Ageing horses

[kassieg]

How does everyone count their horses age?

Mine are from the 1st January they are the age they turn that year, like my eventer is 6 this year, its her 6 year old year even thought she was a late foal in September.

Ive just seen 1 the same (6 in September) which was advertised as a 5 year old which irritated me & made me think what others do?

 

[Procrastination]

If your horse doesn't turn 6 until September then she isn't six yet?! Her six year old 'year' is from September 2015 until September 2016.... I'm not sure why you're annyoed at an advert for stating the correct age of their horse? Maybe I'm missing something!

 

[Goldenstar]

First of jan for TB's and first of April for non TB's .
Horses have always been ages like this .
When I have younger horses I always keep their birthdate in mind as is makes a difference a September four yo may well need to less than a April born one as when young that five months makes a big difference .
It's a practise that was started when horses had no passports it also standardises thing for entry in age classes and races for horses of a certain age .
Would I be annoyed to see an add where someone was using actual age ,no of course I would not be but I always check on my first phone call exactly how old the horse is .

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

All registered TBs have their official birthday on Jan 1st in the northern hemisphere and this is for racing entries, However when they are running as 2 year olds it is very relevant to their chances as a Jan born 2 year old is going to be 3 months ahead of an April foal
Other than that the will be rising 3/4/5 etc if they have not reached their actual birth day.

 

[OldNag]

My kids' ponies are most definitely aged from their actual birthdays, which they mark with cake (homemade, chaff, nuts, carrots etc).
Woe betide me if I dare to use anything other than actual birthdays

Seriously though, I have always worked on April but as GS says, worth checking that the seller assumes the same.

 

[Procrastination]

Well you learn something new everyday, had no idea this was a thing! Makes sense for the racing industry I guess, but for the average joe horse I can't see why you would say horse is X number of years if in fact their birthday isn't for another 9 months...that just seems odd to me!

 

[Procrastination]

I think I am in the same camp as your kids!

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Well you learn something new everyday, had no idea this was a thing! Makes sense for the racing industry I guess....................

You see, I just assumed that everyone knew that, lol.
Southern hemisphere TBs are aged from the first of August, it does not cause much confusion as they don't often cross hemispheres to race until they are 4 or five by which time the age difference is less relevant, but I assume if entering a race for three year olds eg, they need to be registered as 3 on their passport., ie after 1st August.
I was in ignorance about the 1st April, I guess this is related to competition rules, in the S hemisphere they will have a different date.
To me, any horse or pony , non TB, is only of an age after its birthday, before that it is rising 3 4 5 or other.
It is a yearling from birthday 1 to 2 and a 2 year old from 2nd birthday, but will be rising three a few months before it is age three.

 

[Procrastination]

You see, I just assumed that everyone knew that, lol.
Southern hemisphere TBs are aged from the first of August, it does not cause much confusion as they don't often cross hemispheres to race until they are 4 or five by which time the age difference is less relevant, but I assume if entering a race for three year olds eg, they need to be registered as 3 on their passport., ie after 1st August.
I was in ignorance about the 1st April, I guess this is related to competition rules, in the S hemisphere they will have a different date.
To me, any horse or pony , non TB, is only of an age after its birthday, before that it is rising 3 4 5 or other.
It is a yearling from birthday 1 to 2 and a 2 year old from 2nd birthday, but will be rising three a few months before it is age three.

I imagine I'm probably in the minority, there's a lot of things in the horse world that I am still not 'au fait' with, I'm learning all the time!
I agree with you with the rising 3/4/5 bit, my girl was 5 in May, I classed her as 'rising 5' from about February onwards

 

[Gloi]

I've just bought a foal that was born at the end of December, not sure how I will get on if I want to show him in youngstock classes, he may still be on his mum but he's really a yearling
Fortunately I didn't buy him to show though we may have a trip to a local one or two.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I don't have TB's in training or horses that will do age classes, so I only use their chronological age. It is the pertinent one with young, growing horses even if it's not traditional. I'm really not a fan of 2 1/2 year olds being called 3 year olds and worked as such. Those few months make such a difference to them physically. I will use the term 'rising' if the horse is nearly at their birthday, but not if it's months away.

 

[SadKen]

I work on the kiddy rule.

Mine was 9 on 11th May. But I'm not a professional in any capacity, so it doesn't matter!

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I don't have TB's in training or horses that will do age classes, so I only use their chronological age. It is the pertinent one with young, growing horses even if it's not traditional. I'm really not a fan of 2 1/2 year olds being called 3 year olds and worked as such. Those few months make such a difference to them physically. I will use the term 'rising' if the horse is nearly at their birthday, but not if it's months away.

I am not sure what you mean faracat, a horse of 2 years six months is a two year old, not sure when it becomes rising 3, I think it depends on when it is being sold, unless born very late it will normally be obvious what is meant. I would say last quarter of the year of age. A two year old is a two year old. I've never seen a 2year 6 month horse advertised as a three year old.
If the horse is to be entered in UK races for two year old TB's this is a technical age, whether it is 2 years 11 months old, or it is 2 years and five months, it will be classified as a 2 year old for entry purposes and its birthday [offical] will be Jan 1st. its passport will show its date of birth.
T.B brood mares are never covered before the 14th Feb to avoid foals being born before 1st January. When trainers start training for racing they will consider calendar age, and precocity/maturity, there is no point trying to "force" them, they will just break down or not win races. The plan is to win races, so not all horses sent for training as two year olds will run. The same applies to NH horses, owners may send them for training at three, four or five year old, but if they are not ready to race, they may run in a bumper, or they may be send home for the summer, and start again the next year, its not a waste of time as they will know something even if they were just learning to canter in company.

