Thoroughbred lines that may be late to mature?

[Potato2001]

I have a 5 year old ottb that has been progressing really well in his training up until this last week or two. Now it seems he can’t put his body parts together and he feels more downhill under saddle recently. Sure enough, I stood him up and he’s gone a little butt high so it looks like he’s hit another little growth spurt :eek:

Out of curiosity what tb lines tend to produce a lot of offspring that are slow to mature or may have a late growth spurt? (I’m not saying 5 is particularly late for another growth spurt but most of my ottbs in the past have been done by this point and were just filling out instead of growing up).

This is my guy’s pedigree for reference
http://www.pedigreequery.com/wossamotta+u

[ladyj79]

My Danzig grandsob went from 16.1 to 17h between 4 and 6.

[ladyj79]

Fwiw i believe grand sob is a superb typo I can’t fix.

[beowulf]

meadowlake
hold your peace
giant’s causeway
stonesider
freud
skywalker
hooksandladder

there’s tons more, that’s just off the top of my head

however, most TBs see some form of growth between 4 and 6… every one of mine have gotten a little height post track (i usually get 3-4 y/os) and are not fully done growing until 7/8.

[FairWeather]

My Dynaformer (out of Carson City mare) is proving to be very slow to mature- still very growthy as a 5 year old.

[DarkBayUnicorn]

Both of my With Approval sons kept growing until about six years old. One was out of a Roberto mare, the other out of a Vice Reagent mare.

[beowulf]

horses do not actually physically finish maturing until 6-8 years old. that’s when the growth plates in the spine close… so… nearly every horse should be seeing some growth in the fifth, sixth year – not unique to thoroughbreds or specific TB lines.

[vineyridge]

I think, as a general rule, horses from the old Darby Dan lines were slow maturing. That would be Roberto, His Majesty, Pleasant Colony to name just a few.

In fact, genetics seems to show that TBs before Nearctic were slower maturing than they are these days.

[goodpony]

Ha, I have a filly with nearly every line mentioned and she is exceptionally slow maturing…sigh, guess I will keep waiting.

[Potato2001]

Thanks for the responses, always interesting! Let’s spin this a little now What about lines that may take a little longer to mentally mature vs. ones that seem to have it together early? Do you ever see a correlation between genders maturing faster than the other? IME most of my mares seemed to mentally mature faster than my geldings (& the studs I’ve worked with can be grouped in with the geldings as far as maturity, or lack thereof, until they figured out what mares were:eek:)…Although I suppose some of that may trace back to instinct before domestication…

[beowulf]

sires/lines I think pass on slow to mature mentally:
Deputy Minister, Nijinsky&sons, Dixieland Band&sons, Giant’s Causeway, Storm Cat&sons, Deputy Minister, most Danzig sons, Notebook, Dynaformer, Bernardini, Tapit/Pulpit, the list goes on… nothing bad about taking a little extra time… IME they’re more rewarding.

By contrast, there are a few that I think are “born broke”:
Stormy Atlantic, Say Florida Sandy, most In Reality horses, Private Account, What A Pleasure, many AP Indy horses, several Seattle Slew horses…

I think it really depends on the individual though. example: I know two full brothers out of a Stonesider mare that could not be more different: one is born broke, calm as they come – the other is almost intractable.

[csaper58]

[QUOTE=beowulf;8971706]
I think it really depends on the individual though. example: I know two full brothers out of a Stonesider mare that could not be more different: one is born broke, calm as they come – the other is almost intractable.[/QUOTE]

Nature vs Nurture?

Is it known if they were raised by the same folks in the same manner?

[equest]

[QUOTE=beowulf;8971706]
sires/lines I think pass on slow to mature mentally:
Deputy Minister, Nijinsky&sons, Dixieland Band&sons, Giant’s Causeway, Storm Cat&sons, Deputy Minister, most Danzig sons, Notebook, Dynaformer, Bernardini, Tapit/Pulpit, the list goes on… nothing bad about taking a little extra time… IME they’re more rewarding.

By contrast, there are a few that I think are “born broke”:
Stormy Atlantic, Say Florida Sandy, most In Reality horses, Private Account, What A Pleasure, many AP Indy horses, several Seattle Slew horses…

I think it really depends on the individual though. example: I know two full brothers out of a Stonesider mare that could not be more different: one is born broke, calm as they come – the other is almost intractable.[/QUOTE]

My 6 yo Dixieland Band grandson (out of Dixie Union) is very quiet/lazy. He’s been easy to work with though sadly he had a tendon injury and is out of commission for the next few months, just as soon as we were making steady progress. Sigh.

[Man_in_Black]

I had a Distinctive Pro (Mr. Prospector) baby that was 16h when I bought him as a 4 year old and continued to almost 16.3h around 7 years old and THEN continued to widen to the size of a freight train after that.

Better nutrition could have certainly been a factor…especially in the horizontal aspect.

[Equilibrium]

Old NH lines mature slower. Mine usually get it all together at the end of their 5yo year. Not in such as physically because they all do that just getting it all together.

Terri

[Elles]

My TB is very slow to mature. According to Vineyridge it is because of his Ahonoora blood.http://www.bokt.nl/markt/ad/426334/engels-volbloed-hengst-met-aes-deklicentie