Hi, I am looking at a yearling who is in his ‘hide behind the barn’ stage and I really, really like him. There is just something about him that is very sweet to me. He has a couple of downsides but one of them is he is a tad short of neck, which is something I do not like. How big of a flaw is this?
The topline is the last to develop. You can expect the neck to lengthen a bit.
Kathy
I find that their necks start to look short with respect to the rest of their bodies sometime in the yearling year and don’t really seem to fit again till they are 3 or 4 year olds.
Really? I find the opposite. I think yearlings usually have a long neck and tend to look like narrow giraffes. The neck seems to be the shortest as early 2 year olds becoming more ‘normal’ the closer they come to 3.
IMO a yearling with a short neck will be an adult with a short neck. How old is he? There tends to be quite a difference between 12 months and 20 months.
The horse is 11 months. I just dug a video of his keuring out (RPSI) and Otto remarked that he had a ‘nice, long neck’ this was when he was 4-5 months? I am looking at a video of him currently and a friend said he looked short in the neck. I am looking at him again now and I think he looks alright. He is croup high so I wonder if the way he is currently holding his neck makes it look short? Does that make any sense?
Horses can absolutely stand in a way that looks normal but also makes them look like their head is attached directly to the body lol
any chance you can post a pic?
I have seen yearlings with great necks and with non-existent necks, when they had great foal and adult necks.
Yes, I would agree that early in their yearling year they seem to have longer necks, but then they seem too short near the end of the year and are the shortest looking in the 2 year old year.
Being bum high definately does make a difference. To everything! The neck can look shortish, ewed, and scrawny. It affects the movement, shortening the stride and lessening elevation in front, with trailing hind limbs. A bum high early yearling is one of the most unattractive creatures on the planet!
They don’t hide them behind the barn for nothing! 
Butt high, 11 months old, yeah, he’s in the ugly stage. Post a pic if you can, but I bet it’s just a stage and he’ll be fine when he’s older. (A friend’s baby went through the butt high, short neck, HUGE head stage, lasted for ages, but he turned out to be beautifully balanced and attractive when he got out of the uglies.)
two was our nasty year
I am only speaking of my own, but she had a beautiful neck as a weanling and then it disappeared sometime a bit before she turned two and just emerged in the last couple months (so about two months before hiting three years). I was very much in horror of how she looked as a two year old. Just lankly and looked too long in the back as her butt would shoot up and then her front would, and all her leg/shoulder angles were blah and her head was huge. I saw some beautiful yearlings at an inspection last year and wanted to go home and cry. I thought they looked more mature than my two year old.
I showed her on the line as a yearling and she still had a neck then, but was butt high (so nothing looked too great, although she placed well).
Then last week I droppped her off at the trainers and we had her at-liberty and everyone was very complimentary, which made me really looked at her for the first time in months and suddenly she is lovely and has a nice, arching neck and normal length of topline. I have decided there is some truth to the 3 days, 3 months, 3 years adage.
I would want to see the 3-4 month picture and a current one to give an opinion. Also, what are the parents like?
Hi everyone, thank you so much for your responses! I actually just bought my boy this morning! I am SO excited! I think his length of neck is perfect. He was nice and balanced as a 4 - 5 month old and I believe my friend who planted this idea in my head (that he had a short neck) was mistaken. He is just croup high and is awkward but is well put together - I think. He actually scored an 8.4 on exterior at his keuring! JB was VERY kind and looked at some photos for me. I know she knows quite a bit!
You bought him!!! Yay! He’s going to be nice.
The pics showed a butt high nearly yearling who had a growth spurt in both butt height and body filling out a bit, and his neck didn’t get the memo. He’ll catch up :). Be sure to take new pics in a few months
I will! Thanks again JB!
Congratulations on your new boy!
