Estimating adult height..

[Calekio]

I've been looking at the info pages on here as trying to do some esimating of adult height on my youngsters, aged foals - 2yrs old.

I'm sort of coming unstuck... especially when i compair the height's i'm getting to a height of my 3 yr old..

Chaos was born at 22" tall, very tall, very leggy... even now from cannon bone measurements and looking back at her foal heights... she is coming out at she should be 33/34" (mum is 35", dad is 33") however... as a 3yr old she stands at just 31"... her full brother is standing at approx 29" as a yearling (i remember her measuring 30" as a yearling... she grew quickly) but has shorter cannon bones than her and in sense he is more like dad rather than mum (who chaos takes after, all legs)

Mum has just had her 3 foal who is standing at 23" tall... with 7.5" cannon bone measurement.. but again like his sister is just all legs...

The other one i'm semi compairing to is my 2yr old colt who is currently standing at approx 28", his foal height and cannon bone measurements all put him at around 28/29" which i think is right...

So.. getting confused.. i know this is only a guide.. but can a very leggy family give miss readings? And what is the best way of estimating adult height... and best age to do it.. (i think i read somewhere about 3 months)

 

[icspots]

I've never had much luck using birth height to determine adult height, but I have had pretty decent success with the cannon bone measurement. It doesn't work for me to measure at birth, I get a false (too short) reading, but waiting until they are 3 months will usually come out really close. Bear in mind, since they do tend to sqirm

, it can be hard to find the right spot on that knee, so I pick up the foot to make sure I get it right in the center. I don't think being leggy should affect the reading much, but just like everything, you might be experiencing some differences because of bloodlines.

 

[Genie]

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Projected Height 28" 29" 30" 31" 32" 33" 34" 36"

At Maturity

Birth 18.2 18.9 19.5 20.2 20.8 21.5 22.0 23.4

6 months 23.8 24.7 25.5 26.4 27.2 28.0 29.0 30.5

12 months 25.2 26.1 27.0 28.0 28.8 29.7 30.5 32.5

18 months 26.4 27.3 28.1 29.2 30.0 31.0 32.0 33.9

24 months 27.2 28.0 29.0 30.0 31.0 32.0 33.0 35.0

To use the above chart to determine mature height for a foal, measure the height of the miniature foal at a given interval such as birth, 6, 12, 18 or 24 months of age. Located the age interval on the left hand column. Then scroll across the age interval until one finds the height of the miniature foal. Once the height is located scroll up to the top line for mature height of the miniature horse.

Example: If a mini foal is 19.5 inches at birth the mature height of the miniature horse should be 30 inches.

The above chart is intended as a reference only and will have slight variations based on the genetics, nutrition, care, and health of the individual miniature horse foal

 

[Joanne]

I think as you are finding out certain lines grow differently.

As you see several horses from a certain stallion or mare you start getting a feeling of what they can do.

Most of my stallions produce great leg to body proportioned foals that look like a miniature horse, not a pony.

Depending on how long the mare carried the foal the birth height can vary widely.

For instance, if the foal was born at 318 days vs 348 days (happens here all the time) there is a month difference in the growth of that foal.

I do not think birth height is that perfect at determining the mature height.

 

[Riverdance]

I never use birth height, not accurate at all. Plus, I tried the height chart at different ages. I kept a chart on several foals for a few years, not accurate either.

The cannon bone one is also not accurate.

When the cannon bone idea first came out, the miniature horse was short legged and more stocky. They said you measure the cannon bone and multiply by 4 and add 1. I re-read this just recently in an old Miniature horse World Magazine, 1987 to be exact.

The Minis today have a lot more leg under them and I am finding that the cannon bone measurement is way off. I have one horse who by age 2 (early 2) was 34" tall, measured in my barn tied to a stall with no help to measure her. At her first show this year, she measured 33". Her cannon bone is 9" (they supposidly do not change from birth on). Based upon that, she should be 37" tall. She is now 5 years old and has not grown since 2 years old.

I sold a couple of colts several years ago with a 9" cannon bone. One is now 34" tall, the other is 33 1/2" tall. Both are over 5 years old. All of these horses have a lot of leg under them.

I guess one can not really tell, till the horse has finished growing.

 

[HGFarm]

The chart can help, but what I usually do is do the chart measurement.. I always heard to do the cannon bones at 3 days old, multiply by four and add two inches, not one. But I also do an 'elbow to ground' measurement. The rule of thumb there is if their elbow is under 16", they should stay under 34". (double the measurement and add 2")

I get the measurements from all three of these, and then I average them out. Say I got 21.5" on a foal, the chart says it should mature at about 33". The cannon bones though, measure at 7.5", which says the horse will mature at about 32". Elbow to ground might measure 15", which also would mean 32" at maturity. So I add 33", 32" and 32". Then divide by 3, since you have three factors going into your total. This totals 97, and divided by 3 is about 32.33" tall.

It is all just a rough 'guesstimate' no matter how you figure it. And yes, some bloodlines stop growing as yearlings, some shoot up quickly and then stop..... some mature more slowly. and take longer.

I almost sold my leopard stallion as a yearling because his measurements showed he was going to mature at 35". He matured at 32.75 to maybe 33". My neighbors sold a yearling because he was 32" tall at one year old and they knew he would go over sized for AMHA. They bought him back as a 3 year old- and they still have him in his 20's. He matured at 32.5".

It's just a crap shoot, and you can only try for an educated guess!! It can be frustrating, LOL!

 

[fastrack]

I often hear of 'cannon bone' measurement. But the way I was instructed to measure was from the coronary band to the middle of the knee, which is actually measuring more than the actual cannon bone.

Is that how everyone else is measuring?