How much did your horse grow after 3?

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K95

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Bringing back a growth rate thread! I’ve had a read of some previous threads but none are recent so thought I’d start a brand new one.

Ever since I’ve had my 3yo on a proper food (his previous home was living in a muddy field with a haynet twice a day) I swear he’s bigger already in just 3 weeks ?.

So how much did yours grow after 3years?

This is mine currently - his front end definitely needs to catch up :)

(He’s currently an okay height for me to ride so I don’t mind how big he gets - just something I’m wondering about, I would love a bit bigger haha)
 

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Current 3:

Dabs I bought at 3.5yrs when he was15.3hh. He grew another hand by the time he was 5 and carried on filling out until he was 8.

Arty i bought at 2.5yrs when she was 14.1hh. By 5yrs she was 16hh, and she's now rising 6.

Pebbles I bought at 2.5yrs and she was 14.1hh and she was bum high. She's now rising 5 and might possibly be 14.2hh and I have accepted that she probably always be a little crop high.

So a bit of a variety, but all ended up in the region of where you would expect them to be given the height of their parents.
 
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DabDab said:
Current 3:

Dabs I bought at 3.5yrs when he was15.3hh. He grew another hand by the time he was 5 and carried on filling out until he was 8.

Arty i bought at 2.5yrs when she was 14.1hh. By 5yrs she was 16hh, and she's now rising 6.

Pebbles I bought at 2.5yrs and she was 14.1hh and she was bum high. She's now rising 5 and might possibly be 14.2hh and I have accepted that she probably always be a little crop high.

So a bit of a variety, but all ended up in the region of where you would expect them to be given the height of their parents.
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Wow 14.1 to 16hh haha were you expecting that?! He’s the height of his mum currently but I don’t know what his dad was! So I can’t even guesstimate! Thanks ☺️
 
DabDab said:
Current 3:

Dabs I bought at 3.5yrs when he was15.3hh. He grew another hand by the time he was 5 and carried on filling out until he was 8.

Arty i bought at 2.5yrs when she was 14.1hh. By 5yrs she was 16hh, and she's now rising 6.

Pebbles I bought at 2.5yrs and she was 14.1hh and she was bum high. She's now rising 5 and might possibly be 14.2hh and I have accepted that she probably always be a little crop high.

So a bit of a variety, but all ended up in the region of where you would expect them to be given the height of their parents.
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Noooo, I don’t want to hear that, my youngster is coming up to 3 , he’s meant to be 15-15.1 ( judging by his parents) he’s now 15.3 , I’m only barely 5foot .2 and getting on for 60 .?.
 
I got the wrong box with my mares, one was supposed to be 14.2 with a life cert, and the other to go no bigger than 15.2 - ha ha ha, the first was 16hh and the second I have never accurately measured her as i don't really want to find out just how big she is, just to say i am 5'4" and cant see over her withers lol
 
One of my homebreds was 14hh at 3 and never grew any more. Dad was 16hhs too. Another from the same mare and by a 15.3hh sire was abut 15.2hh at 3 when I sold him and made over 16hhs.
 
At least 3 inches between 3 and 5 and from the ,length of his legs, not finished yet.

.
 
13.1 1/2 at 2 1/2, 13.2 1/2 at 3 , and now at 5 has not grown for 6 months and is 14.0

However, bought a real scrawny 2yo Fell who was just under 13 hands and he stayed under 13 hands , jus grew wider :D
 
Skylla was 15hh at 2.5 and I lasted measured her at 5 at 15.3hh, I have declined to measure her since, I wanted 15.2hh ??!
 
Hi there, it is nice to hear that some of yours still grew quite a bit after three. Can I ask for some opinions for this one? My gelding is 1 year 10 months and still at about 14.2 and didn't grow much since autumn. He is supposed to be 16hh but at the moment he is just very bum high and not growing at all. I'm hoping to move him to some grazing soon as his field is a muddy mess but do you think he'll even out and make 16 hh still?
Thanks a lot in advance! :)
 
The ones I wanted to stop growing continued to grow ... often a hand between 3/4 and 6/7
The one I’ve got at the moment who I would love to put on a hand, I have a sneaky suspicion might only sneak an extra inch.
It’s called Sod’s law
 
ooh Interesting!
My lad is 3 in May and probably about 14.2. Was hoping he might be 15h by 5yrs (he is a Connie) he is expanding width ways tho. He is an absolute unit ?
My other horse I got at a weedy 4yrs old and he went from about 14.3 to 15.1 by the age of 7
 
carrie07 said:
Hi there, it is nice to hear that some of yours still grew quite a bit after three. Can I ask for some opinions for this one? My gelding is 1 year 10 months and still at about 14.2 and didn't grow much since autumn. He is supposed to be 16hh but at the moment he is just very bum high and not growing at all. I'm hoping to move him to some grazing soon as his field is a muddy mess but do you think he'll even out and make 16 hh still?
Thanks a lot in advance! :)
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You've still got chance, he'll likely shoot up when he gets the grass in him
 
Also, do we believe that a horse will always reach their genetic potential given they do receive adequate diet at some point through their growing years. Or would starting in life with a bad food Supply stunt them from reaching what they potentially could have?
 
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A lot!!
He’s a warmblood though so I knew he’d likely to continue to grow/fill out until around 8 and he didn’t disappoint.
I was happy with his height at about 4/5 but he just kept growing and growing and growing ?
 
