Measuring Your Shire
by Arlin Warieng

“The first liar doesn’t stand a chance”. This little saying infers that the next liar can always top the first liar’s story. I don’t know if this applies to Shire owners or not: it could be that some simply do not know how to measure a the height of a horse. About 12 years ago, I wrote an article for the newsletter outlining this very subject. It was short and to the point” however, we have had a lot of new members since then. Form personal experiences and reports from others, I feel it may be wise to re-visit this subject.

There are so many misleading comments and adcertisements that it is nearly impossible to determine whon is/isn’t correctly measuring their horses. Surely Shire owners do not have a lock on misrepresentation. Although it is foudn in nearly all Draft breed, we seem to have more then our share. I do believe that most of our incorrectness comes from lack of experience. To illustrate my point and to make this article a little more interesting, I would like to relate a couple of stories.

Several years ago a lady contacted me wishing to import a yearling filly. One of her requirements for such a purchase was that the filly had to mature to 18 hands, which was the height of the two geldings she already owned. I explained that I could not make such a promise” even if we found one that looked to be that big someday, the price would undoubtedly be very high. Then as well as now horses, especially mares, are rarely that tall. She was still insistent that any new purchase had to be as tall as her gelding: one fo the gelding was 18 hands and the other 18.1 hands. I finally sent a letter outlining the way I measured and asked her to measure her geldings the same way. She responded by saying that she had measured her geldings but had been told how tall they were when she had purchase them. She did measure them at that time and found one to be 17 hands and the other 17.1 hands. I did import for her and easeily foudn the size she wanted and at the regular price. This saved her literally thousands of dollars.

Sometime back , I heard about a big gelding for sale so I called inquiring about the horse. Amoung other things, I was promised that he was 19 hands tall. I some doubts so I pressed the issue, but was assured that he was that tall. I asked for, and received, some pictures where the horse was out in the open with no points of reference to size the horse. Again I questioned the fact if he was truly that tall. Still assured of it, I started travel plans for the horse was well over a thousand miles away. In trying to schedule a time for my trip, a couple of weeks passed. I again called to arrange for a time to see him only to learn he had been sold. I had been spared, for I learned that the horse was 17.3 hands, nearly 18 hands, not 19 hands.

In both of these stories the owner missed the height of the horses by a full hand. An inch difference is surely understandable, but there is no good excuse to be off 4 inches.

The proper method of determining the height of a horse is :the vertical distance from the ground to the top of the horse’s wither”. period. Where we seem to get into trouble is the procedure in which we measure that distance. Some people want to measure straight up the front leg, which is incorrect. Some want to measure with a string, or measuring tape, from the ground, around the body and to the wither, again incorrect. This will add approximately 4 inches to a mature horse. Stallions with good sloping shoulder and a big crest running will down the back are very hard to determine the point of the wither, but with a little practice it can be done. I have learned even the placement of the hind legs as well as the font legs will make a difference. I have even heard it said that you should your horses haed down in a bucket or something. I don’t believe this either. It is true that the top of the wither is the same regardless of the placement of the lhead, but generally a horse with their head up will stand a little more posture correct or alert than one slumped over eating grain.

When measuring, stand the horse square on all four legs. You can find the
top of the wither, which is the 4th or 5th thoracic vertibrate. You can usually see and feel the highest point. Allow the horse to move his head up and down at this time. After you have determined the right place, either physically or mentally mark the exact spot. Now stand you measuring stick straight up, not angle in any direction, and place a level bar from the upright stick to the top of the wither at the point you previously marked. Use a spriit level designed to make sure it is not slanting up or down. There are of couse measuing sticks deisnged to accomplish this: most have a built in leveling device. Refer to the figure for a visual guide. As a side note, also be careful fo those measuing tapes that claim to tell you yuour horses weight. They can be misleading. IF you really want to know the weight of your horse, find a scale and weigh him. I believe that in most cases you will find that they don’t weight as much as you think.

IF it is important to you to promote the height of your horse, it is important to do it correctly. As the story goes, “it takes a big dog to weigh a ton”: well it takes a big Shire to be 18 hands tall. You should feel no shame if your Shire doesn’t weigh a ton and stand 18 hands tall. The percentage of Shires exceeding this is small.

There are many rumors and stories relating to various horses’s height. Many times these stories are blown up, not by the horses owner, but by the storyteller. It would surely be a shame to spoil a good story by having to tell the truth.