Height of horses sired by Balou du Rouet sons?

[ElementFarm]

A few years ago, I bred two very nice mares to a Balou du Rouet son here in the US. One is maturing a little smaller and slower than I’d expect, but the other is TINY. He was the only foal out of his dam, so I have no other half siblings to compare him to. But he looks to mature a solid Hony. He’s correct and gorgeous, but about 14.3hh, and is also very short backed/necked, it’s not just in height. So, I’ve been a little (or a lot) disappointed in the height of those two youngsters, but have attributed it to the mares or my management somehow.

But then I was talking to a local breeder, who was lamenting about her heart-broodmare’s 4yo filly who’s also tiny. She was sired by a different Balou du Rouet son, and is also very short backed in addition to being only about 15hh.

That got me thinking. Since most of the those stallions were young enough that they had few mature offspring when we bred to them, there wasn’t any anecdotal evidence (that I was aware of) regarding mature height of offspring. My two horses’ sire has some fancy ‘normal’ sized horses in the performance ring, so there’s that. But I guess I’m interested in any input on mature height of horses sired by any of the Balou du Rouet sons, and if those heights were shorter than would have been expected based on height of dam and sire.

[beowulf]

I didn’t think BDR was particularly tall (16h?).

Banderas and Bon Balou are both under 16.3h. I think Amazing is also around that. Those are not stallions I associate with increasing height, though I’ve seen their offspring be all over the map in terms of height.

Who was the stallion?

[ElementFarm]

According to Superior Equine Sires, BdR was 16.3.
My kiddos were sired by Bliss MF (16.1)
and I believe friend’s mare was by Banderas (16.2)

I’m short, prefer a horse in the ~16hh ballpark, and wasn’t expecting to end up with a giant. But I’m definitely surprised that it looks like one may end up at only 15hh, shorter than both dam and sire.

[ammyforlife]

I have been around some Banderas and Bon Balou babies and most were what I would call normal size (16-16.2). Although, two horses I tried (one BB one Banderas) were shorter than there dams by 1-2", but were thicker pony types, the Banderas was ~16.1 and the BB was ~16.

[Willesdon]

Any “son of” is only 1/4 genes of the famous stallion. Then every WB register is a mish mash of horses and, as height is rarely a criteria for registration, they come in many sizes. How tall was the dam?

[sixpoundfarm]

I have bred 2 by Banderas, different dames. The oldest is over 17H, out of a 16.1 hh mare by Kannan. The other is just a weanling, but he is a very normal sized weanling, and i expect he will be at least 16.2, as his dam was 17hh.
Do you know what kind of heights were produced by the damlines of your mares?

[ladyj79]

yes, I will take your short cobby bliss baby :lol::lol:

[tucktaway]

My Bliss filly is 15.3 on a good day. Dam(Han) is just shy of 16.3 and previous 3 foals(different sires) were all quite tall. All the same, her stride and scope belie her height!

[SilverDragon]

bummer! usually I find that they are about 16-16.3

[Fillyfolly]

I bred a 15.2 HH mare by Popeye K to Banderas twice and both foals matured to 16.2 HH.