[yet another...] How big was your 3 y/o WB? I think mine's a pony...

Apologies in advance, I know this topic has been beat to death!

I’m curious to hear guesses on what other breeders might expect my 2017 filly to mature to, height-wise!

She’s Canadian WB, by Checkmate x Consul. Born May 2017. Checkmate is 16.3, tends to throw smaller fillies. Dam was 15.2. I reached out to the breeder, who said the smallest baby the Dam ever threw was 16.3 but did said my mare was by far the smallest foal she ever had. I knew when I bought her last year that she was on the smaller side and I was expecting her to maybe mature around 15.2/15.3, and I think I would have been lucky at that.

Here is the funny thing – she is tiny! I visited her yesterday, and my rough estimate is that she is maybe 13.3 now. Has pretty defined withers, maybe a little butt high. But I’m thinking I might just have a full-blown WB large pony on my hands. So much for my small AO hunter – LOL!

Anyone have a WB foal end up much smaller than expected? Like pony-small? :cool:

Here is a photo from Nov 2019: [ATTACH=JSON]{“alt”:“Click image for larger version Name: image0.jpeg Views: 1 Size: 21.1 KB ID: 10573786”,“data-align”:“none”,“data-attachmentid”:“10573786”,“data-size”:“full”}[/ATTACH]

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We have a WB at ur barn that’s still looking very pony like. We’re all thinking she will be a large pony which will be fun because we don’t really have a pony riding scene here.

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Ponies are definitely fun! I won’t mind if she ends up a large pony, it’s just surprising that she just hasn’t gotten much larger!

Yes, I love ponies! My daughter’s pony gets a good ride from me at least once a week 😊.

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Yes, unless she has a miracle growth spurt, it sounds like she will mature a pony. It is unusual, but not unheard of.

I have a friesian mare that did this, sire 17h, dam is 15.3h and she is 14.3h, a bit stunted looking with some physical changes and behavior quirks which may or may not be based on her karotype. She has Turner’s syndrome(only one X chromosome).

Measure from the coronet band to middle of knee and you’ll know how tall she’ll get or not get.

I have a coming 3 year old gelding by checkmate and he’s around 16.2. He is out of a 17h TB mare (but he was her first).

For several years I rode a 14h3" Trak x AngloArab. His sire was well over 16 h and his dam was 15h2".

I have a coming 2 yo that is so far, shaping up to be smaller than I would have hoped (dam is 174cm, sire is 172). She’s currently at around 157cm (15’2, give or take) and I would be surprised if she ends up making 17h like either parent. It’s a bit of an outlier compared to what I am seeing from her sire’s other offspring who all seem taller types, but I suppose with a 2yo there’s still some room for things to surprise me, as opposed to 3.

My TK filly is 33 months old and is 16.1 1/2H and very mature in her proportions and body - deep and a big girl. We expect her to go 16.3-17H.

My friend bred her 15.2 hand Standardbred mare to a 15.1 hand QH. The resulting colt was 17 hands. I don’t know where that size came from.

“Measure from the coronet band to middle of knee.” I’ve found this to accurate as well.

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To string test using the coronet band to the middle of the knee method - I think I’ve been told its a rigid measurement, as if you’re using a ruler, and not following the contour of the leg. Can someone confirm that’s accurate?

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yup!
I have a lovely gelding by Bliss MF, dam by Riverman x Consul. Mom is 15.3 and was my AO hunter. Bliss is 16.1.
He’s lovely – very balanced, athletic mover, pocket-pony temperament. And nearly pony sized. He currently sticks at 14.3 and a smidge, and he’ll be 4yo next month. I think he’s grown maybe an inch since this time last year. And he’s not just short, he’s short coupled, so he really does look like a fancy pony hunter. I’m short, and can ride the smaller ones, but he’s small even for me. I refuse to panic, and while he’s worn tack and lunges a little, I’m not sitting on him until this summer. He’s mentally a little immature as well so I am just hoping he’s a slow developer in all regards. I bred him to be an AO horse, but he’ll maybe end up being a trail pony, or a dressage horse, or something where the number of strides between jumps isn’t a thing.

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Maybe Consul is the culprit since he’s in both of our horse’s pedigrees - ha! Darn future AO “honies” :smiley:

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Hmm, then how do you explain Consul’s son Judgement ISF? He was 17 hands.

I’m boiling it down to genetics being a funny thing. Judgement is just one example of a foal from a stallion. Someone else PM’d me about their 15.1 hand mare by Consul. One large (and very famous) offspring doesn’t define the type that a stallion only produces.

The 15.2 hand Consul mare (who had my tiny filly) had 5 other foals, all 16.3h+… :rolleyes:

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We bred a 16 hand ASB mare to a 16.3 hand ASB stud, ended up with a 14 hand ASB mare. Super cute but a pistol . Grew up to be an amazing little polo pony. Bred mare a second time to same stallion, ended up with a 16.2 mare. Both were well balanced easy to deal with horses. Sometimes breeding gives you pleasant surprises.

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My rule of thumb is if they look like perfect little horses they probably aren’t going to get much bigger. If they look like scrawny under-developed mooses you may get more height. My mare I bought as a two year old was about 15:1 and she matured to about 15:2. But she looked like a perfect little horse at two. My other mare that was supposedly 15:2 at 3 years old looked like a scrawny long yearling at 3. She matured to 16:2. The breeder did tell me she was " an unfortunate looking yearling and that her mother grew till she was 7. I thought " Yeah sure." She did eventually turn into a swan and did keep growing until 5 or 6 and then filled out…

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My current little kid came out of a 15.1h mare. Mare’s back pedigree is all quite large. But the short gene has to be there somewhere. She would be what we call, a throwback.

My kiddo is her 1st baby. She’s 14.2 at 11 months and looks completely ridiculous. She changes proportions daily. Looks as if she will be taller tjan expected and lanky.

My late homebred came out perfect and always looked perfect. She was 15.2h as a 3 year old, well proportioned and built like a brick shit house. She was 16h when she died. I think she had 1 more inch to possibly grow. We expected a long lanky 16.2h kid but received short and stout. We called her the Milk Man’s baby.

Kids get 1 height gene phenotype.
You don’t get an average of Mom and Dad. You get Mom’s height or Dad’s height…or the ever dreaded throwback. Lol.

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I saw your filly as a weanling and she was tiny, definitely smaller than others her age. That doesn’t always translate into tiny adult horse, but it usually means they’ll be smaller than average
I have a checkmate filly who is now 15h at 5, maybe 15.1 if I’m optimistic. She was definitely pony sized as a coming 3 year old. She is smaller now than both my coming two year old warmblood fillies. Her mother was just under 16h. I also bred a full sibling, a colt and he is 17.1 at 4.

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