I’m 15hh2"
It definitely came in handy when I was grooming in a sales barn
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My last TB was advertised as 17H. l’m 5’11. I know what a 17h horse looks like. He was not that big. However, he was big enough (I measured him at 16.2 with one of the tapes you stand on.) He didn’t work out for me, so I moved him on and he’s now, again, advertised as 17h.
As a taller person, I cannot count the number of times I’ve shown up to look at a horse that is advertised as being larger than they actually stand. In fact, the mare I bought after him was advertised as 16.2. She’s also not that big. But she takes up my leg and fits me nicely.
In my world, horses are either too small or big enough. I no longer count on accurate representation from sellers.
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My personal theory is that most people/sellers estimate their horses to be approximately 2 inches taller than they actually are. 
I’ve found this to be pretty consistent. I think people have been inflating heights for so long that they really just can’t judge anymore. So if I actually want a 16.3 hand horse, I look at those advertised as 17.1.
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I’m 15.2 also. My Paint mare was as well. I knew right off how tall she was because the top of my head was even with the top of her wither.
Rebecca
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That’s flat out fraudulent. 
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I was so surprised! It made me feel kinda crazy, tbh. I’m 16 hands at the eyeballs, so have a pretty good guess from about 15h to 17h. It took me awhile to find my actual stick after that horse arrived but I had a lot of “wtf…IS this horse actually -x-?? How can my other horses [supposedly the same height] be SO much bigger? Did they GROW and I just didn’t realize?? Am I totally losing my mind?”
But no, haha. She’s just bitty. My eyeballs are still at 16 hands. I’m still pretty good at “eyeballing” height. All my others are still as big as I thought.
Thankfully she’s grown some. Still isn’t as big as the seller said though. I always 
at her ads now. Live and learn I guess. I’ve bought several sight unseen…this was the first time one was just straight up misrepresented!
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I was actually shocked when I went to look at a horse advertised as 15.1 and he was actually at least 15 hands! I was really prepared for him to be 14.something.
I bought him and he measures something between 15 and 15.1. He is upheaded and proud of himself so visitors usually think he is much bigger!
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Well the 12h pony I bought was determined to be that height because the other pony were shorter so she hademphasized textto be 12 hands. Even when I sent a video of my using a stick to measure and show her the only was actually only 10 hands she wouldn’t admit it.
Pony must have shrunk on the way over.
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I had the opposite situation. 3 year old WB mare supposed to be 15:2. No, she was 16 hands. And kept growing to be 16:2 or thereabouts. I am 5 foot 3. I wanted 15:2.
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I’ve had that experience as a buyer. I’d sticked my mare barefoot at about 15.2.5, so I advertised her as 15.3 since she would have been with shoes on. A buyer showed up and asked if she wasn’t really 16+ hands. Probably because she’d been shown other horses with the heights much more inflated.
OTOH, I did buy a 3 yo sight unseen, advertised as 15.3. Seller said she was currently 15.3 and should mature over 16. Drove ~12 hours to go pick up the mare and here she comes leading what was almost a pony. Oh well she was only $800, and I was in it more than that for the PPE and gas, so on to the trailer she went. She finished out at 15.1. I had fun with her and sold her on for $3k a couple years later, so it wasn’t the worst thing, but I definitely won’t trust those estimates any more.
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Possibly. Can’t figure it all out at all.
Absolutely. And everything over 16.2 is “a true 17 hands!!”.
I’m 5’9" and leggy. If I’m looking for a taller horse, I’ll state my minimum as 2"+ over the height I actually want. I do have a 15.2-15.3 chonk in the barn that I look perfectly normal on, so I’m more forgiving on height than a lot of hunter riders may be! But it is still frustrating to go look at “16.1 and growing!” to find 15.2 with shoes on.
If I’m buying sight unseen, I just assume they’ll be a hand shorter than advertised. So far, nothing has come off the trailer taller!
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When I was looking for a horse after having to euthanize my 10 year old solidlly 16’2" TB (who I had bought as a weanling, not expecting him to get quite that big - he was also very wide and long!), I was looking for smaller horses that I could actually get my leg around, I’m 5’3" and my TB was a lot of horse – my hip flexors were constantly under tension!
I was looking for a mare and they tend to be smaller; 16 hands or less was ideal for me.
I found a 5 1/2 year old WB/TB mare who was advertised by the breeder as 16’1" HH - she seemed a bit smaller, but of course that didn’t matter to me. 
During the PPE, the vet was taking notes and asked the breeder how tall she was: breeder said “16.1” A pause, because the vet brought out one of those measuring tapes. Then she said “16 hands.”
