Oh good grief. Are you 12? 
Last I checked, this was a discussion forum. I added to the discussion. Youâre the one who came along and manufactured a disagreement for kicks and giggles.
@ThreeWishes, On average, yes. But a 16.2 hand horse and a 16.1 hand horse? Or a 15.3 7/8â horse and a 16 hand one? Not likely. Thus my amusement with people who refuse to consider even looking at horses who measure a hair under some arbitrary cutoff on a particular day.
Threadjack over.
Dude literally no one in this thread has raised any issue with an eighth of an inch.
Youâre the one making a mountain of a molehill here.
I become very, very weary of other people telling me how I feel on a horse based on its height. I already know the answer to that.
I didnât ask for anyoneâs opinion. I donât owe anyone explanations for my preferences.
My ride. My horse. My money. My time. I will do it my way.
You do you. OK? Please donât tell the rest of us not to have our own height preferences that donât match yours.
Thatâs my contribution to your discussion.
It does amuse me how many people at the barn Iâm at think their horses are 17 hands or more. Thereâs maybe one or two that are ACTUALLY at 17. I donât know why 17 is this magic number everyone is so determined to have their horses at.
I think itâs hard to really know what 17 and 18 hands looks like if youâve never actually stood next to a horse that height, though, so I guess if youâve never seen 18+ in person, 16.3 seems like 17.2.
Not to hijack, but as a fellow grey-horse-avoider, I think you might this interesting (I did!) https://vgl.ucdavis.edu/news/new-study-identifies-distinct-gray-alleles-contributing-difference-rate-depigmentation
I understand what you were trying to say. Wither height =/= guarantee of a certain ride and an inch in either direction mostly only matters in the case of height based divisions. People are absolutely allowed their arbitrary lines in the sand (I didnât see you say otherwise, btw) but I do think wither height is a crapshoot as a metric for performance.
I saw an ad the other day where the poster was insisting they needed 17.2+ âbecause Iâm 5â8â. I look just fine on my CHONK of a 15.2(ish), so it did make me laugh a little. However as I said upthread, I also fudge my âminimumâ requirement in the taller direction because of the height creep you see from sellers. And the poor poster was getting a bunch of âif you can budge on height, I have the perfect 16h 7YO!â, so maybe they had the right idea 
I have a mare who, last time I measured, was 16.2 1/2. Thatâs kinda a mouthful, so I usually say sheâs just under 16.3. But it does make me feel vaguely guilty for phrasing it that way. Can you tell I was raised Catholic? 
Lots of people like to ride tall horses, or say they own a tall horse, or overestimate height, because it feeds into the psychological reasons they ride. Height is often equated with high status in humans too (lots of interesting literature relating to height). Taller horses tend to do better in the show ring even when âtypeâ is considered to be really important, such as native ponies, or in draft horses, where many breeds are now too tall to be practical for daily work.
Conversely, many good horses are passed by because they are âtoo shortâ. Iâm 5â9" and very happily ride Welsh Section C ponies with a breed maximum height of 13.2 and I never, ever feel under-horsed! The last time I went foxhunting, my little Welsh was keeping up with the TBs and he didnât want to stop when I decided he had done enough.
Just for fun- Iâm nearly 6â and all legs. This is me on an 18.1 hand horse (the dark bay) and a 17 hand horse (the lighter bay). Yes, I am 100% positive about both of their heights. I have sticked both several times with a real stick. Their height differences are incredibly obvious on the ground as well. The dark bay is much narrower through the chest and barrel than the lighter bay, so my leg looks nearly identical on both. When I was shopping last, my cut off was 16.3 (knowing that some people inflate and 16.3 might actually be 16.2).
That is fascinating- thank you for sharing. (Iâve also said I will never have a gray.)
I went to look at a horse advertised as 17hh once, walked in the the barn and was confronted by something that was about 18.2. (And missing a shoe and lame and miserable.)
They said no one would come look at him if they advertised him at his true height.
Poor guy. I hope he found a soft landing.
