I bought a welsh pony- thoroughbred cross colt to breed to my welsh and welsh cross ponies.
At 13 months, he’s 14 hands. String tested at 15.3 to 16 hands.
I am considering gelding him and using him for dressage, or would it make more sense to sell him as a yearling or should I sell him once he is started under saddle in a few years?
Am I correct that he’s too big to breed to my small and medium ponies?
The general rule for horses is add 2h to the 12 month height. So at 13 months and 14h, that string test is pretty on target.
Is he too big to breed to the ponies…for what? For the safety of the mares? No. Mare uterus size determines the size of the foal at birth. The bigger risk is the size of the mare’s pelvis, and the size of the foal’s shoulders. But that’s an issue no matter the pairing
Too big to get small ponies? Yes.
Mediums? Maybe.
Larges? No, but you might also get honies.
Assuming he was 14 hands at 12 months of age, I’d expect a 15.2-16 hand mature height.
I usually add 3-4" to yearling height for my ponies, so I expect yours will finish around 15h. Where are you string testing from?
The 2 hands rule for horses usually doesn’t apply to ponies.
