Question About Height. . .

[Thunderheart Farm]

Ok. . .so I bought Sampson when he was 2 months old as you all know and he was weaned WAY too early but I couldn't let him go to someone who couldn't care for him like I could. So, from being mal-nurished he is slightly over at the knee but with propper specialty farrier services you can't even tell. OK I'm at the question now. . . :bgrin He will be officially a year old tomarrow and he measured 30 1/2 inches tall with a regular old yard stick and slightly uneven ground.

His sire is 28.50 inches tall and his dam is 36.50 inches tall and according to my calculations ((adding up and then divinding by two)) he should measure 32.50 inches tall is it possible that he will remain smaller around 31 or is 32 still considered small for AMHA breeders? Sammy will remain a stallion and breed since no other horses in his pedigree have had bad legs, etc. and it is because he was malnurished but once again you can hardly tell.

He is registered AMHR for right now but when I get the money I will transfer him to AMHA as well. He is a Minimal Bay Tobiano with an arrow marking on his butt and high leg markings. Pictured below.

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Also. . .I have another yearling who is a gelding and measured 27 1/2 inches tall with a sire 31 inches tall and mare unknown height on papers. How high could he reasonably measure??

ONE MORE QUESTION - Sampson still hasn't dropped yet how long will it take?? Thankies!!

PS- These pictures are from earlier this month when Sampson was shedding his winter coat so about atleast 3 months ago if not more.

: And just so you know he looks WAY different and I will be getting updated pictures ASAP!! I've already had people want to breed to him later on when he drops.

Lots of Love,

Katie of Thunderheart Miniature Horse Farm

 

[Ashley]

One thing that strikes me................you say he is over at the knee that does not come from being malnurished, and no amount of hoof trimming will correct it, maybe hide it but not correct it. If he is over at the knees he should not be used for breeding at all.

 

[Thunderheart Farm]

Whoops I'm so very sorry about saying 'over at the knee'. . .hee hee I was watching a program about it for my 4H horse class. I forget what it is called but it's caused from him being malnurished and caused his legs to be slightly bent and my farrier and vet confirmed with me that it CANNOT be passed on to his foals and his legs are 100% correct now with medical ((special nurtitional needs were taken care of and that solved the problem by giving him what he was lacking in his foal stage diet)) and farrier work ((he wasn't trimmed right at all by 1st farrier and caused further problems)). He was WEANED BY HUMANS at 1 month old and given grain to be sold quickly and when he was born he was born with perfect legs and the vet told us that since he didn't have propper nutrition is why his legs did that. :no:

But it has been confirmed he is breeding sound and that no leg condition will be passed on to foals at all. Otherwise, Ashley, I would not even think to breed him as I am not in it for the money. He has fabulous lines and conformation and temperment as well as coloration to donate to the miniature horse breed and just because he was a little malnurished and a slight temporary problem occurred doesn't mean that he is breeding unsound. As a weanling he has already placed 1st twice and 2nd once in this years show season around my area. And I am quite looking forward to his yearling classes this spring.

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I assure you that I am not going to breed unsound horses :bgrin

Katie

 

[RAPfrosty]

I don't think that you can tell what a horses height will be by averaging their parent's heights, it would be great if that worked though! A lot of people go by canon bone length at or near birth but since you didn't have them when they were younger it's just going to be a waiting game I guess, bummer I know. You can check out a growth chart hat L'il Beginnings has posted in their information pages (http://www.lilbeginnings.com/links/info/misc/) that might help you but sadly there is no definate way of knowing for sure.

 

[Minimor]

Yeah, averaging the height of the parents is no sure thing about how tall the foal will end up. We have one off a 36" mare and a 30.5" stallion, and at age 2 this gelding was 37". As a 3 year old he is about 37.5". His sire "always" threw small foals, until this one came along.

I'm a little surprised that the vet would tell you 100% for sure that this colt won't pass on crooked legs to his foals. Since there are foals born straight legged at birth, but as they grow & develop their legs go "off"--nothing to do with nutrition or trimming, it is solely the horse's conformation, and as the body changes the legs may or may not grow to suit the body, if that makes sense? Likewise a sire and dam that are perfectly straight themselves may produce a foal that has conformational problems with his leg--you don't see the issue in the parents, but the recessive gene is there & with the right combination of genes in the foal, the trait shows up. That's why I am surprised a vet would give you a 100% guarantee, so to speak--I would expect the word "probably" to be used in place of "100% for sure".

The dropped (or not) testicles is an issue, too, for a breeding stallion. Many believe that a colt that drops late should not be used for breeding, because his foals may very well be late dropping too--and his fillies may in turn produce late dropping colts.

I'm still marvelling that your vet considers breeding sound to include the certainty that offspring will be correctly conformed. Awesome.