When is horses growing fast, too fast??

Fools Motto

Fools Motto

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I know you can't stop them growing, but some surely who grow fast suffer joint issues.

I look after a lovely big warmblood, just turned 5. I gave him a bath earlier, and it hit me how big he is! I think I cranked my neck!! I measured him last October time, and he was a slither shy of 17.2. He is now 18h.
He is coming back into work due to have a slight lameness behind, his tendons simply hadn't grown with his legs. Is this a normal thing, to grow that much in that time at his age?
He now has the all clear from the vets to crack on with hacking and start gentle schooling.
 
When I bought my Lipi/Arab as a skinny two year old my vet warned me to restrict his grazing to avoid potential problems associated with fast growth. Like your warmblood he had a growth spurt in his sixth winter and I only realised when I had to buy him a whole new set of rugs to accommodate his newly appeared withers. He only made 15.2 though!
 
my friends warmblood is turning 6 and still occasionally seems to be bum high and grow even more. 2 years ago he was just over my 16'2 mare, now he is at least 17'2-3 and still growing! they are having to take things very slow as still growing into his legs and has had lameness behind when they tried to school him. now being turned away for the summer in big field with herd to continue growing!
 
This is why it really worries me when I hear about people recommending that the owners of youngsters give them hard feed. IMO if they are looking a bit poor, the best feed for them is ad-lib forage + fibre based feed if necessary.
If they are looking good, leave them to it.
 
The ideal condition that a growing youngster should be in is 'healthy, but slightly lean' according to my Vet. I once posted a photo of my gelding with some escaped sheep and was asked if he was a rescue case. The photo was taken very close to him seeing my vet and being properly weight scored and she thought that he was in ideal shape. He's not grown too fast yet (still growing).

I do feed a small bit of chaff with a vit&min supplement in. Apart from that they are fet ad lib forage.
 
The latest research on Wobbler Syndrome in youngsters suggests that a growth spurt can be to blame. They treat the horses my taking them off hard feed and feed low quality hay to slow down growth for a time, thus giving their neurological system time to catch up with the rest of them. The affected horses have restricted turnout and no work, to allow plenty of rest.

I know it's not quite the same scenario as yours OP, but the research suggests that going back to very basic (what we'd now consider 'poor') feeding helps to slow growth down, letting a horse grow at a more natural rate for a while.
 
I am sure diet is important, but it is not a guarantee and the most significant factor in their growth is genetics. They're not tomato plants - feeding them up isn't really going to have the same effect. I have a 4 yo, who has lived from the age of 6 months on the edge of the fells, with nothing more than hay when it snows, and a single scoop of feed each day to mix his minerals in. He still had a huge spurt between 13 and 24 months, and is currently just over 17hh and will still have a little more to go. He has already had one round of injections in his hocks; he may grow out of his problems, he may not. Vet's best guess (following fairly inconclusive x rays) was possible DJD. He is currently sound and in very light work following backing but will do nothing of consequence for at least another year. I believe this is entirely just him though, as a big horse. I would be concerned about restricting intake without being very careful of depriving them of important vitamins and minerals - calcium, magnesium and so on being important for healthy bone, tissue and joint development.
 
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Faracat said:
The ideal condition that a growing youngster should be in is 'healthy, but slightly lean' according to my Vet. I once posted a photo of my gelding with some escaped sheep and was asked if he was a rescue case. The photo was taken very close to him seeing my vet and being properly weight scored and she thought that he was in ideal shape. He's not grown too fast yet (still growing).

I do feed a small bit of chaff with a vit&min supplement in. Apart from that they are fet ad lib forage.
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I once started WW3 on another forum by posing a picture for a conformation critique. All I got was a bashing about how lean he was. I thought, and still think he was spot on. Lean but covered with no hips sticking out nice bum and a typical baby belly, etc. The main bone of contention was that you could just see a rib, umm, yes, you could :lol:
 
Just one rib! Oh boy.

This is the photo of mine, complete with the naughty escapees in the background.

