Does a foal/yearling who is undernurished not grow as big as it should?

[Kate&TheHerd]

My friend and I were having our random discussions as we do and came onto the subject, if a foal or yearling is not fed correctly or completley underfed, is it possible that the horse will not reach its correct height if it were fed properly or is that not possible?

 

[wildponies]

Definately possible.

Same as any other animal

 

[shandy84]

Definatly possible. I have also found a lot of people try to compensate and overfeed to "make up for" the lack and then end up with prolems like DJD

 

[heartofrainbow]

Definitely!

Not only that it could develop other problems due to lack of minerals etc

Very important at this stage of their life

 

[Kate&TheHerd]

thank you! i was right then, i thought this was the case but my friend said it would not stunt growth at all! ps when you say over feeding can this make them grow taller?

 

[shandy84]

If you overfeed no it doesn't always it just makes them fat = pressure on the joints and bad affect on the joints. If it does cause them to grow quickly then you end up taller but with weak bones, obviously not ideal at all

 

[Palomino Mare]

ps when you say over feeding can this make them grow taller?

no just fat

 

[Kate&TheHerd]

lol, sorry i come out with these things sometimes!

 

[Rips]

Yes, it definitely can stunt their growth.

If you overfeed no it doesn't always it just makes them fat = pressure on the joints and bad affect on the joints. If it does cause them to grow quickly then you end up taller but with weak bones, obviously not ideal at all

Its not really the fat that does the damage at all really, unless the are grossly obese. Overfeeding (and this includes just feeding small amounts that aren't essential to the foal) upsets the balance in their diet and causes problems like bone demineralization, epiphysitis, contracted tendons and other such things. Its the feeding of cereal food that does most of this damage, it would be very hard for a foal/yearling to consume so much forage that it was fat enough to put an unnatural amount of strain on its joints.

_____

Some breeds that develope slowly can overcome underfeeding as a youngster very well. Mountain breeds, connemara's are a good example. I've seen alot of malnourished 4/5 yr olds that went on and went overheight, feeding them up to encourage this did not have any adverse effects.