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Taking the plunge on buying a second! UPDATE #3: best decision ever!

She certainly looks like a sweetie! Best of luck with her, she has a lovely eye in this pic :slight_smile:

She looks so sweet! Congrats OP, I look forward to following your journey with her.

Congrats

She has a nice kind eye. I think you will have a fun time working with her. Keep us updated!

What a sweet face! I love her expression! Good luck with her, and have fun.

And she’s home! Hopped right on the trailer and travelled like a dream. Not even any shenanigans when I turned her out just moseyed around (my retiree on the other hand…whoohoo what an excuse to tear around!). We suspect she may not be full TB but in my opinion, a nice horse is a nice horse regardless of breed, and I don’t know what my retiree is anyway! She is a total gem for a baby, knows very little but is sweet and willing.

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Congrats on the new mare, she is cute!

You can do a string test to estimate future height and it’s pretty accurate when done on a 3 year old. Take a string and put one end on the ergot and the other on the elbow. Keep your position on the elbow and now bring the ergot end up to the withers. The distance between where the withers are now and the end of the length of the string is what she will grow.

We used to measure from the middle of the pastern, which it probably would be about where the ergot is in most horses, to the back middle of the elbow joint.

Then we said it was true within 1/2" either way in geldings, taking into consideration that gelding slowed down the closing of growth plates at puberty 18 to 26 months in most male horses.
Those still stallions at that time tended to end 1/2" to 1" shorter as their growth plates closed those 6 to 8 months earlier.
The earlier studies on size on TBs that went on to race were done mostly on males, but it seemed to be true for females also.
That way of measuring has been traditionally considered very accurate and it did work on every one we used it at any development stage we measured until matured.

Congratulations, I’m sure she will bloom under your care!

Thought I’d give another little update now that we’re a few months in…top photo was from when I went to see her, and then the others from yesterday (my older mare has very, very slowly warmed up to her). She’s been super easy to put weight on, and I keep having to cut back. She’s also proving to be a super chilled out young horse, yet to find anything that really bothers her. Haven’t backed her yet but I don’t think that’s too far off.

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Wow! She has filled out beautifully.

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Great update and what a transformation in just a small amount of time. She looks lovely.

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Oh she is gorgeous! She looks fantastic.

WOW! She really turned into a swan. She doesn’t even look like she is the horse in the first picture. You should be proud of yourself for seeing through her appearance at first and transforming her into a lovely young mare.

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Thank you! I also would find it hard to believe its the same horse if I didn’t know. She really is lovely, and for a TB has some reasonable movement too. Introducing the bit, saddle, a bit of weight on her back etc has been a breeze, she’s totally non-fussed about it all. Just have to work up the courage to actually get on haha. The plan is to hopefully event her.

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Gorgeous mare, nice job helping her bloom!

And just to add to the excitement…yesterday I got on for the first time!

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Yaaaaay!!!

Wahooooo!

She’s had 3 little rides now, is starting to understand forward and her brakes are good. Steering…is a work in progress :laughing: I’ve got someone lined up to put some rides on her starting next week, my nerves keep getting the better of me and I decided better to get someone on who knows babies. She’s very relaxed though, we were by the fence today when the neighbour’s sprinklers came on right next to us and I went “oh F@$%” before realising she barely even blinked.

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