrels so it's unlikely I'll snag him from hubby for myself --- silly boy lol
He arrives off the trailer and the horse is 16 hands. Hes too tall to jump off for my hubs for calf roping and the perfect height to start on barrels. To this day hubs swears I set him up so I could have this horse instead lol.
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Who Wants to Trade?
Posts: 4692
| The only horse I've measured in the past 5 years is one of my tb mares. We bought her sight unseen. They said she needs a box to haul in because she's so big. Pictures she looks maybe 15.1-2. We get her off the Equine Express rig and just stare. She's every bit of 17.1 LOL. She's just balanced. |
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Expert
Posts: 1561
| Looks to me like we have a bunch of size queens and guys over compensating.... |
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 Lived to tell about it and will never do it again
Posts: 5409
| Along with learning how to measure would be learning how to weigh! I can't believe all the people that think they have a 1400 lb horse. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| Ha! So true. |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| I don't know how old mine are much less correct height. When ever asked their age, I have been saying around 14. These are horses we have owned for years, I finally got their papers out, 2 are 16, one is 18 and the other is 21 :0- off by just a few years. |
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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
Location: 31 lengths farms | Last time I had mine measured was at the vets, the gelding was 15.3 at 6 years old and the mare was 16.2 at the withers and 16.3 at the hip, she was 4, hence the reason the vet decided to measure both as she was still a little downhill. A year later at an Ed clinic the first go of the second day on my big mare Ed was talking to me at the 2nd barrel, he was standing with his hand on her neck in front of the saddle and mid way thru a sentence he stops and says "Just how big is she???" LOL!!! I told him what she was measured at the vet the year before and Ed says "Well she is a heck of a lot bigger than that now, I can tell you that!" He said he had no idea she was that big until he realized his hand was well above him as he was standing there talking. We have measure her at home at 16.3. Everyone swears they are both bigger than what they have measured. My little mare is 15.1 and my friend constantly tells me "just because they dont' take 2 slots in the trailer, doesn't make them a little horse..." LOL!!! |
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 Shipwrecked and Flat Out Zapped
Posts: 16390
Location: DUMPING CATS AND PIGS IN TEXAS :) | How important is this really lol?
I girl eyeballed Scorcho and could never make up my mind. I put him at 15.2, 15.3 and 16.0 hands in three different places. I finally asked another girl, Herbie, and we have agreed that he is 15.3 or was it 15.2??? I forget. Herbie??? What did we decide on?? In my defense, I'm ususally drinking and I can never find a tape measure.....He's not too big and not too small :) |
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Shipwrecked and Flat Out Zapped
Posts: 16390
Location: DUMPING CATS AND PIGS IN TEXAS :) | BTW....I think things shrink over time....for instance, I was 5'9 and 3/4 inches when I was 18 and, now, my doctor swears I'm only 5'8"......makes me look bad come physical time and they use your weight and height to measure your fitness age. I'm now 76 years old. |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | LRQHS - 2015-04-08 3:20 PM BTW....I think things shrink over time....for instance, I was 5'9 and 3/4 inches when I was 18 and, now, my doctor swears I'm only 5'8"......makes me look bad come physical time and they use your weight and height to measure your fitness age. I'm now 76 years old.
Girl you just made me laugh at how old you are now... |
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Location: Texas | LMAO LRQHS!!
I actually like measuring and weighing our horses, especially the yearlings to 5 year olds, just to see how much they progress.
I also can't imagine buying a horse sight unseen, especially now days...
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Shipwrecked and Flat Out Zapped
Posts: 16390
Location: DUMPING CATS AND PIGS IN TEXAS :) |
I wasn't laughing lol. I'm like, seriously, my fit age is 76??? That sounds pretty bad....can I start collecting my retirement and get the Senior discount at the movie theatre?? Oh, boy, I can enter Senior Barrels now!! :) |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | LRQHS - 2015-04-08 3:34 PM I wasn't laughing lol. I'm like, seriously, my fit age is 76??? That sounds pretty bad....can I start collecting my retirement and get the Senior discount at the movie theatre?? Oh, boy, I can enter Senior Barrels now!! :)
I'm snorting here,,
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Regular
Posts: 96
| Love this discussion. I stick everything and have a huge Appendix gelding. He is 17 hands with out shoes. I was sitting on him at Barrel race and some people kept talking about their 17 hand horse. When they rode up to me I was towering over them by at least 5 inches. I buy and sell so the stick is in my trailer. The horse was 15.3!!!  |
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 Namesless in BHW
Posts: 10368
Location: At the race track with Ah Dee Ohs | Three 4 Luck - 2015-04-08 12:16 PM I sold one that was 14.2 and everyone who came to look at her was convinced she was at least 15 hands. uh, no. She was a big mare, but short. Another one I sold, my friend sticked for me at 15.3. We were both like huh, thought he was bigger than that. The buyer who bought him sight unseen wasn't impressed when she measured him at 16.2--figured out later my friend was reading the stick wrong. LMAO!
Now that made me laugh! |
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Location: Texas |
Me too!!!! |
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 Pork Fat is my Favorite
Posts: 3791
Location: The Oklahoma plains. | rodeowithjoker - 2015-04-08 11:40 AM I know TurnLane can measure because the 16 hand horse I went to pick up from her is exactly 16 hands. I thought oh yeah sure, he'll be 15.2 which is big but not elephant size. Lo and behold, Streak is a legit 16 hands. That'll teach me to figure that everyone overstates their horse's height. LOL.
