Growth Patterns & Prediction of Young Horses

Anyone who has followed this blog for long knows by now that I'm borderline obsessed with how tall Chrome will end up.  I guess I have height insecurities because growing up I was 5'9" by the time I was fourteen and 5'11 by the time I was eighteen . . . and I was riding a fourteen hand Appaloosa pony all over town LOL (four thirteen years!)!  I was a bit self conscious I guess.  So I wanted my next horse to be tall!  I have friends who like fat horses because they make them look thin, well I like tall horses because they make me look.... less tall (since being realistic they don't make me look short lol). 

Chrome's sire is 16.2hh and his dam is 14.3hh so I always hoped he would end up at least sixteen hands....  I have no idea if he will make it, but I still have my fingers crossed.  :)

One of the things that I found so fun with raising a weanling was watching and tracking his growth so I religiously measured him every month.  Since I didn't have a stick (the ones they use to measure horses, forgot what they are called lol) I was improvising with a 1 by 4, a level and a measuring tape, so it wasn't always totally accurate, but here is what I ended up with (and the final totals of each year):

10-19-09 - 5 Months - 12.2hh
11-19-09 - 6 Months - 12.3hh - Height Gain:  ½ inch
12-19-09 - 7 Months - 12.3½hh - Height Gain:  ½ inch
1-19-10 - 8 Months - 13¼hh - Height Gain:  ¾ inch
2-19-10 - 9 Months - 13.1½hh - Height Gain:  1¼ inch
3-19-10 - 10 Months - 13.2½hh - Height Gain:  1 inch
4-19-10 - 11 Months - 13.3hh - Height Gain:  ½ inch
5-19-10 - 1 Year - 13.3½hh - Height Gain:  7/16th of an inch
Total growth from five months to one year:  5.5 Inches

6-19-10 - 1 Year 1 Month - 14hh - Height Gain:  ½ inch
7-19-10 - 1 Year 2 Months - 14¾hh - Height Gain: ¾ inch
8-19-10 - 1 Year 3 Months - 14.1½hh - Height Gain: ¾ inch
9-19-10 - 1 Year 4 Months - 14.2hh - Height Gain: ½ inch
10-19-10 - 1 Year 5 Months - 14.3hh - Height Gain: 1 inch
11-19-10 - 1 Year 6 Months - 14.3hh - Height Gain: Approx. 3/8 of an inch
12-19-10 - 1 Year 7 Months - 14.3½hh - Height Gain: ½ inch
1-19-11 - 1 Year 8 Months - 14.3¾hh - Height Gain: ¼ inch
2-19-11 - 1 Year 9 Months - 15¼hh - Height Gain: ½ inch
3-19-11 - 1 Year 10 Months - 15¼hh - Height Gain: None
4-19-11 - 1 Year 11 Months - 15¾hh - Height Gain: ½ inch
5-19-11 - 2 Years - 15.1hh - Height Gain: ¼ inch
Total growth from one year to two years:  5.5 Inches

6-19-11 - 2 Years 1 Month - 15.1hh - Height Gain: None
7-19-11 - 2 Years 2 Months - 15.1hh - Height Gain: None
8-19-11 - 2 Years 3 Months - 15.1hh - Height Gain: None
9-19-11 - 2 Years 4 Months - 15.1hh - Height Gain: None
10-19-11 - 2 Years 5 Months - 15.1hh - Height Gain: None
11-19-11 - 2 Years 6 Months - 15.1½hh - Height Gain: ½ inch
12-19-11 - 2 Years 7 Months - 15.1½hh - Height Gain: None
1-19-12 - 2 Years 8 Months - 15.1½hh - Height Gain: None
2-19-12 - 2 Years 9 Months - 15.1½hh - Height Gain: None
3-19-12 - 2 Years 10 Months - 15.1½hh - Height Gain: None
4-19-12 - 2 Years 11 Months - 15.1¾hh - Height Gain: ¼ inch
5-19-12 - 3 Years - 15.1¾hh - Height Gain: ¼ inch
Total growth from two years to three years:  ¾ Inch

