Youngster that had a bad start

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Starwind

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My Youngster had a bad start in life nutritionally and i was wondering if because of this it will have any affect or stunt his growth.... He's NF x ID and now 2 year 8 months, standing at about 14.1 ish but still very narrow chested and seems quite small considering his mum was approx 16hh. Has anyone else had any experience of youngsters that had a poor start and how they turned out? Thanks for your time.
 
i've seen youngsters who had a bad start but who caught up later, sometimes not until they were 4 or 5 years old, but with time they made the size they were expected to.
hope that helps a little, and that your lad fills out nicely for you.
 
I bought a youngster that had a bad start, he looked a lot younger than his age but he did grow up, so i wouldnt worry, i have a youngster now that is nearly 3, he is imature in his body for his age, like yours he has no chest on him.
 
I know of 2 tb horses that were full sisters looked very similar in every way but 1 was 16.1hh the other only 14.2hh - no idea about their early years though.

So long as you feed the correct amounts (don't be tempted to give too much) I'm sure your horse will fill out nicely, many continue to grow until they're 8 or 9 as my boy did! Not necessarily hight wise but bulking out.

Good for you giving this horse a better life :)
 
They usuall catch up but it could take a few years as K said.
The only thing I find that helps is to give them plenty of time just being a horse and allowed to grow at his own speed; don't pump him full of food at all, just very good grazing and forage with plenty of time to mature in his own time.

Any chance of before and after pics please?
 
My mare was starved until she was 18months old. She was rescued with another horse and they were so ill that unfortunately the other horse died. She is a 14.3hh cob and although I don't know the size of her dam and sire she looks fine and has no health problems from it. World Horse Welfare didn't back her until she was 5 years old so I guess she took a bit of time to fully mature.
 
I'll have to find some pics for before and after. He was very poor and had a slight club foot due to living is such poor conditions and suffers from abcess in that foot from time to time. Got a brilliant farrier though and so far we are going through a no shoes stage... Its a slow process but i'm happy to wait, he is such a loving chap but also a holligan at times...lol
 
My mare was v poor when I got her as a two year old. She finished growing height wise aged 5 then had a growth spurt legnthwise just after I thought she'd stopped and bought her new rugs :rolleyes: Luckily it was only an inch and a bit! She's mostly TB with a touch of something else :) Her sire was 16.3 and her dam was 14.3 - she's 15.1 and a little bit so about right really :) She had a skinny little chest too but once she came into work and put some muscle on it looked fine but then she's quite a narrow mare.

ETA: When I got her my vet spoke to the feed advisor (I had everyone out on the same day poor horse lol) and they worked out a plan together. I had to feed her coz theres no way she would have been caught if she's been turned out as she was semi wild. She didn't have much hard feed though, mostly good hay then she was turned out on good grazing once she could be caught. Once everything was sorted (she had lice, worms etc :( ) it was amazing how quickly she picked up :)
 
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We have one rescued filly that was premature on top of not being fed so was very weedy when she came to us and looked pretty much awful all of last winter.

She's now 2.5 and the difference of a year out on good old pasture with fibre / forage only feed when needed through the winter and a well balanced vit & min supplement is amazing.

We fed red bag grass nuts and a mollases free alfalfa / dried grass mix. Oh and we feed her a glucosamine / msm supplement too to give her legs and joints nutritional support.

She'll never make a big height - certainly not what she should have done, but she's rounding out and filling out well. We plan to start her a year after we normally would, so won't do any work of any description - even in-hand, until she's rising four and will be backed rising five if she looks like she's going to be strong enough to have a ridden career.
 
Starwind said:
I'll have to find some pics for before and after. He was very poor and had a slight club foot due to living is such poor conditions and suffers from abcess in that foot from time to time. Got a brilliant farrier though and so far we are going through a no shoes stage... Its a slow process but i'm happy to wait, he is such a loving chap but also a holligan at times...lol
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TBH, unless shoes are needed for correction, the longer they are left without so much the better so they can grow naturally and strengthen up.
 
Twirly said:
We have one rescued filly that was premature on top of not being fed so was very weedy when she came to us and looked pretty much awful all of last winter.

She's now 2.5 and the difference of a year out on good old pasture with fibre / forage only feed when needed through the winter and a well balanced vit & min supplement is amazing.

We fed red bag grass nuts and a mollases free alfalfa / dried grass mix. Oh and we feed her a glucosamine / msm supplement too to give her legs and joints nutritional support.

She'll never make a big height - certainly not what she should have done, but she's rounding out and filling out well. We plan to start her a year after we normally would, so won't do any work of any description - even in-hand, until she's rising four and will be backed rising five if she looks like she's going to be strong enough to have a ridden career.
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Oh good for you for giving her a chance though... Its a slow process but i think will be very rewarding in the end..
 
Many years ago we bought a rising 4 year old TbXWelshD. She had been sold as a yearling by the woman we bought her from, she had bought her back as a rising 3 year old as she discovered that the mare had been grossly underfed and was in a very poor way. The well meaning woman who bought her back had unfortunately tried to get weight on her quickly, and had indeed managed it, it led to the mare having dreadful metabolic problems and intolerances for the rest of her life. This made her dangerous to ride and handle unless very carefully managed, and passing horse feeders did not help! Having said that she lived until she was into her 20's, when she died as a result of a stroke.
Good luck with your horse and I would echo the forage, forage and more forage :)

ETS She continued to grow until she was nearly six years old. Her emotional development never did seem to catch up :)
 
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