rpreast - 2016-02-04 12:47 PM I've got a 2 yr old by Streaking Ta Fame.... Big man himself. She's MAYBE 14hh. On a good day. Standing up hill.

Vanessa - 2016-02-03 9:31 AM Will your people be sending a ship to take you back to your planet or are we stuck with you?

euchee - 2016-02-02 9:41 AM

Grow til there 5, spread til there 7 is what I have always been told.  That is just how it went with a couple of mine so I believe it. 

HarlanLivesOn - 2016-02-04 1:04 PM


Why do you say this?

**Cowgirl Up** - 2016-02-02 9:03 AM

Call me a hypochondriac, but my coming 2 year-old is smaller than I think she should be.  Her dam is a super lean, 15.2hh mare and her sire is 15.1hh with a standard build, not super bulky but not lean like her dam.  I haven't put the stick on her but I'd say she's only about 13.2hh, if that.  She will be 2 on May 18.  I was super careful with her and her dam's nutrition, though she was involved in a fence-related leg injury--could the stress from that have prevented regular growth and development?  My vet says she is rather small, but she doesn't appear to be stunted, just little.  He was surprised when I told him her age, he thought she was a weanling.  Is it possible that she's just a late bloomer and I'm a worry-wart? 
Here's her bloodlines
http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/runawaywiththemoon
 

3canstorun - 2016-02-04 1:28 PM


How big is the mare?  Might have something to do with it - as they say - the dam is important in more ways then one.   

BARRELHORSE USA - 2016-02-05 12:02 AM I am going to answer your post because you asked a sensible question instead of just making noises from the upper balcony ... lol I was fortunate enough to be raised with/by horsemen that had horses with good pedigrees and were well kept. When you have 30 foals and one gets deathly sick or you drive by a pasture full of starved mares with foals by their sides ... making that visual determination is very easy to make for the rest of your life. If you have an ill feeling or starved horse the first thing Mother Nature does is to protect the horses body heat by growing hair which includes mane and tail. On a secondary basis biological wise ... if horse is sick and cannot process proteins into body fat/muscling it is re-routed to grow mane and tail and scruffy hair. On a long term basis these horses are going to be a walking limping lifetime vet bill for someone that bought a $150 horse at a local horse processing sale or got stuck by a horse trader telling them they are slow growers and will end up 16HH tall. I also have lifetime friends that tell me their short horse has grown 8 inches (2HH) in 1-2 years since they bought him as a 2-3 yo at under 14.0HH with a magical growing spurt. .... I grin as I look over at my friend and see that she is the one that has gotten shorter and fatter which makes it tuffer for her to mount her horse.... which makes her horse appear bigger to her .. lol If you look at a new born foal .. their hocks are within an inch or so as tall as their dams. Hocks and cannon bones do not grow much in length as they grow into mature horses. .. Look at the forearm which dictates the length of stride and height of a horse. If it is not 1/3 longer than the cannon bone at birth or under 2yo's old ... it ain't gonna grow 8 inches to make that horse 16HH ... It is like all the downhill horses that are discussed on BHW ... look hard at the pedigree and you will find a conformation hole or breeding mistake in the bloodlines ... the pedigree will be like cutting a Volkswagen and a dump truck in half and welding them together to make one horse. Anyway you look at it ... it is a very bad conformation defect since a level backlined horse carries 60% of their weight on the front end and now you have 75-80% of the weight shifted to the front end.... this is a normal defect you find when cutters and racing bloodlines are crossed because they have two totally different conformations. Then there is the owner that fed all kinds of weird well marketed supplements or feeds and created their own disaster. Overdosing certain vitamins and minerals will build up in a horse and create all kinds of stunting, growth, increase/decrease in organ outputs and bone problems since they believe all the crap a professional writer wrote on the ad or the box. I will stay with my common sense KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) feeding and evaluation programs using whole oats, alfalfa, corn and ADM GroStrong minerals as a strong base of having healthy robust foals and grown shiny healthy horses romping around my pastures. I enjoy reading the stories people tell on one of the FB for sale sites when it is plain to see that they have bought horses at a sale for cheap cheap due to being stunted or starved etc and try to brush and feed it a little bit to sell as a $600-1500 horse. .. And most of the buyers are going to do the same thing in 1-2 months horse is now worth $2500 because they sat on it 3-4 times .... ... it is rather inventive with some of the stories and histories they tell on these horses ... lol WHEN TO WORRY ABOUT HAVING A SHORT//SMALL FOAL>>YEARLING?? MY ANSWER >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> How you care for the broodmare before she is bred, while infoal and while nursing the baby... AND OF COURSE A GOOD WORMING AND FEEDING PROGRAM FOR ALL OF YOUR HORSES ...

BARRELHORSE USA - 2016-02-04 10:02 PM

Sockittoemred - 2016-02-05 9:19 AM

This got me to thinking so I measured mine last night. She is an April baby. 13.2 at the wither and 14h at the hip. So she is a touch down hill right now. Hopefully she will level back out soon. Is that a good size for her age? Edited to add, my filly's dob is 4/9/15.
OP is yours a '14 foal?

Tdove - 2016-02-05 11:19 AM


I bought a two year old that measured 13.1 and he grew until he was 7 or 8 and is now 15.2.  That is 9 inches.  So, I guess you dont know anything after all.

To the OP, if you have a good feeding program and they are not stunted, I would not worry one bit about it.  They will be as tall or as short as Mother Nature intended, no matter what you do. I am a big fan of shorter horses. They can do almost anything a bigger horse can do and also do a lot of things better.  

As far as one being stunted, a good feeding program can really make a difference and bring them back.  A horse that is stunted can still grow and be really nice.  Here is a before and after picture of a coming 2 year old and the same horse as a 3 year old.