Charts for figuring approximately how tall they will be!!

[Robin1]

Thought I would do a little checking and see how one horse did in the different methods of figuring mature height.

IF I sound a bit cranky, forgive me, its not been a fun time lately.

Don't know how tall he was at birth so can't try that one.

The chart where the age gives you a number to multiply times height puts him at 28.75"

The cannon bone x 4 +1" (best done after 3 months puts him at 27"

The hock to ground x 2 + 2" puts him at 24" (don't think that one is going to be right as he is 25" now.)

Oops another chart puts him at 28.5"

How have you done in the past?

Robin

 

[Becky]

I've had the best luck with the growth chart. But even that can have a lot of variation.

The canon bone (actually center of knee to top of coronet band) measurement has always been way off for me!

I have found that some of my foals that I thought were going to be huge (over 34") don't get that big. I feed mine extremely well here for rapid growth and though some can be large as weanlings, they really slow down as yearlings.

Guesstimating mature height is still a crapshoot, if you ask me!

:

 

[HGFarm]

Robin, have a DR appt- will email you when I get home this afternoon. I have all that stuff in my notebook and can help you out.

 

[MiLo Minis]

It has been my experience that the majority of those formulas are way out of whack! I have one mare that all her foals according to the chart should be tall B's and they just plain stop growing height wise as yearlings and finish tall A's. I think that the more leg they have as foals the less accurate those charts are. I have measured all my babies at birth and 3 months and compared their sizes to the charts and not once have they been within an inch of correct mature height for the ones I kept.

 

[CKC]

I have had the best results with the projected mature height... also labeled as another measure method on LB's misc. information page. It's been pretty much 100% accurate for me.

 

[Jill]

I think it really depends on the genetics / breeding of the horse. For me personally, I'd say about 1/4 of the horses I've raised from still growing - adult have followed the chart fairly closely, but 3/4 of them have NOT. Many of my horses have reached mature heights or very close to it early on.

Counting up, I have had almost a dozen miniature horses (Morningstar, Smidgen, Skipper, DunIT, Bacardi, Derby, Sundance, Eclipse, Khaki, Jack, Lonesome) who came as weanlings or yearlings and are now adults or nearly so, and I'm including DunIT though he's only coming 2yo, he's not grown a bit in about 8mos! Got two weanling fillies now and one is just blowing the chart away. Maybe I'm feeding her too good? She aspires to wear a saddle...

 

[HGFarm2]

We have found the chart to be fairly accurate for the most part, but none of them are going to be fool proof. We have had some go over and under by a bit though. What we usually do is take a height measurement, the cannon bone measurement and an elbow to ground measurement and sort of average the three heights and try to get the best guesstimate.

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

For me the most inaccuarte charts are the age/height charts the one that works best is the cannon bone and it seems to always be about 1 in give or take which is about as close as one can guess i think

 

[RJRMINIS]

I always do the cannon bone X 4 and add 2" to be on the safe side.

Everything says add 1" but I find adding 2" has been closer to being accurate for me.

 

[CharmedMinis]

None of them have been accurate for me!

Colt supposed to mature at 31.5, is now 33.25 at almost 3 years.

Colt supposed to mature at 34, is now 31.75 at almost 3 years.

Filly supposed to mature at 31, is now 33 at almost 3 years.

Filly supposed to mature at 32.5, is now just under 30 at almost 3 years.

These horses have been at their current heights since they were yearlings, mine grow fast and then quit.

I used cannon bone and growth chart for those predicted heights

:

 

[Loess Hills]

We're found the growth chart to be fairly accurate. Have traced a number of our foals from birth to 3-5 years of age, and it is close to 95% accurate. This is the chart we've used Height Chart from Lost Spoke Ranch website.

 

[mistyrose]

We have found the cannon bone x 4 plus two to be pretty accurate. We do it as close to birth as possible and with the foal standing. Measure straight down from mid knee to top of hoof. Don't follow the skin with the tape, go straight down.