predicting what height your baby will mature to?

[alval23]

So my mare.. is a 14.1 machine. The girl was showing training and schooling prelim. Shes 1/2 welsh cob, 1/2 paint. Shes never had a baby before but I just breed her to Brandenburg's Windstar.. an irish sport horse who is 16.1

Not that I will know for sure untill the baby is matrue but is there any way to predict what the height of the baby will be? Will it at least be taller than my mare?

thanks,
alyssa ;)

[Daatje]

Unfortunately, you won't have an idea of the foals genetic tendencies until he/she pops out and grows a little! :)

In a perfect world, you'd think the baby would be smack dab in the middle of the sire and dam, about 15.1 hands, however, this new foal could be anywhere in between (or smaller or larger).

It's a crapshoot until you see where they're at when they're about a year old.

My 14.1 hand Arab was 13 hands as a yearling and my 16 hand Friesian was 15 hands as a yearling.

Good luck!

[horsetales]

I would ask the stallion owner if their stallion often throws his size. That will give you some idea. It will depend which relative provides the genes for height. Also, some will take after grandparents and be taller or shorter than either parent.

[FLeckenAwesome]

I've also heard that the first baby tends to be small. :(

I've got a 14 month old that is somewhere in the 13.3/14 hand range and I really wish he would make it to 16 plus hands. However...according to the string test, I think 16 is going to be it. Hopefully!!! His mom was 16.2 and his Dad is 15.3 but throws big, so I'm hopeful he'll have a growth spurt! But I suppose if he's 15.3 that would work.....

:)

[ponyjumper4]

It really is a crap shoot. My 2 year old is already the same size or larger than both her parents and is in the middle of another growth spurt. This is my mares first foal. Parents are 14-14.1 and string test has her finishing at 15.1 or 15.2ish. we'll see!

[horsetales]

I've also heard that the first baby tends to be small. :(
:)

They may be smaller at birth as nothing is stretched and the uterus will control size, but genetics will determine final size. My maiden this year provided us the largest foal I've seen and my mare that is on her second gave us a very small foal (her first was larger than this one)

[FLeckenAwesome]

Oh Cool! Maybe I misunderstood then :) Sweet!

I don't know though.. .Dewey's sorta shrimpy! Maybe I should start calling him Whopper! (His registered name is Doo Wap, so Whopper was in the running!).

I've also heard the string test is most accurate (ha!) at 18 months, so we'll measure again then and see.....

[BBowen]

I've also heard that the first baby tends to be small. :(

:)

LOL, yes, I heard that too when I bred my 16.1 Dutch mare to a 17hh stallion. So first baby will be small -- good. Well, baby came here pretty big; she was much bigger than the colt born a week before her. Now at 4 y.o. she is 16.2 and bigger than mom. Hope she doesn't get as big as dad, but you just never know.

[nextyear]

First foal for a mare we had was born HUGE but matured at 15.3H (mare is 16.1, sire is 16.1 also) second foal was a different sire (16.3) foal was normal size and matured to 16H third foal is sired by the first foals sire and is now 4 yrs and 17.1H he was born on the small size and by his yearling year we thought he would be like his full sister by 2 years he shot up to 16.2 seemed like overnight...... then kept growing I hope he has stopped!!!

[oldhorsegirl]

Once the foal is born, there is a pretty accurate way to determine what its mature height will be (assuming it isn't starved/stunted at some point during the developmental years). You take the measurement from the epiphysis of the knee (carpus) down to the coronet. However many inches this measures, is how many hands tall the foal will be at maturity. For example, 15 and a half inches will be 15.2hh, 15 and 3/4 inches will be 15.3hh, etc. To find the starting point for the measurement, find the gap between the (as yet undeveloped) carpal bones (in the middle of the knee), and start your measurement at the bone at the lower end of the gap. Then go all the way down to the top of the hoof, and you've got your measurement. I've used this on 7 or eight foals, ranging in height from 15.1-1/2hh, up to 17.2hh mature height, and it has been right on the money each time.

[JER]

My mare's first foal (a 13/16ths TB x WB) was gigantic. Comically huge. Scared the other foals. Mare is a petite 16hh, sire is a massive 16.1 1/2hh. This one ended up between 16.1-16.2hh but grew the last two inches at age 6.

