Body scoring a weanling/yearling

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Is there some magic trick to body scoring a hairy weanling/yearling? He looks like a cut and shut and everytime I look at him looks different! He's round over his bum and middle but scrawny through neck I hope he's just growing!. I can feel his ribs but not see them (only feel when I push against them if that makes sense?. I know he's somewhere in the middle maybe 2.5? I'm going to buy a weight tape tomorrow but no idea what he should weigh he's about 12.2hh to make 13/13.2hh light build tb x. I'm one of those people who like to worry! Would post pictures but firstly photobucket hates me and secondly all you can really tell from a photo is he's hairy and not very photogenic! Anyone in north Wales want to squeeze my pony and put my mind at rest? Will supply cake : )
 
I know the feeling - I think my little weanling is too skinny for my liking but vet/experienced friends all say he's a good weight for a baby at the time of year - can feel but not see ribs (although I think that may slightly be all the fuzz).

They seem to delight in looking absolutly awful at this stage of growing!!
 
Thanks for replying sounds like your in the same boat! I prefer them a bit more on the side of lean but he gets fed plenty, is wormed etc and runs like a lunatic round the field so can't be too much wrong with him! I just like to worry! Had you got any winter wooly pics of yours?
 
He sounds quite charming if his coat is shiny his eyes are bright and he has a good covering with no bones sticking out he is probably ok
I like my youngsters on a high protein high oil diet and plenty of quality forage and no sugar or cereal at all
So grass nuts, linseed, alfa oil and speedibeet and ad lib hay
Not a tb type but baby at 6 months old and just weaned
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A lighter breed and a little older 10 month old connnemara
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This was my youngster as a weanling going through her first winter, roughly Jan 13. Shes a IDxTB x WB. shes not hairy at all. She was rugged though, purely because it was a bad winter last year and she was cold. I think she looked ok. However we have 1 this year that its ridiculously hairy, he looks like an Exmoor pony. Ive tried taking photos of him, but hes not photogenic either.

If you are still worried have a look at the pro stud yards and see how they keep their youngstock as a comparison

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I think if I look at the pro yards it will just depress me! Yours looks all shiny and lovely! Mine is rugged but takes it off intermittently and didn't arrive til late October so too little too late really he's got a bit of welsh in him so has a coat like a yak!
 
Yes it does, he is very sweet! I can't be sure (would be nice to have a side on view and a rear view) but from that angle it could be that he needs a little bit more, his bum looks a little bit lean, but only a bit. Of course, as you say he is wet it could be that in that pic he is just a bit cold and therefore tucked up which would make him look a bit skinnier than he is. I don't like my horses to carry too much weight as youngsters andd prefer them to be slightly leaner than anything, but would probably up his score a tiny bit if the picture is a true reflection of how he looks. As wind and rain says, high fibre and high oil diet, all I would add to that is a vit and mineral supplement. No mixes or predesigned feed, I don't rate them at all.
 
Queenbee said:
Yes it does, he is very sweet! I can't be sure (would be nice to have a side on view and a rear view) but from that angle it could be that he needs a little bit more, his bum looks a little bit lean, but only a bit. Of course, as you say he is wet it could be that in that pic he is just a bit cold and therefore tucked up which would make him look a bit skinnier than he is. I don't like my horses to carry too much weight as youngsters andd prefer them to be slightly leaner than anything, but would probably up his score a tiny bit if the picture is a true reflection of how he looks. As wind and rain says, high fibre and high oil diet, all I would add to that is a vit and mineral supplement. No mixes or predesigned feed, I don't rate them at all.
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^this
 
Thanks guys he's been on the baileys stud balancer but I may revise this (slowly) to the diet you guys have recommended. He has adlib hay but they don't eat much of it as we still have grass (it's excellent hay) I've been bringing them in to dry off for a few hours each day so will try to stuff more hay into him! He's had a big growth spurt too which prob hasn't helped. Il give new diet a go and do pics again in the month. I'm now more worried! But thanks guys for your honesty!
 
widget said:
I think if I look at the pro yards it will just depress me! Yours looks all shiny and lovely! Mine is rugged but takes it off intermittently and didn't arrive til late October so too little too late really he's got a bit of welsh in him so has a coat like a yak!
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Ha ha yak coats, he sounds just like Ben! His coat was simply awful in the first year! And it matted in chunks come the spring, he got so hot with it and it took ages to moult out! Poor wee man, he looked a complete and utter urchin, I was cutting matts out and grooming him with a shedding blade for all I was worth, my arms must have looked like they belonged to popeye by the end of spring!

P.s. If you don't already have one, can strongly reccomend a shedding blade.
 
Yes I would definitely up his feed and try t get a little more on him it is hard just now as he will likely have a huge growth spurt which will make him look even leaner the connie filly photo was taken in February of her yearling year she was born in April the highland filly it was a December photo when she had been weaned about a month. Neither wore a rug until they were backed the Connie has a very short dense coat and doesnt have a fluffy hair on her the highland is permanently like a yak in winter although this year she has been clipped as she was sweating just walking about the lanes with her rider
Your boy is an amazing colour and very cute
 
Don't be worried! He doesn't by any means look unloved or underfed, infact I was going to comment that he looked like he was on the tail end of a growth spurt which would explain it all, it's just a case of being vigilant to these spurts and reacting to them. As supplements go, I like equimins tip top, feed wise, I'd agree with linseed meal, grass nuts and Alfa oil... I'd probably just soak this so the nuts go to a mush and not bother with beet unless needed, but that's just me, there is no reason not to feed beet if you want, but to me it's just an extra thing that's probably not needed. If there is plenty of grass in the field, don't over worry, his body won't need so much as he's at the end of this spurt, so just focus on the correct type of calories in his feed and I'm sure it will balance out. They always look awful at the end of a growth spurt, I used to hang my head in shame at how Ben looked and now he is such a handsome boy, yours will be too.

