Youngest age adult height was reached?

[walkermini]

I found a colt I really like, the drawback is that he is 29.50" at eight months old

...looking at the height chart, he will be about 34" when full grown. Anyone have a foal that grew fast, and stopped as a yearling or two year old? This colts parents are 30.50 and 33.50. No full siblings to compare to, and sire is younger so dont have heights for his other foals yet. Im grasping at straws here, as this is the big drawback on him, I like everything else. Just hoping to hear theres a chance he might get about 32"ish....

 

[Littleum]

Youngest one I knew was 2 1/2.

29 1/2" at 8 months old is pretty tall. Staying within size isn't outside the realm of possibility but if you're hoping for 32 1/2"....

I know of some who have had a last minute growth spurt at 4. /shrug

 

[Carolyn R]

IMO 29.5 at 8 months isn't that big. What size was he at birth? There are so many variables that go into the equation, I wouldn't sweet it, you could always ask for a height gaurantee. I have a filly that I bought as a 6 month old, 28", she is two and is only pushing 31", I would expext the 32"-33" range.

 

[Jill]

I have had a couple who were done growing at around 18mos

 

[wpsellwood]

I have several like Jill said by the time they were 18 months old were done growing, I wouldnt sweat it either.

 

[icspots]

I have a stud who's babies are huge at birth, grow like mad, look like they are going to be saddle horses, and stop at age ONE. No kidding, I haven't had a single one grow more than a half an inch after age one. My other stud, I can depend on his babies to grow exactly 2 inches more from the yearling height. I'd do the cannon measurement, it isn't an exact science, but it comes pretty close.

 

[Leeana]

My three BTU boys did not grow any after June of their yearling year, they all matured really fast it seemed. They have measured the same since June, they were all april/may babies of the previous year.

Edited - Actually the one colt did grow just a bit longer more until probably about August / Sept of his yearling year but he was the odd ball of the bunch.

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

All of our fillies are around 29-31 inches and I doubt any of them will come close to even the 33" mark but we feed stuff that encourages growth so most of ours are pretty much done growing by the end of their yearling year. Can you look up the parents in the studbooks and see how tall the horses in their pedigree are, that can sometimes give you a good idea whether there is a chance of him going over if he has oversized horses in his pedigree.

 

[End Level Farms]

I would just ask for a height guarantee if you are concerned.

However I have B's mostly and I bred my B stallion to my tallest B mare (36.5") The birth height was 22" I thought OHHHH WOW Im going to get my driving baby. However 1 month away from her first birthday she is 27.5" tall. And not grown in the last 3 months.

 

[Riverdance]

The height chart is very inaccurate. I tested it for 3 years and not one prediction was right, The cannon bone is better, but still not accurate.

I bought a Best Kept Secret daughter as a weanling, and at 18 months old she was 34". She is now 5 years old and is 34.

Most of my horses stop growing at 2 years old.

 

[sedeh]

I've had several now that I thought might go over because of how tall they got as yearlings! Of the 4 only one has actually gone over. Most had their growth was done by the time they were 18 months....and the majority of that growth was as a yearling. I don't think the growth charts are accurate at all.

 

[Joanne]

I agree with what has been said. Each horse is different, though I have seen trends in some stallions with their offspring.

I do not think you can ask for a height guarantee except for staying AMHA or AMHR. I do not think you can be as precise as 32 inches.

Why are you worried about a 32 -34 inch ?

 

[walkermini]

Thanks everyone for the responses! I'm going to take the advice, and look into him more, as far as height of others in his pedigree, what height he was at birth, etc. I might look into a height guarantee, but I was really hoping he wouldnt even get that close to worry about it. I was wanting about 32" at the most, to fit in with the mares I have. So Im going to think some more on him, but glad to know many have had horses finish growing early.

 

[Miniv]

For us, the standard is the majority grow about 95 percent of their height by the end of their yearling year. By the time they are age 2, they tend to be done.........

Height Guarantees really are a wonderful invention, IMO.

 

[MooreAcres]

My 2008 colt was born tall. I never did measure him as a foal, but at 10 months old I would guess him to be about 33" already. His sire is 36" and his dam about 35". He is very mature looking, has been since he was born. He looks slightly butt high right now, so might have another inch or two to go before hes done, but for the most part I dont see him growing much anymore.

Erin

 

[ohmt]

Most of ours are usually done with their growing after yearling year. After that they'll grow between 1/4"-1" USUALLY. We have a few that grow a little bit more...but usually around that 1" mark. I don't know why, but we have terrible luck with the appy colts/stallions that we buy. The first one was a Chianti g-son that we got as a yearling that was right on track to mature about 30"-he ended up being 33.75" but gave us very small foals. Then we bought a leopard Jandts Bay N Bee son that was 32" as a 4 yr. old. I don't know what happened but he grew to be 36" the year we bought him. He wasn't malnourished when we bought him either-we breed for A only but kept him a few years because he was too gorgeous not to. Sold him later but still have an A daughter that's one of my favorite mares. THEN we bought a Toyland few spot colt. Sire and dam were both 32" and he was born 21.5"...he had a growth spurt around 5 months and was still expected to stay under. I haven't measured him lately, but I think he's right at 34"-maybe a little over.

Not to scare you, I think that's just our luck. It sounds to me like your boy will be ok. That Toyland stallion of mine was about 32" at 18 months...over half of my mares are 30" or under. Was I a little worried? oh ya. Did he have all the criteria I was looking for other than height? YES. Has he given me some amazing appy foals (and all but one filly

)? YES!! He was so worth it.