206ba91c-3785-41f0-a3f6-0fc5ade932bc_zps05430502.jpg
 
I agree with not feeding younsters cereal based feeds, both for their growth and also for the development of their neural pathways. Given that horses evolved, in the main, to graze fairly "poor" quality grass, whatever their age, it seems likely to me that those with too much protein and too much sugar are going to be set up for all sorts of problems in the future. I would much rather feed single ingredient minerals, in a grass chaff, than any form of processed feed, whatever it may be. The more basic the diet, the better IMO
 
Hi, I have a horse that growth spurts, he does it no matter what feed he is on and no he doesn't or has he ever had cereal! He is a fibre boy! I have never met a horse more serious about growing, even now at six he still grows quickly and throws himself out, yep it's doing my head in!!! He goes in cycles, first his tendons in his rear legs get tighter and tighter, than its like he has string halt. At time point all the tendons and ligaments unhitch and he goes loose and wobbly and whoosh up he goes. He then slowly comes back together and we have several weeks of good solid work time and then off we go again. Of course now it's no where near as dramatic as it used to be, however he still goes through the tight tendon stage and it does affecting ability to work. When he is really bad we stop and allow him to catch up with himself. The vet is pretty sure he will be ok in the end but has stressed I need to be patient with him.
 
Can I just please ask all of you with youngsters, that when they are having a growth spurt or they go bum or wither high that you stop work of any sort immediately to avoid structure problems in later life and turn away completely for a few weeks until it's resolved. TBTH, if you haven't the patience to wait a few years while they sort out their bodies, then you really shouldn't have bought a youngster if you want it to have a long and sound life (barring accidents of course) There's plenty of time for work later but growing animals, particularly horses that have to carry a rider, they really do need to be able to relax and put all their energies into growing at their own pace. Your patience will reap the rewards later in life especially when you see others that have continued working them regardless having soundness problems because of their indecent haste to not waste time.
 
Looking at this thread, is this yearling carrying too much condition? I went to a horse show overseas and was shocked by the condition of the yearlings.

IMG_0776_zpsedb54f0b.jpg
 
Maesfen said:
Can I just please ask all of you with youngsters, that when they are having a growth spurt or they go bum or wither high that you stop work of any sort immediately to avoid structure problems in later life and turn away completely for a few weeks until it's resolved. TBTH, if you haven't the patience to wait a few years while they sort out their bodies, then you really shouldn't have bought a youngster if you want it to have a long and sound life (barring accidents of course) There's plenty of time for work later but growing animals, particularly horses that have to carry a rider, they really do need to be able to relax and put all their energies into growing at their own pace. Your patience will reap the rewards later in life especially when you see others that have continued working them regardless having soundness problems because of their indecent haste to not waste time.
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Absolutely agree with this, my 5 year old will be re-beginning work this summer, having been bought as a just broken 3 year old, she was a bit of a weed and has grown to taller than expected. She moves beautifully and 'works' well in-hand. She was not physically or mentally ready for work and as I intend to keep her and have no need to make a profit on her, she will take all the time she needs, to be at her optimum when she is re-backed.
 
R - It looks like she's better covered over the ribs than my boy, but less covered over the shoulders and neck. Photos can be terribly deceptive (I have some taken on the same day as shown above where you can't see his ribs at all due to the way that the light was falling on him), so getting your hands on the horse and weight scoring them in three sections works best. I was taught to then take an average score from the three results. My chap always went a tad ribby after a growth spurt, but always remained about a 3 - 3.5 (out of 5) on his front end and hindquarters, so his average score was good, but never into the overweight end or underweight end.

ETA. My chap is going to be backed later this year (he's now five) as he wasn't ready before. Only this spring has he begun to look like an adult horse and it's the length in his spine that has really altered recently. I'm sure that his neck is looking longer again now.
 
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Faracat said:
It looks like she's better covered over the ribs than my boy, but less covered over the shoulders and neck. Photos can be terribly deceptive (I have some taken on the same day as shown above where you can't see his ribs at all due to the way that the light was falling on him), so getting your hands on the horse and weight scoring them in three sections works best. I was taught to then take an average score from the three results. My chap always went a tad ribby after a growth spurt, but always remained about a 3 - 3.5 (out of 5) on his front end and hindquarters, so his average score was good, but never into the overweight end or underweight end.
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That describes my 4 yr old cob, perfectly Faracat. Just yesterday, I looked at what could almost be called fat pads on her shoulders but her ribs are visible. Her back end is just about average.
 
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