There is a rule, they say look at them at two days old, two weeks old, and two years old.... Don't bother looking at them in between because they are fugly :D
 
Thanks guys much appreciated all your guidance : ) his bum is literally three inches taller than the rest of him. He really is going through a fugly stage but I love him to bits his temperament is fantastic and I'm sure he will turn out well. I haven't fed properly for years I'm just used to starving my other two fat bloaters- one cob, one Shetland! Thought I couldn't go wrong with a balancer!
 
The balancer isnt wrong it just needs something to balance and growing babies need a very high protein and calcium diet to help their bones and muscles grow hence using afalfa and linseed the oil just makes sure they can keep up with a big calorie need too a bit like any baby they need the building blocks to grow properly in general weaned horses dont do well on milk so the next best thing to mothers milk is alfalfa and linseed
Someone on another thread said you wouldnt feed your child exclusively on mars bars and coke if you did you would get a fat not too healthy child Horses are the same all the sugary feeds will make them fat but not in the correct way
 
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Widget, I cant see your photos well enough to comment, If you are worried get a pro's advice. Correct feeding as youngsters is so important, more so in over feeding. Pictures on the internet can be so misleading. Why not give baileys feeds a call. They give advice at the BEF as to body scoring, and correct feeding for youngsters, so they would be my first port of call before making any changes.
 
I spoke to them at yhl and that's why I put him on their balancer they said he really wouldn't need anything else but that and hay. My (fat!) cob is from Whw so I may ask the field officer to have a look at doodle and see what he thinks/advises. I don't want to stuff him too much with hard feed as we have such good grazing I know come April we will have too much grass again! But he just looked a bit gawky after his growth spurt. Such a minefield trying to feed them so they grow right but not too much so they have other issues!
 
Just a note of caution when talking to feed companies they have a target to meet and may not be totally unbiased besides although on a forum you cant get hands on to feel whats going on you do get hundreds if not thousands of years of experience which even on here is in my mind far superior to a phone call to a 20 year old so called nutritionist who also cant feel the horse in front to give accurate advice.
 
Hi he has about 3/4 of a round Stubbs scoop which is just under a kg of feed according to baileys ladies instructions! He's fed o an adult weight of 300-400 kg. I'm going to ring them today for advice too. I didn't really expect someone to solve my feeding issues on a forum but it was nice to get down extra pairs of eyes and opinions. I was just sharing what a worry it was really- amazing when people fling them in fields and forget about them and they turn out ok- I fetch mine in/check him twice a day and I'm always convinced he's too fat/thin or lame or quiet or hyper or growing funny!
 
windand rain said:
Just a note of caution when talking to feed companies they have a target to meet and may not be totally unbiased besides although on a forum you cant get hands on to feel whats going on you do get hundreds if not thousands of years of experience which even on here is in my mind far superior to a phone call to a 20 year old so called nutritionist who also cant feel the horse in front to give accurate advice.
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I don't think anyone would be body scoring a youngster over the phone. Baileys will come out to you. In terms of targets to meet I get your point. However, when Baileys came out to mine ( she was far from 20 ) she asked what feeds I was using, and agreed that even though some of the feeds where not by Baileys that I carry on as is.
 
I like to see a rib on anything growing from 6mos - rising 3 year olds. Not scrawny, with plenty of cover over hips, neck and spine, but nothing more than that. They should be putting their energy into growing, not fat. There is far more damage to be done by having young horses too fat than too thin (within reason, of course). OCD, epythisitis (sp) and a plethora of joint problems are caused by overfeeding youngsters. They should not be fat.

And your colt looks absolutely fine.
 
Thanks Cortez it's a fine balance I know and I don't like fat anything Cats/dogs or horses! Baileys lady suggested adding stud cubes to their balancer but I'm thinking I might add some Alfa a instead to bulk it up a bit.
 
None of mine will touch alfalfa thank goodness but I can totally recommend D & H Suregrow for growing youngsters as it gives them everything they need without the calories so I don't feel mean giving them that alone alongside ad lib forage. It helps with steady growth, not spurts although you will still get the bum high/low camel impressions from time to time as that's perfectly normal for most youngsters. I've used it now for six years and wouldn't use anything else, you can also use it as an all round balancer for older horses too - and it's a fraction of the price of other balancers with virtually the same sort of spec'.
 
widget said:
Thanks Cortez it's a fine balance I know and I don't like fat anything Cats/dogs or horses! Baileys lady suggested adding stud cubes to their balancer but I'm thinking I might add some Alfa a instead to bulk it up a bit.
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With the greatest respect I think you are looking in the bucket and thinking that's not enough or that does not look 'nice'.

The weanling's tum doesn't need bucket feeds bulking up, he only needs the vit/mins. The bulk/fibre aspect should be met by adlib top quality haylage at this time of year. Remember they are trickle feeders and their tum's are tiny in comparison to their size. If you use stud mix and feed it to the level the manufacturer suggests you would need to feed 4 times a day to get the quantity in. I use Suregrow and like the stuff a lot, yes it does look like a handful of chicken feed in the bottom of the bucket, but it is a dense feed that does the job without giving spikes in growth, temperament issues and is value for money.

Here is what it did for my weanling. There is 12 months between the pictures. The horse had adlib forage and grazing. I promise that is the same horse !

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To be honest I've been quite happy giving him just balancer but comments said he was a bit light so Alfa a oil would add some protein. He has adlib hay but isn't hungry and only eats a slice per day ish as we still have grass
 
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