How do you estimate how tall your foal will be?

[ClassynIvansMom]

Ok, what are semi-accurate methods and what are wives’ tales when it comes to ballparking your babies’ heights? My whoopsie foal is growing by leaps and bounds, and she’ll be 5 months old on Leap Day, February 29th. I know I’ve been told the string test is only for yearlings, so any ideas on how to estimate for a 4.5 almost 5 month old?

Queen (Bohemian Rhapsody) is now over 12 hh tall. In mid January (the 17th perhaps?), she sticked on concrete with an equine measuring tool at 11.3 1/2 hh. A month later, she’s now well over 12hh at her shoulder (exact height currently unknown), is busting out both ends of her 48" rain sheet, and is as tall as me and nearly as big as my friend’s Paso Fino that she keeps with me.

I tried to take a tape measure to wiggle worm’s cannon bones today, but she’s so well trained now to pick up her feet for you to pick them out that I had trouble getting her to leave them on the ground. From the lower end of the middle of the front side of her knee to the upper end of her lower joint, she measures around 11ish inches… a 3rd and 4th measuring make me think it could be 11.5ish, but at least 11 inches. Is that not the way to measure her cannon bones? I’ve never actually had to measure before, so I really don’t know if I’m even doing it right.

So, any wild guesses as to how tall she could end up being? Her hocks and knees stand as tall as the 15.1hh mare in the stall next door, her mother is not quite but almost 15.3 hh, I don’t remember what Mutt Daddy’s height was, but I do know that Mutt Daddy’s sire was a 16.1 hh Friesian named Dante… I need to get her a bigger sheet (this is her 4th or 5th blanket just this season), but I’m thinking she’ll outgrow it before the cold season is even done, and certainly will be too big for it by next season.

[JB]

Birth height, once they unfold of course, is generally about 60% of their adult height.

The reason you can’t do the string test before they’re a year is because they rely on the legs being in the right proportion height-wise, and have finished (or just about nearly) growing their full length.

Why so many blankets? LOL

[amastrike]

[QUOTE=JB;6137450]
Birth height, once they unfold of course, is generally about 60% of their adult height.[/QUOTE]
I hope you’re right! That’ll put Pig just over 16hh, which is exactly what I want.

[EquusMagnificus]

@JB;6137450

Birth height, once they unfold of course, is generally about 60% of their adult height.

Never heard of that one!

Too bad I never bothered to measure them at birth. :eek: It would have been interesting to compare!

[camohn]

Until they are a year old…not much is accurate. Just “somewhere between dam and sires heights”. I have had big foals slow down and the ones born small catch up later.

[ClassynIvansMom]

[QUOTE=JB;6137450]
Birth height, once they unfold of course, is generally about 60% of their adult height.

The reason you can’t do the string test before they’re a year is because they rely on the legs being in the right proportion height-wise, and have finished (or just about nearly) growing their full length.

Why so many blankets? LOL[/QUOTE]

Haha, uh oh, she might be tiny after all! I didn’t measure her at birth. She was my mare’s first foal and came out little. The vet actually asked if the sire had been a pony, but then said something like first foals can sometimes be smaller since the uterus and body haven’t stretched out yet. Dunno if that’s accurate, but she certainly caught up when she went through growth spurts.

Well, hopefully if her legs are currently at least as long up to the hocks and knees of the 15.1hh horse in the neighboring stall and look pretty darn close to being as long as her mama’s who is almost 15.3hh, maybe she’ll still get some decent height and more bone than her mama. Mama is quite delicate, but baby has taken after Friesian grandsire. How early do straight Friesian babies start getting their feathering? My whoopsie started feathering at 2 months and now has 1/2 an inch of feathering growing past her coronet band and about 4-5" of hair off the backs of all four fetlocks.

As to the blankets, haha, first was her grow with me foal blanket. She grew out of it rather quickly. The next was a sheet that got sent in the wrong size. The next was a really nice one that was supposed to be a sheet but ended up being a heavy blanket instead, which she didn’t need. The next was another very nice one that was supposed to be for large foals/large weanlings, and she was too big for it before I could even get it on her. The last is the sheet she’s currently wearing, and she’s already outgrown it. I bought it originally 4" larger than what she measured, thinking she’d be able to wear it the rest of the season at least, and instead she’s worn it a total of maybe 5 or 6 days combined because our weather is so nuts.

[JB]

See if this formatting works

Age in Months Percent of Mature Height

      Birth              61 to 64

        1                67 to 70

        3                76 to 79

        6                83 to 86

        9                87 to 90

       12                90 to 92

       18                94 to 96

       24                96 to 98

       30                97 to 99

       36                98 to 100

[ClassynIvansMom]

[QUOTE=JB;6137944]
See if this formatting works

Age in Months Percent of Mature Height

      Birth              61 to 64

        1                67 to 70

        3                76 to 79

        6                83 to 86

        9                87 to 90

       12                90 to 92

       18                94 to 96

       24                96 to 98

       30                97 to 99

       36                98 to 100[/QUOTE]

Oh ok. So by that estimation, she’d approximately end up being around 15.2-15.3hh, so about her mama’s size.

[wcporter]

Where are some updated pics of baby? I want to seeeee! :winkgrin:

Last I saw her she was still a few weeks old and way too cute

[ClassynIvansMom]

Haha, feast your eyes! This was her as a 3 month old. I just now finally got around to uploading them. The woman in the photos holding her for me is a friend of mine, and in these photos Queen is right around 12hh.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikahana/sets/72157629287122941/

She’s a fuzzy thing, that’s for sure. She keeps having funky growth spurts, which I guess is normal. When she was born, she was VERY uphill. A week later, butt high. And it alternates from week to week.

[ClassynIvansMom]

Not to mention all that fuzz in those photos is about 3" worth of fur that is standing on end, almost like she stuck a hoof in a light socket. It makes her butt look even higher than it actually is and her body an extra 6ish inches wider than it actually is because of her dense fluff.