Actually I have had this request and done it a few times…making sure they can see whole stick is touching floor level and bubble and measure…Not sure if it ever actually made or broke a sale…
My worst was shopping for my husband and this was before cell phones. Horse was advertised at 15.1 and sounded promising. Drove 200 miles to find a cute appy that sticked at 13.2. I was looking around for the 15.1 hand and they pointed at the pony. We laughed and left.
Mostly ignorant, I think. A lot of people with a “western” mindset think anything over 15.2 is 17 hands. Back in the '70s, I drove 4.5 hours in a borrowed truck (during a gas crisis, sigh) to look at a “16:3 hand 3 year old Appaloosa.” When I got there, I saw three horses; A mare and foal, and a nice looking gelding that was MAYBE 15.3. Not only that, he was lame all round. “Trimmed too short” was the excuse. And they couldn’t call me before I drove nearly 5 hours? In any event, I was sort of still interested, because my minimum requirement was 16 hands, I told them that I would be interested in seeing him again when he was sound. The reply was, “Oh, if you don’t want him now, we’ll just send him to auction next week.” (meaning a breed auction, not an open one where there would be kill buyers). I said before leaving, “By the way, that horse is NOT 16.3.” Reply: “Oh yes he is, a hand is 3 inches, right…?.” headdesk My present horse is half-Arabian and is 16.2. Many, many people see him and insist he is “Huge…17 hands at least.” Must be the Arab high head? ROFLOL (the other half is Appy).
Sandy M that’s my experience too 
I bought my TB mare from a guy who used her as a broodmare for his paint stallion. He was a western games guy and did barrels - only owned QH/paint/stock type horses.
“oh yeah she’s huge, almost 17hh”
:lol: she barely cracks 16.1. Good thing I liked her anyway and don’t mind the littler ones - even at 6’ tall myself.
Same here. 16.3hh. Yeah, right. Try 15.3 if she stretches. Haha. Bought her anyway. She’s a great jumper despite being “short”.
I saw my current horse advertised as 14.2hh and nearly didnt go and look at him based on the pics as he looked tiny. But he was cheap and I wanted a project so thought it was worth a punt. Hes actually a full up 14.2hh and I still dont understand why his 5ft3 rider looked massive when his current 5ft9 rider looks like this!
I don’t understand when and why bigger suddenly became better? Everyone seems to want to make their horse taller than it is but I don’t get why this is supposedly more attractive? My horse is genuinely over 17 hands, likely 17.1. People are always saying he’s 17.2, 17.3, even 18h and I’m like STOP IT. He is what he is - no need to make him more of a baby dinosaur
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And anything over 15.3 is a “gentle giant” :rolleyes:
If it doesn’t matter to you, no biggie. But if you’re selling, you don’t know if it matters to the buyer. So you should either properly stick him or say “roughly 16.2 but unsticked” so buyers know it’s a guess and not a measurement.
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I think it’s some combination of people really not being able to judge height, some horses genuinely looking bigger or smaller than they are, people just lying on purpose, or some weird bigger is better thing.
A girl in my barn seems to genuinely think her horse is 17.3…he might be 17hh at the end of a shoeing cycle. But she comments about how huge my horse is…last time I sticked him, he was 16.1, he has grown, but I doubt he’s a anything over 16.2. I think in this girl’s case she’s a bit afraid of her horse and him being huge gives her an excuse to be nervous?
Although I’ve also had people tell me my 18h horse wasn’t 18h…even with the stick on him because his wither is higher than his back…and these were serious professionals. Like they literally said oh well yeah, but that’s at the wither.
Um…I don’t know how they learned to measure.
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I think most people don’t really have a clue about horse size. I have a TB who is described as big by most riders here, and he sticks right at 15h3".
I have made it a habit to have my horses measured at the vet’s after they turn 3 until the age of 7. I breed and sell every other year, so I want their height documented for potential buyers.
I have a (sticked at) 16.2 gelding I’ve been trying to sell and EVERY person thats come to look at him has been all “OMFG HE IS HUGE”. This is mammoth warmblood country, I do not understand.
I think that many people who haven’t been around enough horses to make an educated guess about height also don’t understand the difference between presence and height. I get it all the time about my little TB gelding. He might be 15.2. I’d bet my bottom dollar he isn’t 15.3. But people are always saying to me, “Oh, my gosh! He’s huge!” Uh, no. He’s a little pee-wee in his cob-sized tack and small and medium boots. But presence? Oh, yeah. And he rides bigger than most of the 16-17hh horses I’ve owned.
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I knew a 15.1 tb mare on the track that was like that. She was teeny but firmly thought she was the biggest horse like, ever. Yes, a chestnut :lol:
I think a lot has to do with the importance people put on height, from individual to individual.
For some reason, height is a status symbol among ‘English’ riders in the U.S. The taller you can claim your horse is, the better he/she is. 
For other people, height is like color - what difference does it make so long as you’re satisfied with your horse’s performance? They haven’t even tried to figure out how tall their horse is because they don’t care.
And there are people who have specific reasons for preferring one height over another, usually to do with either the market they want to sell into, or how they perceive height as affecting their ride. (I know there are people will die on a hill defending the idea that height doesn’t matter in performance regardless, and others that will die on that same hill defending the opposite view.)
My point being that buyer-beware of wildly inaccurate claims of height are far more influenced by which of the above camps the claimant belongs to, than actual measurement. Even and especially in advertisements. Just a guess on my part about that. 
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Just need to add my journey to look at that (not) palomino that turned out to be 8" shorter then advertised was circa 1971 so this is nothing new.
Height will matter to a buyer looking for a Hunter prospect that will be subjectively judged at the rated level. They need to have the " look". Part of that look is the size and step to make getting down the lines effortless. Typically that’s going to be be an honest 15.3 to 16.3. If you are buying for yourself and don’t care what the judges think, not going to be doing Hunters anyway? Doesn’t matter. But if you are looking for a Hunter prospect to at least break even on and preferably turn a profit selling? An honest 15.3 to 16.3 is your target. I keep saying honest 15.3-16.3 because that’s where they typically stick despite claims.
