Little Training Question

[Epona Stable Belgium]

Hi everybody,

I have some questions for you all...

I have my little yearling stallion and I have the chance that he is running al day and don't get fat!

Butttt... he has a verry small chest

How do you train that?

Hope that some of you can help me

 

[Jill]

You can somewhat improve the look of a chest but in the picture, it looks like your horse is built with his front legs set very close together. This is true of many minis.

I've had some of mine that have matured to have broader chests than I had thought they might, but this was looking at them as yealings and then seeing them grow to have a broader chest. I do think once they are 2yo, and especially 3yo, what you see is basically what the horse will be going forward.

For conditioning, I just lunge my show horses. For a yearling, I would round pen lunge every other day for 15 minutes (work up to that time) at a trot (like 7.5 minutes in each direction to evenly work the hind legs).

Your guy looks SO sweet!!! I love that pretty head on him, and his beautiful color

 

[Epona Stable Belgium]

I really hope that it will change later

but what if it stays like that?

I think I will have to go jogging with him in the weekends

 

[Warpony]

I work over ground poles to build up the chest, and also do hills (which also builds up the back end, so two birds with one stone). Basically anything that gets them really lifting those front legs and using those chest muscles. I also work in water, shallow sand or loose mud when I can.... but NOT sticky mud or deep sand because that can be REALLY hard on their legs. I like to trot them over poles or up hills but do a brisk walk in the water/sand/mud. I find the brisk walk gets results faster than the trot. BUT I'm not fitting for show so I am not sure how appropriate this would be for your horse.

That said, I wouldn't worry about it at his age. A lot of horses are pretty narrow through the chest at this age, some stay that way and some don't, but I wouldn't be working him hard to build it up until he gets another year or so on him. I'd just make sure he had plenty of turn out time, maybe take him for walks several days a week and keep him a good condition overall, and work on that chest after he is 2 or so.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

My 15 year old Arab had a thin chest when we bought him and at that age you would have thought he'd stay that way. My mom told me not to worry about it though and pointed out that he was thin and undermuscled all over and said he just needed steady correct work. She was right, he filled out nicely in time. Some horses are born with nice defined chests, lots of muscle, etc. Others aren't but can become nicely muscled with the right handling. Spyder never rivaled his buddy Bo for chest width but he developed a nice square stance and his forelegs literally moved further apart with conditioning. Unlike the hips the shoulders are not physically tied to the bone structure of the horse except by ligaments and tendons so their distance is not set.

My mini Kody was another thin weedy one when I got him at four years old but by six with steady driving he filled out enormously and developed an actual chest instead of a hollow space between his forelegs. Those are muscles down there and you can build them. The best thing for that is driving as with each stride the muscles of the shoulder and chest have to pull that shoulderblade forward against the weight of the cart but you can't do that until he's more than a bit older. For now I'd say work in the kind of footing Warpony described, turn him loose with buddies, and have fun with him! He's a baby, he's supposed to look thin and gangly just like young teenage boys.

Leia

 

[HGFarm]

You can't do anything to change what his real conformation will be, but excercise is a key to building healthy bones, muscles and lungs. However, if he is going to be narrow chested, he is. Did he look like this as a weanling too?

I find that yearlings of any horse breed seem to go through some god-awful growing stages where they are gangly, appear big headed with U necks, no rears- just the 'uglies'!! (Hide them in the closet til they are two) If they were well balanced as a weanling, they usually come back into themselves at about two.

If as a coming three year old, he is not turning into what you wanted, then geld him and try another, if you think he is not breeding quality. Give him a chance though to grow and develope- just be careful not to over work him on his young legs at this point.

 

[Epona Stable Belgium]

Thank you all for the explanation! I know that I can't change his build... I hope that with the few months it will go better and I will do some exercise with him but just to play a little bit!

He don't like to follow me for the moment... hard to get him trot

but it's his first week at my place... He is verry stressy and don't eat a lot... Even when I line him up he don't take my peace of carrot

He just want one thing that's to be with my big stallion but he hates him for the moment... hard to see that little thing running next to the big one who don't like him... I hope it will get better!