Thanks! Funny you say that, I totally forgot. But I do know it takes a BIG horse to be 16 hands and weigh 1500#. People use that as a base line all the time- cracks me up!! I think I am a good eye-baller but I do have a stick and I weigh them everytime we are at the vets just to keep record of weight. I see Ol Streak made your fav pics on the other thread too! |
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 Quarter Horse HIstorian
Posts: 2878
Location: Aubrey, Texas | oija - 2015-04-08 11:09 AM
Actually I'm usually a pretty good guesser. I do stick them or use a tape on them some, but I'm generally with .5" to 1" guessing. I've known for a while my 3 year old was around 14.3. I measured her 14.3 on the money a couple months ago with a stick. I learned a long time ago that the bottom of my chin is right at 15 hh. I go from there.
That's actually called "chinning a horse." The old-time traders used to do it- my dad was good at it, back in the day. He stood 5'5", so he'd have trouble with today's 17 hand horses! I can chin one pretty accurately up to 15.2, but then, I like shorter (14.2-15 hands) horses, especially now that I'm getting long in the tooth. |
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Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
Location: 31 lengths farms | Even better, how many of them have actually been weighed???? My gelding who is 15.3 has been on the scale at the vets, weighed 1380 and the vet says "he needs to lose a good 100lbs and I had to agree. |
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That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| We had a good friends horse go through the sale barn...they were sure she weighed 1500 lbs. on the sale barn scale she was only 1200. |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | I have had 3 "15.3hh" horses and all were different heights.  Height is very important to me. 15.1 is about the smallest I can stand. That's tiny for me.
Edited by cavyrunsbarrels 2015-04-09 12:10 PM
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 Georgia Peach
Posts: 8338
Location: Georgia |
This is such a funny topic. I know how tall all my horses are. I measure my yearling once a month and the others get measured a few times a year, even the 20 year old. At this point im just seeing if he will get shorter lol. He is a BIG boy and most people think he is 16+ hands but on a stick he is only 15.2. I think the wider they are, the bigger they look to people. I have unofficially weighed him at #125o but I've never put him on an actual scale. My other three are shortys - all under 15 hands. Hoping the yearling will break that trend! |
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Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | EqualRanch - 2015-04-08 2:43 PM Me too!!!!
Me three! LOL. |
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Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | TurnLane - 2015-04-08 3:44 PM rodeowithjoker - 2015-04-08 11:40 AM I know TurnLane can measure because the 16 hand horse I went to pick up from her is exactly 16 hands. I thought oh yeah sure, he'll be 15.2 which is big but not elephant size. Lo and behold, Streak is a legit 16 hands. That'll teach me to figure that everyone overstates their horse's height. LOL. Thanks! Funny you say that, I totally forgot. But I do know it takes a BIG horse to be 16 hands and weigh 1500#. People use that as a base line all the time- cracks me up!! I think I am a good eye-baller but I do have a stick and I weigh them everytime we are at the vets just to keep record of weight. I see Ol Streak made your fav pics on the other thread too!
He is such a sweetheart! My whole family just loves him. Not sure if you saw the Facebook video my sister-in-law posted of her nephew riding him Monday but it was cute. Nephew is taking some riding lessons and doing cheap fun shows so they brought him out & my brother gave him a barrel racing "lesson" on Streak while I was at work. Streak walked & trotted and waited for the cues to finish turns so the boy really had to be a driver not a passenger, which was exactly what I think he needed. Rachel says Streak may now think its OK to walk and trot the pattern, but I think he is just practicing for the day he can be a pee wee horse. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2489
Location: somewhere up north | SaraJean - 2015-04-08 11:32 AM I measure all of mine & have people argue with me that they're way taller than i say all the time!
Ditto! Here too. I have yet to buy a horse that was actually the height someone told me. They are ALWAYS shorter. Then we had a paint gelding that is tall. I had someone try to tell me at a barrel race that her gelding was 15.3. I said no way, that Paint is 15.3 and he's much taller than your horse. She says he can't be..he has to be at least 16.1. ha, ha. Ah, no. I measured him and he's 15.3. Drives me nutts! |
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Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | My uncle swore the gelding I have from him was 17hh. He's 15.3. He's just MUCH taller than all the 14.2-14.1 hh mares he has. |
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 Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | Personally from a broodmare buying standpoint I could care less as long as they are 15-16.2. I can usually tell a 14 hand horse in the picture and also a great big tall mare. Try shopping in the Hunter world where 2 inches can raise the price of the horse $5000. They are getting to anything 16.3 and under is hard to sell.
I agree that most over guess height and weight kills me. I would normally bet the ranch your 1500 horse is more like 1250 and those 1250 are 950. I lived in a town where they had a feed store and I could ride over to their weigh station. It was a lot of fun to accurately weigh all the horses. |
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Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | cloverleaf - 2015-04-08 2:50 PM oija - 2015-04-08 11:09 AM Actually I'm usually a pretty good guesser. I do stick them or use a tape on them some, but I'm generally with .5" to 1" guessing. I've known for a while my 3 year old was around 14.3. I measured her 14.3 on the money a couple months ago with a stick. I learned a long time ago that the bottom of my chin is right at 15 hh. I go from there. That's actually called "chinning a horse." The old-time traders used to do it- my dad was good at it, back in the day. He stood 5'5", so he'd have trouble with today's 17 hand horses! I can chin one pretty accurately up to 15.2, but then, I like shorter (14.2-15 hands ) horses, especially now that I'm getting long in the tooth.
that means I would be able to chin ponies. I'm just a tad over 5 foot lol |
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Have you ever actually measured that horse?