It was four inches back in the day, but I can tell it's changed. What is it now? 5 or 6 inches? 

Or is 16 the new 15? I owned an off track QH that sticked a hair under 16 hands on concrete by the vet. Saw it with my own eyes. I'm 5'9 and when I rode him my feet weren't quite level with his underline. Better than half the horses I see on FB are advertised as 16-16.2. Got little gals perched up there with their feet swinging below the horse's belly! 

Do they not know? Do I not know? I know here in Louisiana and East Texas, it's very rare to see a real 16 hand horse barrel racing. That's a h*ll of a lot of horse. Guess this is on my mind because I recently saw a cutting bred horse advertised as 16.2.

I had a 16.1 hand mare once upon a time.  But I've never seen a 17 hand Quarter Horse in all my long years. 

I love those ads stating the horse is 14.5 hands. 

kass man was dead on 16   most of mine  15  speed justin mare barely 14.2  a hand is 4inches

My sister had a Firewater Flit/Flaming Jet/Otoe mare that stood a legit 17 hands. She was sticked on concrete by Dr. Wells. She was huge. Slightly out of shape she weighed just under 1500lbs. Sweetest mare we ever had, She could move, too. I agree, though about how people over state height on the sale horses. I think many of them overstate weight, too. 

I'm like you when someone post a horse I'm interested in the post says he's 15.3, I then ask how tall are you.  Sometimes it works out, sometimes it just doesn't add up. 

If you're serious about selling a horse, you should know how to measure it and to do it correctly.

I'm one of those, if you lie about one thing, you'll lie about something else.

I totally agree not sure folks even know how to measure! A hand is still 4 inches at our barn.  We have  the measuring stick from our great grandfather here and it is tells the truth!!  Honestly we do have the tallest horses we have ever had!  The 2 year old is 15.3 at his withers and 16.1 at hips!  He needs to slow down growing!!!

But don't forget, a lot also depends on wither size. I have a horse with kind of mutton withers. He's around the same size as my friend's horse who has high withers but that horse measures a lot higher. My other horse measures 16 hands and I was like what? All this time I've been feeling like he's around 15.2. Now his withers are kind of high. But yeah, it's annoying when size is important to you and they're really off. 

I have one that is 14.3 and one that is 15.0 and a 1/2.  The 14.3 mare is bigger everywhere but the withers.  Stand them beside each other on concrete and the 'cow horse' bred one just dominates the 'thoroughbred' one.  

I have a 15.2 gelding that looks, acts, rides, feels just as big as the two 15 3 1/2 mares before him.  We got him as 4yo so every so often we would just KNOW he had finally grown to match them.  So we'd measure him again.  It's been two years and he maaaayyyyy have grown a 1/2 inch.  All three of these horses are built solid and chunky so it's not a 'type' difference.  

The first two look like shetland ponies compared to the other three.  

Yes, you're right, too many people just 'eye-ball it' and make their mind up how tall the horse is.

I've been riding 15.1 and under for the past several years and now have a 4 yr old that's just barely under 16.1, lol. It's funny seeing her next to all of the other supposed "16h horses".  

I think part of the misrepresentation may be due to people using those cloth tapes that are so hard to position just right, and if held at an angle, are inaccurate. 

I have a stick with an adjustable arm that has a little level built into it. I know mine is correct as long as I'm measuring on a hard level surface. 

I also think many people don't bother measuring at all and just guess and run with it. 

I have a true 16.1, 1350 lb gelding (measured with my real stick, and weighed on the vet scale). Very few advertised 16.1 hand horses I see look to be as tall as mine. 

I raised a Firewater Ta Fame gelding who finally stopped growing at 17 hands. He was not wide AT ALL, but he was tall. He was a cool horse!

I think a lot of people just guess. I almost didn't go look at my horse because he was advertised as 15.1 I think. He's just under 16 hands. And my thoroughbred was advertised as 17.3. He was 17.1 in actuality.