I am feeling like my two year old hanoverian is mentally and physically further behind then her peers. She is approximately 14 hands, butt high, and a bit on the thin side. Dad was 16.2, and mom was 16.3 - so I am fairly certain she has much more growing to do. In mind, she is almost a bit yearling like; yearning for attention and ADHD to the extreme! I am sure she will grow up fine, but does anyone else have experience with late bloomers?
Yes, and like you I worried that I had a runt…At 20 mo. she was 14.1 at withers and 14.3 at rump but she then went through a growth spurt (after I completely changed her diet) and as a 4 yr. old she’s around 16.1 or so.
She was also mentally immature until this year she really improved her attention span. I expect she has another inch or two to go.
What’s critical is that you have her on a balanced diet of quality feed and hay.
And full turnout is best for these undersized, undermuscled babies.
Just do lots of mannering and in hand work to help her little pea brain expand.
Next year she will be much improved and the year after even better. there is hope, just hang in there and enjoy her baby-ness. I miss my little runty filly.
I am so glad to hear my filly is not the only one! :lol:
She is not technically 2 yet, she has another month then she is two. She is about to be on much better quality feeding regime, hopefully that will help her catch up!
I have been mainly focusing on the basics, trying to develop good manners and always keeping it short and sweet. My thought is to wait a bit for the more intricate in hand exercises. She is such a baby and so so sweet, maybe I am only half sad she is a runt 
I also was worried I had a runt. She always string-tested to 16.1h. But at 2, she was still under 15h.
She didn’t make it to 16h until around 6 years of age… I figured she was done there. Nope. She hit another growth spurt at seven and is now 16.2h.
My two year old is only just shy of 15 right now… slightly butt high, but she still string tests about 16.2… I’m hoping she hits at least 16hh… but I’m not too worried… they grow slow… just be patient i keep telling myself!
rosebud: my filly is around the same height (just turned 2), and is slightly butt high. I don’t think her withers are even quite 15 hands–more like 14.3!
:sigh:
The string test indicates between 15’2" and 15’3–which is kind of what I was hoping for–but will her withers really grow 3 inches over the next couple of years?? Dam (maiden mare) is 15’3" and sire is 16.0, so I’m hardly expecting her to be over 16 hands, but she has been growing at a GLACIAL pace (though her body and neck are both long, and always have been–so she stands over a lot of ground.) She looks like a finished horse, and is not leggy, so I hope I don’t wind up with a Honey 
I am glad to hear I don’t have the only tiny two year old My girl has been going through a major growth spurt the past two weeks, I am hoping she will end up over 16 hands. The person I bought her from said she thinks she will be 16.2 or 16.3, which would make sense considering her genetics.
Let us all hope our runty fillies continue to grow!
Sportpony–Hallelujah to this!
Misery loves company, LOL. I don’t want a big horse (thankfully), but I am a bit concerned after seeing virtually no discernible growth over the past year :eek:
Good to hear that yours is hitting a growth spurt! I thought I might see some “action” when the spring grass came in, but nope…
I can’t even IMAGINE sitting on her at this stage of the game, though I know a lot of people do start them briefly at 2 (she just seems WAY too small and witherless!) I am ground driving her, but haven’t put an actual saddle on her back (just a pad and a surcingle.)
Does your filly come from a slow growing family? Did you do the string test from coronet band to mid-knee?
I’ve had several that have made me worry. But my broodmares aren’t very big, for the most part, and the rescue filly (NOT one I bred!) has an excuse. But all (yearling thorough 3 year olds) have had a big growth spurt lately, so you can really see that they are wanting to turn into real horses. 
I always tell myself that their withers are the last thing to really come in, but My little filly still seems to be pretty leggy though… hard to say for sure! I do believe that she comes from a slow growing family (chaleon), so who knows! She’s healthy and correct so I suppose thats all I can hope for. I had a paint filly that was 14.3 3/4 and that was a honey for sure! But She was ablet o make the stride in the 3’ stuff, so I imagine even if she ends at 15 hh (which I hope not…) she’ll still be able to do the AA with me worst case… but I imagine she still ahs a lot of growing to do.
My gelding was a midget between 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 years old. He was short, skinny, big headed and looked like a donkey. I was wondering if he’d ever make it to 16hh. By the time he was 3 he was 16.2. He finally stopped growing at the end of his 6 yr old year. He’s 17.1hh!
At 2y/o my mare was only 15 hands. Sire is over 17hands, mare is about 15.2/3.
