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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 324
| 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
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 Worst.Housekeeper.EVER.
  
Location: Missouri | I am so glad you asked... mine will be two on May 11th and she is very tiny. The vet teased me saying there must have been a mix-up with her shipment and somehow we ended up with Shetland Pony. NOT FUNNY!  Okay, maybe a little... but still!!!
I measured mine at just under 14hh. The only other 2 y/o that I've had was well over 15hh at this point!
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
 
Location: Phoenix | Our yearlings have always been pretty small. Ours didn't really fill out until 3 and 4. Some just grow later. |
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Meanest Teacher!!!
Posts: 8552
Location: sunny california | better than being too growthy. Thank your lucky stars that it is not having growth problems. |
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 Lived to tell about it and will never do it again
Posts: 5408
| 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. |
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Location: Not Where I Want to Be | they are already two
Also if they are two and still small they are more than likely just going to be small and there is not anything much you can do about it.
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 928
Location: Bigfoot Country | have you had her teeth done yet? I did mine at 18 months and she had a growth spurt from just getting her food digested better. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| She may be just short.
One mare I had crossed with the same stud both over 15 hands gave me 3 horses that never made 14 hands. The genetics just didn't work.
Some people say if it is the first foal, it can be smaller, I don't put much stock into this wives tale.
I have one mare who as a 4 yr old was only 14 hands, now as a 6 yr old she is over 15 hands.
At a 2 yr old you can do the string test to see how she will end up. Every horse I have done this on it has worked |
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  Northern Chocolate Queen
Posts: 16576
Location: ND | I guess I don't worry about it. I know that I'm providing good nutrition, but not pushing mine. I want them to grow up slowly instead of super fast. My filly that turned 2 in September is 14 hands at best, but thick & healthy, guessing she'll mature a little under 15 hands.
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 I Don't Brag
Posts: 6960
| If the first foal is supposed to be small......the first foal out of my mare is 15.2 and she was the size of a good sized yearling at 5 months. I did have an issue with epiphysitis with her AND her brother (tho his was as a yearling, causedb y grass, of all things). Did not think she would pass 15 hands but she got the same late growth spurt as her momma.....at 8-9 years old. Both put on 2 inches in height and more muscle at that age.
You can never tell with genetics....with my colt, his mom was 15.2 and daddy was around 14.2. His butt is over 16 hands as a coming 5 year old and if he gets the same late growth spurt he will be HUGH. There has gotta be some height somewhere in his genes that mom and dad didn't express.
As long as your filly is healthy, I wouldn't worry. She will be what she will be. |
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 Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | rodeoveteran - 2016-02-02 9:34 AM If the first foal is supposed to be small......the first foal out of my mare is 15.2 and she was the size of a good sized yearling at 5 months. I did have an issue with epiphysitis with her AND her brother (tho his was as a yearling, causedb y grass, of all things). Did not think she would pass 15 hands but she got the same late growth spurt as her momma.....at 8-9 years old. Both put on 2 inches in height and more muscle at that age. You can never tell with genetics....with my colt, his mom was 15.2 and daddy was around 14.2. His butt is over 16 hands as a coming 5 year old and if he gets the same late growth spurt he will be HUGH. There has gotta be some height somewhere in his genes that mom and dad didn't express. As long as your filly is healthy, I wouldn't worry. She will be what she will be.
I agree with this. I bred a 15.2 hand stud to the same 14.3 mare 3 times. I ended up with a 15.3 gelding, then a 15.1 gelding and a 15 hand mare. Bred same stud to a 15.1 hand cutting mare and got a 14.3 gelding. I think a lot depends on who is in the last couple generations as some really sire size even if they are not tall themselves etc.
My show horse is 16.3 and might still grow. His sire was 16.1 and dam was 15.3. Both sire and dam's sire were known to produce size. |
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Sock Snob
Posts: 3021
| my 15 hand mare was breed to same stallion who was also 15 hands both built tanky. 6 times, 3 mares all wher 15 hand tanks, dun, brown and bay. there wher 3 geldings all where over 16 hands one was 16.2, there colors where dun, grulla and solid black. |
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| If they don't have any legs and have big fat obese bodies they will remain short and squatty .... you gotta have the legs when they are born!!
(maybe you named them wrong.. lol)
When raising or buying young horses the first thing I look at is mane and tail. If they are unusually long for the age ... then I know they have either been sick or have been lacking in certain vitamins and minerals and a good feeding program.
2nd thing is pedigree ... if it is a grand mixture of race and cutter/reiner expect the short horses to win on the foals side ... size and speed are the two things which are the easiest things to lose when breeding horses...
3rd... a horse must look athletic for me to even be interested in them regardless of their pedigree ...
New mare just turned 4 ... 15.2HH ...
RED BULL VODKA ...
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Sock Snob
Posts: 3021
| i bought a yealing she was 13 hands and at 5 she was a lanky 15.1 always looked smaller, then i bought a thin 2 year old at 14.2 he grew to 16.1. you never know. my 3 year old is 14.1 in front and 15.1 rear and still leggy. |
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I am your favorite rash and you know it
Location: Being pushed over the edge, NM | BARRELHORSE USA - 2016-02-02 5:36 PM
When raising or buying young horses the first thing I look at is mane and tail. If they are unusually long for the age ... then I know they have either been sick or have been lacking in certain vitamins and minerals and a good feeding program.
Will your people be sending a ship to take you back to your planet or are we stuck with you? |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1131
| A 2012 gelding I broke as a 2yo (late may foal, so he was a little under 2 years technically) was only 14 hands, now he's 15.1 hands and a big beefy son of a gun. He hit a growth spurt last spring as a 3yo and jumped right up there. He was stunted as a weanling though, so once that nutrition caught up with him there was no stopping him (we were pretty worried for a year though. haha) |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | I didn't stick my mare when I got her as a long yearling, but she was under 14hh. She growth spurted early spring, was super ugly for a while, and was probably 14.2 by summer of her 2 year old year. She's 6 this year and right at 15.3. She grew all the way into her 5 year old year. I've had several that grew 2-3" after their 4th birthdays. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 274
| I don't know ....I give up hope wondering....My 4yr old's dam is 16+ and weighed approx 1250lbs and his sire was 15.2ish weighing about 1375lbs....this lil shrimp as I call him is barley 14H!!!!! and 800lbs!!!! He had the best quality hay and feed from the time he hit the ground....I ask God every day why he want grow :( |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 575
| Warriors Mom - 2016-02-04 8:57 AM
I don't know ....I give up hope wondering....My 4yr old's dam is 16+ and weighed approx 1250lbs and his sire was 15.2ish weighing about 1375lbs....this lil shrimp as I call him is barley 14H!!!!! and 800lbs!!!! He had the best quality hay and feed from the time he hit the ground....I ask God every day why he want grow :(
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.  |
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 Expert
Posts: 1210
Location: Kansas | BARRELHORSE USA - 2016-02-02 6:36 PM If they don't have any legs and have big fat obese bodies they will remain short and squatty .... you gotta have the legs when they are born!! (maybe you named them wrong.. lol) When raising or buying young horses the first thing I look at is mane and tail. If they are unusually long for the age ... then I know they have either been sick or have been lacking in certain vitamins and minerals and a good feeding program. 2nd thing is pedigree ... if it is a grand mixture of race and cutter/reiner expect the short horses to win on the foals side ... size and speed are the two things which are the easiest things to lose when breeding horses... 3rd... a horse must look athletic for me to even be interested in them regardless of their pedigree ... New mare just turned 4 ... 15.2HH ... RED BULL VODKA ...
Why do you say this? |
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