 

[Sukistokes2]

I count my horses ages from the day they were born.....Ffin 28h May, 1998 and Moses 30th April, 2009

 

[Wagtail]

I know it is correct for TBs to have their official birthday on 1st Jan. However, I personally hate this rule. I think it's a load of rubbish. There is a huge difference between a yearling and a two year old and effectively if you apply that rule you can have horses that are very different in development being counted as the same age. I tend to say 'rising 2 etc for horses that have not had their actual birthday yet in a particular year. So my mare is 'rising four' because she is not four until July. To me she's still three.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I am not sure what you mean faracat

Sorry I wasn't clear enough. I had expanded beyond just TB's intended for racing. I have seen several youngsters for sale when I was looking for one that were advertised as 3 and backed, but when the owner was probed, the horse wasn't actually officially three for a few months yet due to the gap between their actual birthday and the traditional date.

 

[Firefly9410]

I don't have TB's in training or horses that will do age classes, so I only use their chronological age. It is the pertinent one with young, growing horses even if it's not traditional. I'm really not a fan of 2 1/2 year olds being called 3 year olds and worked as such. Those few months make such a difference to them physically. I will use the term 'rising' if the horse is nearly at their birthday, but not if it's months away.

This for me too. I would check teeth at viewing but if for arguments sake I did not and was sold a 2 1/2 yr old as a 3yr old, if I found out I would be annoyed, if I did not find out for some reason then poor horse because I break and start light work at 3.

 

[eggs]

I take 1 January as the age for my horses as far as competing goes but also know their actual birthdate - all are either homebred as purchased as foals.

If competing in an age class eg. BYEH 4 year old then it is the year that the horse is born that is relevant (for this year that would be 2011) and not the month.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Maybe the owners of the ads I saw had misunderstood the official age thing, but life would be simpler if they just went by the horse's actual birthday and then people who need to do age classes can also easily work it out from that too.

 

[rowan666]

This for me too. I would check teeth at viewing but if for arguments sake I did not and was sold a 2 1/2 yr old as a 3yr old, if I found out I would be annoyed, if I did not find out for some reason then poor horse because I break and start light work at 3.

this happened to me when i bought my anglo, at the time i was totally unaware of the whole january thing so when i bought my "3yr old" anglo hoping to start the backing process straight away, i was gutted when i went through his passport and realised he was actually only 2.5yrs and all the plans i made had to be put back a year. Turned out for the best having all the extra bonding time first though i always go by actual date of birth, makes so much more sence

 

[Malibu_Stacy]

I don't have TB's in training or horses that will do age classes, so I only use their chronological age. It is the pertinent one with young, growing horses even if it's not traditional. I'm really not a fan of 2 1/2 year olds being called 3 year olds and worked as such. Those few months make such a difference to them physically. I will use the term 'rising' if the horse is nearly at their birthday, but not if it's months away.

I know it is correct for TBs to have their official birthday on 1st Jan. However, I personally hate this rule. I think it's a load of rubbish. There is a huge difference between a yearling and a two year old and effectively if you apply that rule you can have horses that are very different in development being counted as the same age. I tend to say 'rising 2 etc for horses that have not had their actual birthday yet in a particular year. So my mare is 'rising four' because she is not four until July. To me she's still three.

Totally agree with both Wagtail and Faracat on this, especially for younger horses. It's all well and good saying 'its traditional' to use 1st Jan/April but at the end of the day that won't accurately reflect the number of months/years growth and development an individual horse may have had. If a pony was born in October 2012 then in April 2015 its 2 1/2 not 3 even if its 'traditional ' to state the pony is 'in its third year'. Once horse is past about 7/8 years old it irritates me less, as I can see the utility for show classes etc and say for veteran classes you would expect far less disparity between a 16.5 and a 17 year old than the same age gap in under 5s

 

[kassieg]

this happened to me when i bought my anglo, at the time i was totally unaware of the whole january thing so when i bought my "3yr old" anglo hoping to start the backing process straight away, i was gutted when i went through his passport and realised he was actually only 2.5yrs and all the plans i made had to be put back a year. Turned out for the best having all the extra bonding time first though i always go by actual date of birth, makes so much more sence

I take 1 January as the age for my horses as far as competing goes but also know their actual birthdate - all are either homebred as purchased as foals.

If competing in an age class eg. BYEH 4 year old then it is the year that the horse is born that is relevant (for this year that would be 2011) and not the month.

I do for this exact reason, if you went from the actual birthday Lucy could do 5 year olds this year but she very much would not be allowed! This is why i have never done the age classes with her as she has always been a little behind strength wise ! Over the last 6 months she has turned into a different horse! Literally i saw a lady who i was at livery with when she was a 4 year old who asked me who my new horse was

I always keep in mind their birthday & am mindful of it but i always class them from the first Jan