Some general questions about stuff I have seen on YA! Horse height, fence height and carrot sticks?

Question

I have recently been amazed, amused, and a bit perplexed by stuff written here in HS of YA.

Just where do all these 17+ hands high horses come from?  Granted, I mainly work with stock breeds, but 17hh is one big horse, even for many draft breeds, but here 17 hands seems almost common, with lots of people claiming 18 or 19 hand horses (over time, not necessarily right now).

Jump height......isn't probably 3' to 3'6" sort of standard for your every day H/J show?  But again, I see, over time, lots of people talking about jumps over 5".

Carrot stick.....just WHAT is the difference, really, between a carrot stick and a longe whip?  Besides price and color, of course.

I'm sure I'm going to get flamed here, but I'm just getting too curious not to ask.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I believe people greatly exaggerate their horse's height both online and off.

I believe people greatly exaggerate their jumping heights both online and off.  Odds are if you are jumping over 4' you have a trainer.  You'd think for as many people on here that claim to be at Olympic level, they wouldn't be asking questions on here and would have better things to do.

I think people just buy that stuff because it has Parelli's name on it.

I believe you are referring to questions such as...
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ao5iFPJzPlxQ46AVRKVeg0EjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20120706135323AAvXT08  -- Clearly a troll.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AphSWo51FTVMhyMdqVfAHrQjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20120719061941AA7zOEw -- This "Question" with videos speaks for itself.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AoP9hHT7eRbDfdFmgcxEbEycDH1G;_ylv=3?qid=20120723060927AAfvD8P -- Isn't this the person who says they are a 19 year-old certified trainer who owns a fancy boarding facility?

Driver · Answer

Well for the first two, I think sometimes some people are living in a fantasy world where they own a 17.2hh stallion and compete in the 5' jumpers.  In reality, they probably don't own a horse, take lessons, and jump 18".  There are a lot more tall horses than there used to be, but I'd say 16hh would be fairly common, not 17 or more.  I used to train warmbloods, and of the 20 or so I trained, about 2 were over 17hh.  Most were 15.3 - 16.2 or so.

As for jumping 5', I think it's almost always BS when someone claims that.  I also think it's BS when they claim 4'.  Sure, it's possible, but unlikely.  I'd say 2'6" is most common here.

As for carrot sticks, that's a world which I have not entered.

Anonymous · Answer

You must be seeing all the good questions, I haven't seen anyone talk about jumping 5's. :( The standard I think is like 2'6 and 3'6 which is what I always see, but I usually zone out on jumping questions because I don't know them.

The height I don't really know about either, I think the majority of questions I see or answer are around 16hh TBs with the occasional pony. Very very very rarely ever see someone mention an "average" 15hh horse though! Can't say any absurd height sticks out in my mind unfortunately.

A little bit derailed here, but, I love seeing the CL ads where someone has a 17hh horse that couldn't possibly be over 14hh. Lordy, they're all over the Lexington CL, especially the TWHs. I've only actually seen one person accurately describe a 17hh TWH in real life and I won't ever forget it because that thing was monstrous compared to a hobbit like me.

I think carrot sticks are supposed to be more firm than a lunge whip. Lunge whips are whippy with a long stringy bit, and carrot sticks are sticky with a long stringy bit. No difference at all in the scheme of things, they both do the same thing. I ain't paying ungodly prices for one of those when I can get a lunge whip for $10, luls. I wish people didn't buy into that crap!

I remember seeing an answer a while back where someone suggested something like, get a carrot stick because the horse will be respectful of it, or something like that. And I said... why would you want your horse respectful of a stick rather than being respectful toward you as a leader? And I immediately got shittons of TDs. I was like, whoa, people must really love their carrot sticks because they obviously can't talk to their horse in any other way.

? · Answer

yeah, a lot of stuff on here cracks me up too. i'm mostly a western guy but live in the east where the it's mostly hunters, dressage and your basic english show folks. my wife teaches a bunch of these people and we go to the shows and rarely see a 17h or taller horse and the only time we see jumps taller than four feet are at the bigger rated shows in show jumping not in hunters. i guess to some, size does matter. that being said, this is the internet and basically anonymous so people feel free to lay on the BS to try to sound like experts and some ask interesting questions and really try to help others with their answers. another thing that gets me is from time to time i'll look at the resolved questions and it seems to me that when the asker picks the best answer most of the time it's what the asker wants to hear and not really the best answer, especially when it comes to bits and horse behavior. as for the carrot stick, hahahahahaha, the only difference is the price. P.T. Barnum was right, there's a sucker born every minute.

orangebunny · Answer

i've ridden a 17hh-18hh horse (trakehner x hannoverian).. i don't remember exactly how tall she was, but i'm 5'4" and her whithers were well above the top of my head (at least a full hand)

as for jump height, 3'-3'6" is at the high end for hunters, and is usually the height of the lower jump for equitation (i think eq goes up to 4').. but for jumpers it totally depends on the level.. there are baby jumpers (for someone's first jumping show) and that will be abot 2'3" ish.. then you have grand prix, which i believe is 5' and up.. then you have the puissance which starts at a bit over 5' and goes up until no one can clear it. 

i think a carrot stick is the same as a longe whip (stick with a string of some sort at the end)... they may vary in length though, i'm not sure. 

hope this helps

Anonymous · Answer

I'm wee (in the region of 5'2 ish and rather light / petite) and I can tell you now there is no way you'd get me on a 16.2 these days. I have 12h ponies up to my 15.1 Anglo Arab and feel most comfortable on my 13h'ers. I also ride my kids' Shetland (40in) to keep him ticking over. I feel overhorsed by anything bigger than 15.2, and sometimes my Highland who is under 14.2 can ride bigger than I would like if he's in one of those moods. Part of it is my size - I really do not have the strength or length of leg to ride anything tall - and part of it is a confidence issue. As an obnoxious teenager I wanted to move on from ponies like so many teenagers do (why oh why?!) and of course I was even smaller at 16 than I am now and simply could not cope with my mother's middleweight hunter taking the piss and tried repeatedly to ride numerous horses that I did not have the physical skill for. It's one thing to ride a 14h show pony perfectly, but riding a large horse is another thing entirely and it did knock my confidence. And of course most people have no idea how big their horses are. 16.2 is a figure thrown about frequently, so it must be some kind of average "benchmark" for a lot of people. It's like it's the standard height of a standard horse, regardless of what the stick says. I think I lot of people would be very surprised by the true height of their animals if they had them correctly measured by Joint Measurement Board standards. My Highland has been called 15.2 by people who think their 15h cobs are over 16h - it's just mad what people think. They have no clue and guess based on the height other people say their horses are. It becomes a massive game of guesses and chinese whispers, and it does beg the question "how many people have actually stood their horses correctly and measured them - or even know how to?!"

Some general questions about stuff I have seen on YA! Horse height, fence height and carrot sticks?

Related Questions

Trending Questions