I have a young mare (just turned 4) I just bought that is very high in the rear, and just started under tack (3 months). She will probably top out around 16.3 plus, which is bigger than the other babies I’ve had. My others I’ve had, while green, were pretty balanced with natural canters at this age, even the gelding that was 2 inches higher behind at just 4, but they were smaller horses height wise, topping out 16 hands and under. This mare is not balanced, and tends to race forward at trot and canter, with about the same amount of balance at both gaits. I’m thinking of doing 90 days of training with my very good pro, who is fabulous with babies, and then turning her out for the winter and see what we have body-wise in the spring. I’m just curious if anyone has had one similar, and what the timeframe was until they leveled out - did the canter improve only slightly, or tremendously when that happened? She’s a different type for me so I’m not sure what to expect going forward.
If she’s quite unbalanced under saddle due to her growth stage, now might be the time to chuck her out and wait until she catches up in front.
The wheels can for sure fall off in the canter because of growth spurts. What was the canter like before? Do you have video as she was growing up?
Every horse is different. If this one needs time to mature, turn her away to grow on. Put the 60 days on her once she has grown into herself. Rushing a youngster is a recipe for future disasters.
If she’s at an awkward and unbalanced stage right now, why not hold off on 90 days with the pro? I’d probably chuck her out until spring and then do 90 days of training.
My gelding was like this. He was all legs until he turned six. I took it slow with him, most people didn’t realize how unbalanced he was until they saw him try to canter on a lunge line 
We started him the spring of his 3yo year. He got some solid work in that summer, then has the fall/winter off. Brought him back into work the spring of his 4yo year. It was obvious then that the balance wasn’t there so we took it really slow, didn’t do any jumping. He got some time off in the late summer/fall. Then I brought him with me to University that winter while I did my post-grad. I rode him enough to keep him fit, it wasn’t until late winter/spring (almost 5yo) that I felt he was mentally and physically ready to really get to work. He moved along quickly at that point.
The summer of his 5yo year we showed in the AAs. As a 7yo we moved up to the 3’6" A/Os and placed 5th in one of the Canadian Hunter Derbies. He’s 12 now and knows his job.
*I’ll add that it was obvious when he physically felt more balanced. That’s when he figured out that he was capable of some monster spooks and rodeo bucks 
I have a framed picture of him bucking in one of our o/f classes. I put ear stuffies in and went back in for a 6th out of 33, the judge didn’t hold it against him.
Unfortunately no, she was just standing in a field until about 4 months ago. I do have video of sometime within the last few months where she looks more balanced, so the growth spurt may be recent. As I mentioned, I had another that grew the same way, but it never affected his balance so this surprised me to have her be so unbalanced after not looking that way in the video from a bit ago. I expected a little bit of it with her being so high in the rear right now (I know my gelding is a freak of nature athletically speaking) so I was expecting a little of that, but she seems more than a little.
Willesdon I’m not in a hurry to rush her, we are lunging in a round pen and under saddle I’ve just been doing a lot of walking, and then some walk trot walk transitions. I’m hesitant to throw her out without some work as she’s been pretty much in a field her whole life and needs to learn basic life skills and see something other than grass and fence boards. She can be a bit spooky and test you a bit just in general, and I’d like to get that better addressed. I expect that 90 days would involve primarily ground work, lunging, etc. and some light saddle work.
Just turned 4, still a baby really. Don’t forget that 20 mins on a lunge, doing circles, is about as much work as an hour or so working under saddle.
I agree with everyone else. Dont work her under saddle. There is a lot you can do every day like lunge, hand walk cross country even long lining. Now is the time to make sure she is a solid citizen for getting into the trailer and other show life business. How does she stand for braiding? How does she react to working in braids? I would not rush a 4 year old. When she is ready a solid three months with a trainer known for starting babies.
Horses at this phase, when under saddle need careful observation of their saddle. As the body changes with conditioning and growth the saddle fit can seriously alter.