Interesting thread. I have a nine and a half month old gelding who is 14.2hh at the bum and a little shorter at the moment at the front. I'd rather he didn't grow any bigger than 16.1hh (the height of both his parents) but I guess we have no control over nature!
 
ameeyal said:
Noooo, I don’t want to hear that, my youngster is coming up to 3 , he’s meant to be 15-15.1 ( judging by his parents) he’s now 15.3 , I’m only barely 5foot .2 and getting on for 60 .?.
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Do not panic I am over 70 and 5'3" and my last ever, ever horse tips up somewhere around a very big built 17.1 ish (possibly more :oops: ) - I feel safer on him than I ever did on many previously owned very much smaller beasties. Big is very much beautiful I think.

OP - I had a Suffolk Punch cross that came to me as a scrawny 14.2 as a 4 year old and ended up around a hefty 16.2 at 6/7 years :)
 
Mrs Jingle said:
Do not panic I am over 70 and 5'3" and my last ever, ever horse tips up somewhere around a very big built 17.1 ish (possibly more :oops: ) - I feel safer on him than I ever did on many previously owned very much smaller beasties. Big is very much beautiful I think.

OP - I had a Suffolk Punch cross that came to me as a scrawny 14.2 as a 4 year old and ended up around a hefty 16.2 at 6/7 years :)
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People think mine has a draught breed in him.. look at his head! But with a mum around 13.3/14hh I’m not sure she’d take that? Who knows ?
 

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K95 said:
People think mine has a draught breed in him.. look at his head! But with a mum around 13.3/14hh I’m not sure she’d take that? Who knows ?
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Oh my! Just stunning -= any chance of some Comtois in there somewhere? either way whatever the final height I would gamble that gorgeous beast would take you and me with no problem lol!
 
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Mrs Jingle said:
Oh my! Just stunning -= any chance of some Comtois in there somewhere? either way whatever the final height I would gamble that gorgeous beast would take you and me with no problem lol!
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Possibly! His mum is welsh, not sure if full or a X. No idea what the dad was but by the sounds of it it was an accidental pregnancy, so I think there was fence hopping involved ? He’s from a rescue centre so I don’t have the contact details for his original owner :(
 
K95 said:
Also, do we believe that a horse will always reach their genetic potential given they do receive adequate diet at some point through their growing years. Or would starting in life with a bad food Supply stunt them from reaching what they potentially could have?
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Mine had a bad start. I bought him as a 14.1hh 2yr old...what arrived was a 13hh bag of bones.

I've not measured him but he's approximately 15/15.1hh now. I can't remember off the top of my head but I think his dam was 14.2hh (and bred from a lot with no break if the information that I was told is correct) and the sire was 14.3/15hh.

So my boy exceeded expectations even more so considering he was malnourished (seen by a vet immediately upon arrival, not just my opinion) at 2yrs old and his mother was very unlikely to have been receiving additional feed as the pictures that I was subsequently sent of other dams at that stud show them to be very underweight.

From age 2 to 7 he grew from 13hh to 15/15.1hh and has put on approx 250kg (weight tape so not accurate)

I don't know as fact but I did read up about the question that you've asked and I believe that there was a "window" for good care, after bad, so that the horse still met expectations. I think they needed good nutrition initially so if the mare was a good mother the foal had more chance. I have no idea what I googled to find the papers and articles that I read.

Chip when he arrived June 2014
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This was him 6mths later, Dec 2014, wintering out with forage, feed and rugs (i.e. basic care!!)

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TPO said:
Mine had a bad start. I bought him as a 14.1hh 2yr old...what arrived was a 13hh bag of bones.

I've not measured him but he's approximately 15/15.1hh now. I can't remember off the top of my head but I think his dam was 14.2hh (and bred from a lot with no break if the information that I was told is correct) and the sire was 14.3/15hh.

So my boy exceeded expectations even more so considering he was malnourished (seen by a vet immediately upon arrival, not just my opinion) at 2yrs old and his mother was very unlikely to have been receiving additional feed as the pictures that I was subsequently sent of other dams at that stud show them to be very underweight.

From age 2 to 7 he grew from 13hh to 15/15.1hh and has put on approx 250kg (weight tape so not accurate)

I don't know as fact but I did read up about the question that you've asked and I believe that there was a "window" for good care, after bad, so that the horse still met expectations. I think they needed good nutrition initially so if the mare was a good mother the foal had more chance. I have no idea what I googled to find the papers and articles that I read.

Chip when he arrived June 2014
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This was him 6mths later, Dec 2014, wintering out with forage, feed and rugs (i.e. basic care!!)

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oh my!! What a difference! You’ve done a cracking job :) that’s interesting to know thank you
 
mine was 13.3 ish at 15 months, 15.1 at 3 years 16 hands at 6 and that is what she stayed..

mum was 15,1 and dad was 16 hands and she was a first foal so i was expecting about 15,2
 
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K95 said:
Possibly! His mum is welsh, not sure if full or a X. No idea what the dad was but by the sounds of it it was an accidental pregnancy, so I think there was fence hopping involved ? He’s from a rescue centre so I don’t have the contact details for his original owner :(
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I reckon he probably has similar breeding to my rising three year old: Welsh crossed with some sort of heavy cob. People always think she has draft breeding too - I've lost count of the times she's been mistaken for a Clydesdale or Clyde cross, although I think her colour is what throws a lot of people.

Back on topic, I had a six-year-old gelding who grew a full hand in his first year with me, and my mare (who I got aged four) is now a smidgeon under 15hh, so has probably grown around two inches since I got her. She's now rising eight.
 
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Bought my gelding as a 5yo and he was 16hh then (measured by a vet). By 8, he was 16.3hh... Luckily, he stopped then. :D
 
carrie07 said:
Here is a photo of him, do you think he's got enough bone to still grow a lot?View attachment 43498
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Have you tried the string test on him? What does that come back with? Measure elbow to ergot. then take the string upwards from the elbow to give the approx adult height. From your pic he does look like he has plenty of growing left in him :)
 
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