Does better nutrition make taller horses? Discuss.

[MrsElle]

Last night someone asked me how big Blue was. He was 13.2 (supposedly) when I got him in July and even I can see he has grown heaps since then but estimated he was around the 14h mark.

He is a Fell who in the breed standard are meant to be a maximum of 14hh. He is going to be over that with a year or two of growing still to do.

As with humans, who due to better nutrition etc are getting taller could/would the same be true of other species?

If so that would surely throw out the breed standards in years to come and they would have to be adjusted accordingly.

We used to breed Weimaraners. Dad is bang on the maximum for the breed standard, mum in the middle of maximum and minimum. All male pups have reached adulthood above the breed standard.

What do you think?

 

[Flibble]

Oh God no I hope not I can only just cope with 17hh

 

[Guinness]

I don't think so. Horses with poor nutrition will have stunted growth, horses with good nutrition will not-but that doesn't mean they will grow taller, they are still ultimately limited by their genetic potential. It just means that if they are fed well, they are given the oppotunity to reach that potential, whereas horses that are not fed well are not. Of course, there are horses that are fed too well and grow too fast as well...but I wouldn't feed a horse up because I want it taller. I might be completely wrong, but that's my opinion

 

[Maesfen]

Short answer - yes! For the reasons you stated - at least with dogs and I suppose with all the overheight ponies that are still ponies in their make up and characteristics but size means they're now horses. I don't think it's any co incidence that classes have been amended or added because it's not just a few now, it's far more common than before. I'm not saying horses/ponies are any healthier than before but you don't see so many truly lean ones.

Gigglepig wrote it far better and I agree with it all.

 

[Sarah Sum1]

I agree with GigglePig.

 

[Guinness]

[ QUOTE ]
Short answer - yes! For the reasons you stated - at least with dogs and I suppose with all the overheight ponies that are still ponies in their make up and characteristics but size means they're now horses. I don't think it's any co incidence that classes have been amended or added because it's not just a few now, it's far more common than before. I'm not saying horses/ponies are any healthier than before but you don't see so many truly lean ones.

Gigglepig wrote it far better and I agree with it all.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think selective breeding probably has a lot to do with it as well

 

[Natch]

What Gigglepig said.

Particularly with reference to feeding too much at a young age: horse grows tall and people think they will have a horse who matures well, when in fact IMO this is just set up for future problems.

 

[Rudey]

I knew of a welsh breeder that used a full welsh 15 hh mare to her full welsh 15.3 stallion. Over the years the combination had many foals together. When they were fillies the breeder kept them. They would usually make between 14 - 14.2 at full height. One year the same mare and stallion had a colt and they sold him to someone local at 6 months old. This chappy is now over 16hh!!! I do know the breeders hay and grazing wasn't the best, so I don't know if this had anything to do with the vast height difference in their off spring. But also, the girl who owns the now gelding, was fed really decent youngster feed whereas the breeder didn't bother. Perhaps this is an example of what the OP refers to??

xx

 

[The_snoopster]

My new forrest is 14.1hh now at 3 years old so should go 14.2hh when he is finished his growing, both his sire and dam are 13.2hh.
He as had the best feed and hay the feed being suitable for a growing native, i was told that if he had stayed on the forest to mature he would proberly have finished at the 13.2hh mark due to just having to forage on what nature provided.
Whether this is true i will never know but as a foal you would never of guessed he would make the height of what he is now, but i do think you reap what you sow.

 

[dunthing]

My registered highland should be a maximum of 14.2 but measures 15.1 at 17 years old. His sire is only 14.1 and dam was 14.3. I do know that some highlands have "throwback" genes and that percherons were introduced into Scotland many years ago. My previous highland was 14.2 but had all the characteristic movements of an arab, due to Queen Victoria introducing arab blood. My present one was fed on Alfa A as a two, three and four year old and I've often wondered if it was the protein that made him larger.

 

[joy]

I had an Exmoor off the moor and he was huge by Exmoor standards 13 hands and only grass fed.

 

[Kallibear]

I hope so! I have a cob who I want to grow to his full potential height!

I agree with gigglepig - it's not going to make a should-be 13hh pony grow to 15hh but it should allow them to reach their full genetic potential.

I suspect that smaller parents throwing much bigger offspring is to do with the parents not having reached their full potetial height (possibly through nutrition) but their offspring does.

Over feeding youngsters will just make them fat and give them joint problems, but making sure they have everything they need for growth, right up until fully grown, should allow them to reach their potential. I'm having this quandry with my youngster at present, who's on straw and I'm not conviced about it helping his growing!

 

[SO1]

I think with natives there is a trend for bigger is better - so everyone is trying to breed up to height ponies - hence you get huge connies now. I think it is due to selective breeding.

I have a 13.3 NF and he has grown since I had him at 5 but he has not grown taller but he has grown longer and filled out. NF used to be considered a small breed with a height max with a recommended max height for broodmare of 13h so things do change.

I am not sure if feeding more food would make a horse taller instead of just fatter or perhaps they may just reach their optimum height earlier.

I do think there are issues with feeding too much to youngstock as I think if they do grown too fast then they may end up with problems. They are probably better off growing at the rate nature intended.