The vet said nothing after measuring her, and I didn’t ask. “how tall is she actually?” because again, I didn’t care.
She ended up being 15’3" - I think she eventually put on another half an inch after training and work and a couple of additional years - but was a perfect size for me.
I bred her to a smallish Hanoverian stallion, and the resulting filly - now 12 - wound up at 15’2" (also perfect for me, though she is unfortunately very, very long!)
After doing lots and lots of dressage over the years - and also using the Posture Prep for the past six months - has gained at least 1/2-3/4 of an inch at the withers. Unfortunately, she slightly downhill, and the top of her croup is a bit over my head.
My husband is 19 hands! We were just talking about this and he did the math. He’s 6’4". I remember him walking up to a gigantic horse at a HT once (the owner encouraged it), and this horse was almost as tall as he was at the withers! You don’t see that very often 
But yes – people lie, to your points above!
Being a small person, I would definitely steer away from horses over 16 hands, let the tall people have them because that’s only appropriate. My beloved homebred is no doubt my last horse because I’m 67, still competing her – but if God forbid anything were to happen to her, I would be looking for something around her size. It would probably be advertised as 16’1"! 
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Lol, my husband and I import regularly, and our running joke is that everything in Europe is 16.2 (or at least that’s what they tell you when you ask). Only once did we have an issue when one we imported as 16.2 walked off the transport 14.3 and all withers. Thankfully the seller refunded because we had the height documented in the transaction.
But another time, one of our “16.2” horses walked off the transport a true 17.3 and only 4 years old. He was 18.1 when I sold him. My husband joked that if we bought them by the pound, he’d be a great bargain.
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I just wanted to say that if anyone had seen my gelding during the first month after I moved him to the barn where we are now, they’d have thought he was a total lunatic. I kept telling people at the barn that he really wasn’t himself, and that he normally wasn’t scared of EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD. They looked at me like I was crazy. It wasn’t until he’d settled and been treated for ulcers that they saw I wasn’t lying. He’s a quiet, trustworthy, sensible horse.
All that to say, if I were to take a video of him at home and even at some shows from earlier in his life, people would see a very calm, sensible fellow. But if he was shipped to a new barn with new people, etc. he’d probably be a spooking goober. He might not run through fences, but he was so torn out of his frame when we moved to our current barn that he wouldn’t even come up to where water was on hot days if there was a tractor in sight working (something he’s seen PLENTY of times). He would literally tremble and you could see his heart beating and he was lathered with sweat. I brought him up and managed to get hin to a water bucket and he sucked it dry before trying to drag me away to the back of the pasture again.
Now, no one would ever believe he’d been so outrageous if they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes. He’s the definition of chill. Tractors? Pfft. He won’t even get out of their way if they’re IN HIS PASTURE mowing or dumping sand or whatever. He’s not concerned in the least. That’s the horse I’ve known for 16 years (since he was born), but not many believed me during that first month at the new barn.
Just saying. Sometimes they act totally different in new environments, especially if ulcers might be a factor. And you can go see them in person and have a lovely experience on their home turf (no drugs needed) and get the horse moved to your barn or where you board and have a completely different animal.
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I once knew a dealer with two measuring sticks. The pony stick - each inch marked was 1 1/4", and a horse stick - each inch marked was 3/4".
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Right?!
14.3/15 h is 14.1 h if you’re looking for a large pony, and 16 h if you’re looking for a horse.
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My mare sticks at 15.3 when relaxed and 16 if you ask her to do a belly lift. This is barefoot. I can feel her get taller once we are riding correctly.
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I’ve only known one horse that did exactly this.
A very petite, older ammy acquaintance of mine bought a performance horse from the midwest, strictly off videos and a recommendation from her former trainer in Ohio who’d seen the horse at shows. So keep in mind the trainer knows the size of the woman and the size of the horse.
Horse is supposedly 15.1-ish. Steps off the van and he is every bit 16.2. He is too much equine biomass for the buyer.
Fortunately, a good friend of mine who is nearly 6-feet tall and all legs, was horse shopping and he turned out to be a perfect fit for her. And a nice little mare came up for sale in the barn, which fit the petite woman. So there was ultimately a happy ending. Yet another cautionary tale about buying sight unseen (even when your former trainer is involved).
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Surprisingly, I bought a 14.3 hand horse that was actually advertised as 14.3! Despite being a size I wanted, I said “14.3, that’s a hard size to sell” and the seller said “tell me about it, AND she’s a chestnut mare!” Needless to say, I got a pretty good deal on her.
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