This is SO interesting. So glad itâs getting research dollars. Weirdly, my grey mare went quite slowly but was euthanized at 13 due to melanoma.
Iâll never own another 
Youâre welcome! Itâs very exciting - I also think itâs interesting that horses that turn grey younger have the same allele as the melanoma-prone horses (if Iâm reading this correctly).
Iâve got a client horse thatâs already had one laser melanoma removal, has one near her lymph node thatâs inoperable, and has a son with an inoperable one around an artery in his neck. There are so many nice grey jumping Holsteiners but I just canât do it. I hope this gives us more info and can influence breeding practices (letâs just hope the melanoma allele isnât also the good jumping allele 
).
Thatâs also how I read it, but unfortunately my grey mare didnât play by those rulesâshe greyed quite slowly but developed a lot of melanoma at a very young age. No doubt this is one piece, and an important one, but more to learn. Iâm just glad this is an avenue of interest for researchers. Melanoma sure does suck!
Iâm glad too. Itâs awful 
One reason some riders prefer a certain narrower height range has to do with their own body proportions. A longer vs shorter upper body can react and feel differently on a horse. Leg proportion is also a thing, if a thigh is longer or shorter than average (mine is longer, verified by a doctor and a tailor). Iâve seen, heard and experienced that human and horse body proportions can really make a difference.
There is an overall dynamic between horse and rider, on how the various proportions of a rider, and the various proportions of a horse, all act together. Some people are more attuned to this than others. Either because they need something specific for a certain task, or because thatâs just what they want to ride. Other people arenât as particular and are happy on a broader range of horse dimensions.
It is ok to have preferences in horse height, shape, dimensions, etc. In fact it is a major reason that humans have standardized certain breeds to suit certain preferences. Thatâs what some people want to ride.
In any case, I would be very appreciative if the horse world would stop pressuring, persuading, badgering, browbeating, and arguing with riders, trying to get them to commit to a horse that isnât their stated preference ⊠and usually only for the benefit of the person doing the browbeating.
Can we declare a moratorium on jumping in on people who say what they want in a horse, only because g-you wants to demand that they broaden their criteria, when g-you havenât been asked? Can we leave people to their own choices?
Itâs their time on a horse, to enjoy in their own way. Their money. Their experience. Let. People. Make. Their. Own. Choices. Thank you to everyone who does.
I donât see this happening here (on this thread or much on these boards, tbh), but I do see it all the time from sellers. And yeah, thatâs frustrating! Itâs like the âno TBsâ ads with every comment being a TB. And it makes those of us who are comment surfing just to see whatâs out there NOT want to buy from such sellers - even if we were looking for a 15.2h TB.
Moral of this thread: donât buy sight unseen (even with tons of video) unless your criteria are pretty loose. And be prepared for what walks off the trailer to surprise you anyway! If an inch or two of height is a deal breaker, go see the horse. Lastly, as a rule, people have no clue how tall their horse actually is unless itâs carded (and even thenâŠ).
Or as I have learned at least have the vet or other independent party verify anything thatâs important! Haha.
Of the lastâŠoh, six? horses Iâve bought, I saw two in the flesh, and the rest were long distance buys. This last one was the first that was just straight up misrepresented, and it wasnât a case of the seller just not knowing how to measure or not having a stick or whatever. She just fibbed.
What really chafes is that I mightâve still purchased if sheâd been up front and said the horse was smaller but looked growthy or string tested at -x- or WHATever. I couldâve weighed that risk and made a choice. But her deciding for me that I should take the risk that the horse could stay smaller is a bitter pill. Sheâs not paying the bills.
Live and learn. I whole heartedly support everything @OverandOnward says. People are allowed to want what they want, for whatever reasons that are important to them. No one needs to be saying âbut aCkShULlYâŠâ on those personal decisions.
Then you havenât read the thread carefully, at all. The challenge was thrown down.
But it doesnât matter. Everyone has had their say - hopefully. 
Iâve started asking how tall the rider is. If your 5â4" riders legs come down to the bottom of the barrel that horse isnât 16.3hh! Itâs not even 16.1hh probably.
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