feeding a yearling draft cross

[lisae]

I am wondering just how 'ribby' a yearling filly should be?

I have several Haflingers who have no trouble at all putting on the flesh and they are each limited in how much grain they can get (less than a pound a day). Then, there's Grace.

Grace just turned one year, she is 13 hands 1", and my sons call her "Legs"! She's an Arab-Clydesdale cross, but tall and fine boned. She has to be fed separately or the fat ponies gorge on her portion of grain, which is a 16% "Mare and Foal" sweet feed, 6 lbs a day. She weighs about 550 - 600 lbs. Her coat shines, she's in good spirits, but I can't get weight on her. She has about 5 -6 ribs showing but isn't thin enough to have hip bones too sharp. And she's growing all the time.

Am I just too used to the round pony look, or should I increase her grain? I tried adding a higher fat, lower carb feed but she hated it, it's what the adult pony mare is on now. So perhaps too high a protein?

Thanks for any input.

[lisae]

She has been wormed regularly and recently.

[Tootsie4U]

What about trying Blue Seal's Hay Stretcher? We load them up on that when they need the extra weight but not the extra energy.

Its not too expensive either - just around $8 a bag. Agway sells it.

[nat17]

Whilst still growing up, they wont or shouldnt fill out much! :)

My ISH yearling put on slight condition and a better coat when I got her but not weight as such, I used to feed Spillers Stud Mix and chaff in very small and often amounts but just made sure she had the best vit and min suppl.;)

But dont be too concerned at this age about being all legs, as long as she is well in herself and developing normally she will be fine;)

[~Perdita.M~]

Oh please, can we see a recent pic of her? She sounds adorable! And arab/clydesdale, what an amazing mix:D I vaguely remember you posting some near the time she arrived, but I wanna see her as a yearling!:D

[Tootsie4U]

me too! me too!

[nat17]

me three!:D

[lisae]

I have a couple at home - I'll wrangle them into downloadable size from there tonight!

[lisae]

Not the best shots, I was taking a roll of pics of another filly and Grace only got into two pics.

[lisae]

Big old Clydesdale head and arched Arab neck! Saying 'hi' to Finn, age six weeks.

[lisae]

I'm going to take a roll of just her this weekend and try and show her off a little better!

[galadriel]

That second picture is PRECIOUS! Both Grace and Finn.

From what I've read, horses that are going to grow very large *should* be a little ribby. Feeding them too much can apparently cause them to get a little too much/too fast growth skeletally, and lead to osteoarthritis/degenerative joint disease. From what I've read, warmblood types can be pretty susceptible to this, so a clyde/arab cross might be at risk.

You could probably find more details, looking up DJD or osteoarthritis.

[~Perdita.M~]

Oh thank you!:D She's as cute as I thought she'd be;) And my two year old son is called Finn:D

[Tor&Warrior]

My 14month old who is Appaloosa X TB with a teeny tiny bit of Irish Draught chucked in somewhere and who is going to make approx 16.2hh is exactly the same build as Grace. He's pretty leggy and you can see 3 or 4 of his rubs fairly well and feel most of them. The vet saw him only the other week though and she said that he's absolutley fine. She said that as he's being fed he's as big as his body feels it needs to be, if that makes sense? And that it wouldn't do any harm even to be a little skinny but would do alot of harm if he was just the smallest bit over weight. She looks perfect to me. She's an absolute sweety and looks like she'll make a stunning horse!
Torx

[Mehitabel]

i think she looks fine for her age. yearlings do often go through a 'gangly' stage and get ribby - as long as she is looking well in herself and the hips etc are OK then i wouldn't worry.
much better for growing babies to be slender than fat.

[shandy84]

Both of mine have been or are going through that phase.

My Arab x Hanovarian filly was much the same as your girl is when she was one, but now at three she is a fatty glutton! Brmble is skinny too although she'll not be massive only about 14hh but I prefer them a little light to obese and at the risk of health issues

Gorgeous baby!