Short cannon bones

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buckskinmare22

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Hello everyone, I was looking for some experience to ease my mind. I've of course read a ton of posts about how tall will my horse get, the string tests you can do etc.

I have a 2.5 yr old Belgian warmblood. She is a very slow grower, and has been from the very beginning. And she is of course taking her time to get to 16+ hands (she has been 15.2 for about 5 months now haha) when she was younger she had string tested to 16.1. (parents are 16.1/16.2 and all the heights in her lineage are above 16 hands even two 17 hand ancestors). Anyway I was looking at her hoping she would grow lol, and can see she has short cannons as is. And she still has 3- 4 inches I'm hoping she will go up. I did the string test from her knee to coronet band and it was about 15.2/15.3ish which of course scares me haha since technically her cannon bones are done elongating.

So my question is, is there anyone out there that has a horse with short cannons? And using the string test measure shorter then their height? (Give me hope 🙂). I would also love to see pictures of horses even if not your own, that have short cannons just to see more examples of what this looks like. As I have read on here that short cannons are desirable.

I'll try to add a pic of her, it currently says it is too large.
 
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buckskinmare22

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Here she is back in September. She has actually not grown taller since May 😅.

Sorry for the quality- I ended up having to crop a far away photo of her in order to get the resolution low enough to be accepted as an attachment.
 

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Asha

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Her cannon bones dont look overly short to me, all looks in proportion.

there is still time for her to grow, so just wait and see

The other string test you can do is from the the ergot to the top of the elbow with a string. Then "flip" the string, rotating from the elbow and raising the bottom part of the string up, vertical and taut, aligned with the wither. This is the final horse height.
 
TheMule

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There's just no point stressing! Growth slows down through the winter I've found, but make sure she's on enough quality protein in addition to ad lib forage. Mine is the same age and a lot smaller, but she should still make 15.2, in time
 
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Nari

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I'm not posting photos but my RID had short cannon bones (your mare doesn't look to have to me) and so string tests were wildly inaccurate for him - 6 inches out. Proportionately he had a longer forearm but his height owed a lot to the huge depth of shoulder he had.

As others have said growth slows down over the winter, and by her age it's tending to tie in with the spring and autumn grass flushes. That said my lad didn't stop growing until 8 so you have plenty of time.
 
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buckskinmare22

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Asha said:
Her cannon bones dont look overly short to me, all looks in proportion.

there is still time for her to grow, so just wait and see

The other string test you can do is from the the ergot to the top of the elbow with a string. Then "flip" the string, rotating from the elbow and raising the bottom part of the string up, vertical and taut, aligned with the wither. This is the final horse height.
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True! But that's also my worry though? She is proportionate now but im hoping she will still grow taller by 3-4 more inches. And if the studies on bone elongation are accurate none of that will be knee down. So maybe she will have really long forearms? Kinda why I was hoping to see other horses that have long forearms and short cannons.

I'll give that one a shot :)
 
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buckskinmare22

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AdorableAlice said:
You want short cannon bones, it is good conformation and improves potential soundness through life and competitive performance.
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True! Her dad is Mirabeau which I think she takes after him more than her mom. To me he has short cannons (he is 16.2). What do you think?

Mirabeau (Cremello Warmblood son of Mascarpone)

Blazing Colours Farm; Breeding Rare and Exotic Coloured Warmblood Sporthorses.
www.blazingcoloursfarm.com
 
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buckskinmare22

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Honey08 said:
My ISH has short cannon bones. He made 17h. Didn’t stop growing and filling out until he was 8.
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If you get a chance can you measure his? I'm curious to see what his coronet band to knee will show. If it is 17in or like 16in if he truly has short ones. I would appreciate it :)
 
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buckskinmare22

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Nari said:
I'm not posting photos but my RID had short cannon bones (your mare doesn't look to have to me) and so string tests were wildly inaccurate for him - 6 inches out. Proportionately he had a longer forearm but his height owed a lot to the huge depth of shoulder he had.

As others have said growth slows down over the winter, and by her age it's tending to tie in with the spring and autumn grass flushes. That said my lad didn't stop growing until 8 so you have plenty of time.
Click to expand...

Currently she looks good, but if she is truly going to make 16.1 and her height only increases from the knee up (in terms of bone elongation) at this point my guess is that she would then have short cannons.

Okay! Good to hear of an example where it is completely off.

I responded below, but her build seems to be more like her dad mirabeau- would you consider him having short cannons? Her mom was a bit more leggy and lite boned. She was mare out of Gatsby.

Mirabeau (Cremello Warmblood son of Mascarpone)

Blazing Colours Farm; Breeding Rare and Exotic Coloured Warmblood Sporthorses.
www.blazingcoloursfarm.com
 
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buckskinmare22

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I'm Dun said:
Sorry, I didnt realise if you clicked on the photo you got a whole body shot, I just saw a very brown belly!
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No worries! She is definitely more brown looking in the summer lol. Much more golden in the winter with her winter coat. I'm hoping she goldens up her summer coat a bit more as she grows older.
 
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Marigold4

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buckskinmare22 said:
True! But that's also my worry though? She is proportionate now but im hoping she will still grow taller by 3-4 more inches. And if the studies on bone elongation are accurate none of that will be knee down. So maybe she will have really long forearms? Kinda why I was hoping to see other horses that have long forearms and short cannons.

I'll give that one a shot :)
Click to expand...
My yearling has short cannon bones. She is 14.1 now at 18 months but string tests to only 15hh. I think this is because of her short cannon bones. She may grow bigger, she may not. Someone once said to be the only thing you can be sure of is that she won't get smaller! :D
 
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buckskinmare22

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Marigold4 said:
My yearling has short cannon bones. She is 14.1 now at 18 months but string tests to only 15hh. I think this is because of her short cannon bones. She may grow bigger, she may not. Someone once said to be the only thing you can be sure of is that she won't get smaller! :D
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Haha that is a small consolation 😂

I did remeasure knee to coronet band and got about 16in. Lol I feel like she will be a tank. Kinda wish I can fast forward to when she is 6-8.

I would be interested to see your mare grow! At 18 months my mare was 15 hands. Now a year later she is only just shy of 15.2. not much growth during prime growing time 😬
 
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