First foal - 2 year old to mature height

[WestwoodFarm]

Brand new here but wondering if anyone could share heights of their first foals at 2 years compared to their mature height.

I know there are differing opinions on foals from maiden mares but I’m looking for those who have experience in this area. I have an almost 2 y/o Oldenburg currently 15.3 in front and 16h behind. He is intended for a very tall rider. Dam is 16.2 and sire is 16.3, both solidly built WBs.

**edit to add. He was gelded well before 1 year. I have a homebred tb/hannoverian who was 15.2 at 2 years and now, at 13 y/o is 16.3, but, not a first foal. I understand the statistics but am really looking for real-life experiences with first foals at 2 years vs maturity.

[goodhors]

Gelding younger than a year will add extra growth height. Stallion hormones stop growth at a younger age, start developing a stallion body, bigger chest, knees closing about then. We geld after full year of age to keep our boys at shorter heights. They stay pretty, NICE necks, just not going over 17h when finished growing.

Genetics breed true, if he is made to be taller, solid bodied, he WILL get there. Just may take a while, since bones grow until 7yrs on bigger horses, then they fill out.

[Montanas_Girl]

On average, horses (across all breeds and types) reach 98+% of their adult height by 24 months of age. You can easily gain (or lose) 1-2” of muscle and fat “size” depending on the horse’s fitness, but the skeleton won’t add much size after that point.

[NancyM]

Seeing as it’s a warmblood, if he’s only 24 months old now, it’s probably too early to do a string test yet. More foolproof once the knee plates are closed, which his likely are not yet. But you could do the test now anyway, and get an idea of how much growth he’s got left. And if the knee plates are not yet closed, he will probably get bigger than what you find now.

Get a piece of twine or cord. Stretch it between the point of his elbow (find that with precision) and his ergot. Then, holding the end on the point of the elbow, turn the string so it reaches from his elbow, upwards. How far the string reaches above where his withers currently are, is the mature height. Might be 1, 2 or 3 (?) inches above his current height. You measure him now, and add that on top of what he measures now. Less accurate if the knee plates are not closed yet.

[JB]

The general rule is to add 1h to the 24 month height. 2h to the 12 month height.

So a 15.3 just-2yo can easily mature to 16.3 give or take.

WILL he? That’s the biggest question. Most likely yes, it’s just not guaranteed.

The string tests are also generally pretty accurate, but there’s still the issue of - are they a longer-legged horse, in which case their height may be shorter than their leg string test suggests.

The string tests are as accurate as they’re going to be after a year. No, the knee growth plates aren’t quite closed, but they’re also not adding inches to the height. There’s more to height from growth plates remaining open, than the legs - literally everything above them

[Laurierace]

From your lips to Violet’s withers! Despite both parents being 16.3 Violet has been 15.2 high on a good day since she was about 24 months. She will be 4 in April and is now 15.2 wide as well but has not as much as sprouted a hint of wither. It’s starting to scare me! As much as I can’t fathom a Warmblood being done growing at 2 I can’t imagine her all of a sudden sprouting up after not growing at all for 2 years. We did 5 months of basic dressage training last summer then gave her the winter off “to grow” but so far nothing.

[dynamite0319]

My mare was more or less the same, just a hair taller.
Coco (my mare) was the first foal of a maiden mare. I don’t recall exactly how tall she was at 2yo, but I’d guess 15.2-3 ish in the first quarter of that year. She’s 12yo now and right at 16hh. She hit 16h by the time she was 3yo and never grew another cm. She was also never “ugly” or out of balance. Sire was 16.1 (he was a TB FWIW, but was a jumper not a racehorse. He qualified for the Olympics under a Mexican rider). Dam is a 16.2h warmblood that currently does the jumpers.

[Texarkana]

@Laurierace

From your lips to Violet’s withers! Despite both parents being 16.3 Violet has been 15.2 high on a good day since she was about 24 months. She will be 4 in April and is now 15.2 wide as well but has not as much as sprouted a hint of wither. It’s starting to scare me! As much as I can’t fathom a Warmblood being done growing at 2 I can’t imagine her all of a sudden sprouting up after not growing at all for 2 years. We did 5 months of basic dressage training last summer then gave her the winter off “to grow” but so far nothing.

My Selle Francais x Arab mare stalled at 15.2-15.3 for the longest time, even though she string tested to 16.1h at every milestone.

It wasn’t until she was approaching 6 that she crossed 16h. Then she finished just under 16.2h around her 8th birthday! Slowest growing horse ever. Ironically, it was when her workload backed off that she had the last growth spurt, so I don’t think it was muscle.

[TatteredDaydreamer]

My gelding that I’m worried about height wise has grown in the past several months from 15.3HH at the hip to about 6 months later, 16.1HH at the hip and he’s not even 3 yet. I’m starting to feel much better about his final height knowing he’s got several more years to grow and develop.