String test way back when was just under 16.2.
At 6y/o, we figure she is done at 16 hands but these last two months her haunches have sprouted up again and she is looking gangly. I have heard of slow grower’s sprouting into their 7th year.
On another note, my sister’s tb foal, mare/sire 16.3 and 16.2, ended up at 15 hands. Good sized foal until about 2 and the growing basically halted. She is pretty two faced too, pocket nibbler once second and a bronk the next.
Dang double whorls.
This ^ ^ is SO not encouraging! :eek:
Did your TB filly ever grow withers??
I usually add 2 hands to their yearling height and one hand to their 2yr old height and have found it to be fairly accurate. I have heard of late bloomers but I have had a number of young and none of them have grown much after 3yrs old. Yes, they do fill out and maybe you might get an inch if lucky but that has been it in my experience.
[QUOTE=Dr. Doolittle;7660430]
This ^ ^ is SO not encouraging! :eek:
Did your TB filly ever grow withers??[/QUOTE]
Just noticed this… sorry!
She has a bit of a shark wither actually but she is extremely agile and amazing collection. The atheticism comes out in award winning bronc bucks sadly.
Dam was about 8y/o when she was born, vet cannot tell why it happened other than the being stunted… bred for the track, dam was very quick but retired due to fracturing both front canon’s, still finished the race and place third though. But the foal was too short and wild for breeder to put time into.
Thanks, pryme! Do you have any pics of her at two, and then more recently? I am still optimistic that Ella’s withers will “pop” at some point (as they did in the case of my last baby, a TB; though he was already 15’2+ as a long yearling. He wound up a solid 16.2, but grew a GOOD inch/inch and a half between 3 and 4, and that was all withers! He was not excessively high-withered, and was a bit downhill when finished.)
Both my filly’s parents DO have withers (she’s Hano/Dutch/TB, not Connemara!), but neither parent is big, rangy, or excessively leggy. Most of the E2 dark fillies seem to finish at or under 16.0, but I am hoping that mine gets to 15.2!
I get a little discouraged by the fact that she has been SO slow growing, and that there has been no discernible growth “spurt” so far, really; she just continues to become more “horselike” in appearance, and fills out.
Gad…I wish I had this problem. My damn two year olds are huge. Too big. I’d much much much rather have them be a touch on the small side then on the large side.
My gelding has me most worried. We are fighting contracted tendons on him and just when we get him starting to look better…up he goes. Bugger is a June 2 year old. He is over 16.2 and looks butt high. I’d like him to even out and STOP. His dam is 16.3 and sire 16.2. His half sister is just barely 16 hands also by a 16.2 sire. But he is still leggy and growthly looking so I don’t think he is done. His half sister never looked leggy like him. We already have him lean and don’t feed him much (just a balancer so he has the right nutrition) but doesn’t seem to be slowing him down…
[QUOTE=bornfreenowexpensive;7670837]
Gad…I wish I had this problem. My damn two year olds are huge. Too big. I’d much much much rather have them be a touch on the small side then on the large side.
My gelding has me most worried. We are fighting contracted tendons on him and just when we get him starting to look better…up he goes. Bugger is a June 2 year old. He is over 16.2 and looks butt high. I’d like him to even out and STOP. His dam is 16.3 and sire 16.2. His half sister is just barely 16 hands also by a 16.2 sire. But he is still leggy and growthly looking so I don’t think he is done. His half sister never looked leggy like him. We already have him lean and don’t feed him much (just a balancer so he has the right nutrition) but doesn’t seem to be slowing him down…[/QUOTE]
:eek: :eek:
Yeah, I think I would rather have my problem…
sigh I’m right there with you. My 2 1/2 year old filly is 14.3, and as far as I can tell she string tests to 14.3… sigh I mean, do you hold the string up straight or does it curve around the body?
Her mom is 15 and her father is 15.3, so I was hoping for over 15, but I’m beginning to get discouraged. She’s still butt high, but mom was a bit downhill, and she has these short little legs…
I’m beginning to lose hope.
Here we are a few weeks ago, heading out for a walk around the block. For reference, that’s her dam behind her.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10100443039861598&l=1e116164dc
I just started a thread the other day on the dressage board b/c my horse was a very late bloomer. As in didn’t pop and get with the program (balance, etc.) until a few weeks ago at 7. She ended up growing well into her 7 year old year, but finally worked out the issues and it practically happened overnight.