Her 2nd foal was tiny. She looked like a fawn and walked under her mom's belly for the first two weeks. This one's dad is 15.2hh and an unusual breed (Akhal-Teke, but my goal was to produce one in the 15.2hh range). Filly is now 4 and -- guess what? -- still short. She might qualify for a pony card. This was unexpected given her breeding but she's gorgeous, smart and athletic and I like small horses. (I bred this one to be my riding horse.)

The 3rd foal (a full TB) was tall and skinny, about the same height as the first but not fat and furry like her sister. At 3, she is probably 15.3hh and should finish in the 16.1-16.2hh range like her oldest sister. Her dad was 16.2hh.

As for Windstar, I'm not sure about most of his get but I do know someone whose mare had a foal by him. Mare is 16.1hh or 16.2hh but the foal matured at 15.1hh or so. But that's how it goes -- you'll have outliers on either side of the average.

[deltawave]

The farther apart the parents are, height-wise, the wider the range of possible heights, of course.

I bred my 16h, 1/2 inch TB to a 17.2 stallion and the resulting foal matured at 16h. She was very seriously ill as a weanling, though, so I'll always wonder if that cost her an inch or two. :)

Another "string" method is to measure from the elbow to the ergot and then take that distance and measure up from the elbow to where the withers will be when the horse is fully grown. Not sure at what point this measurement is done (not that there is anything to it but folklore, LOL)--I did it when Bonnie was a yearling and was surprised to see "16 hands" and sure enough! :lol: Not the leggiest of critters, Bonnie. :p

[avezan]

MOST of my foals have ended up somewhere between the parents heights. Ok, let's see. Out of 16 foals, 2 have been smaller, 1 has been bigger. My first breeding was between a 15h mare and 15.1h stallion. I got a 14.2h filly that turned out to be a fabulous little horse, and my first eventer. My next breeding was 16h mare to 16.2h stallion which resulted in a 16.3h mare that is my current eventer, Avezan. That same 16h mare bred to another 16.2h stallion produced a 15.3h filly (who is still just 4, so she could still grow) with a 16.2h full brother. All the others have been in between. It is a crap shoot, but still the average tends to be between the heights. You can also look at the heights of the mare's and stallion's ancestors. The 14.2 filly mentioned above has "big genes" so she tends to produce foals taller than herself (oops, just remembered another. That 14.2 mare bred to a 14.1 stallion, trying to get a pony, produced a 15.1 gelding. oh well). My guess is with the large size difference between your mare and the stallion, you should get something taller than your mare. Probably in the 15-15.2 range. You can tell a lot about the height of the foal by looking at the foal's legs compared to the dam's when it is born (after it has straightened out. Maybe at 1 month old). The legs don't grow that much. So if the foal's legs are as long or longer than the mare's (look at the chest between the legs and compare there) then the foal will get taller than the mare. I was looking at my yearling's legs and comparing them to my 15.3 mare and the yearling's legs are longer.

[FLeckenAwesome]

Ha! It's funny... I guess it really is a crapshoot!! I don't necessarily need a big horse, but I do like the 16 hand range... makes the jumps look smaller ;)

We'll see how Dewey ends up.... It doesn't really matter cause he moves so nicely! I just hope it translates to under saddle.

I've also heard (to add more to the old wives tales mix) that if they are well proportioned and don't go through the gangly awkward stage, they'll be small vs the big gangly goofy ones who tend to grow a lot!

Which.. I tried to apply to Dewey, but to me, he's just gorgeous! So.... who knows!

[BBowen]

Another "string" method is to measure from the elbow to the ergot and then take that distance and measure up from the elbow to where the withers will be when the horse is fully grown. Not sure at what point this measurement is done (not that there is anything to it but folklore, LOL)--I did it when Bonnie was a yearling and was surprised to see "16 hands" and sure enough! :lol: Not the leggiest of critters, Bonnie. :p

Oh Boy. I may be in trouble. As a yearling, my filly "string tested" at 17.1; also got 17.1 by measuring from knee to coronet band.