6-19-12 - 3 Years 1 Month - 15.2hh - Height Gain: ¼ inch
7-19-12 - 3 Years 2 Months - 15.2hh - Height Gain: None
8-19-12 - 3 Years 3 Months - 15.2hh - Height Gain: None
Total growth from three years to four years:  N/A 

See the one I highlighted in yellow?  Between two and three years old he only grew 3/4 of an inch.... is that normal??  Do you think he will make it to 16hh?  Anyone want to make bets?  My guess is that if he grows an inch a year over the next couple of years that he should (hopefully) make it to 16hh by the time he's five.  What do you think?  16hh by four, five, six?  Won't make 16hh?  Will have a sudden growth spurt and will reach a monstrous 18hh by the time he's four?  LOL!  Only joking, of course.  

And to wrap up this post a picture of his cuteness as a baby:

Snow Pictures

Okay, I have finally caught up in photo editing to show you the snow pictures from Monday. I think these are so cute! Here is Chrome's opinion of his new toy after having the chance to investigate it a little.

I woke up and looked out my window to see him playing with it in his paddock.

He loves walking around and swinging it in circles.

I should have gotten a video but I didn't think about it until later. Oh well.

Then I went out into his paddock, which of course distracted him from playing, so I had to toss the toy a couple of times.

He gave a halfhearted attempt, but was more interested in finding out if I had feed.

So I let him out of his paddock.

And he played some more.

And some more.

So there we have it. Chrome adores his new toy. :) So now he has two toys. The rings and a Jolly Ball. I'm going to buy sugar cubes today because a friend told me that most colts learn to eat it pretty easily. So maybe I can start clicker training sooner than spring. We'll see how it goes. :)

A New Toy

I said yesterday that I was going to post the snow pictures, but they will have to wait because I completely forgot about these pictures. Because Chrome loves to play so much I bought him a new toy.

This is actually a dog toy, but considering the way Chrome loves swinging things around (especially sticks) I thought he would adore this toy!

He gave it a nibble . . .

. . . and decided my jacket tasted better!

So I tossed it on the ground. He gave it a sniff . . .

. . . and decided grass was better.

Below are some more random pictures from our fun day on Sunday. I'll post the snow pictures from yesterday tomorrow.

This picture shows where his fur is turning white. Someday he'll turn gray (solid white).

Running, bucking and playing. I like how all the chickens scattered in the first picture.
Click to enlarge.

Showing off his long, floaty trot.

Showing off his gorgeous Friesian neck when greeting my husband.

Checking out the dorky floppy hat.

That's all for today. Look forward to snow pictures tomorrow! Now I gotta go to work before I'm late. :)

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year everyone! I've had a great day and I hope yours has been just as special. Last night I decided to brave the cold and go out to take a picture of Chrome at midnight so I would know what he was doing when we welcomed in 2010. And as usual my sweet little colt was being totally adorable.

Chrome has decided he likes lipping at my hands. I know this is a precursor to getting nippy like colts have a tendency to do so I'm not going to let him do it anymore, but I just couldn't resist getting pictures of it last night. You can click to enlarge.

Look at those cute whiskers! Now I'm going to share my 2010 goals for Chrome. Here goes . . .

1. Spend a lot of time desensitizing Chrome. I don't want to do this in the old fashioned way of flooding the horse until he no longer responds. I'm going to attempt to use the clicker training method of desensitization. Clicking and rewarding him for exploring new objects and accepting new experiences, stimulus and sounds.

2. Take Chrome on more walks out on the roads so he can get used to traffic and other things he might see out on the trail. I'd also like to take him out without another horse to see how he does but I'll wait to do that until we've started clicker training so I can communicate with him what I want and what he's doing right. Otherwise I'd be forcing him to leave his companion, hauling him around when he's upset and frightened, thus building up a negative association to the roads. That would lead to a buddy sour horse in a heartbeat. It could possibly lead to being barn sour too.

3. Teach Chrome some tricks with clicker training, specifically to smile. :)

4. Write on Chrome's blog more. I know I've slacked off with the colder weather so I'm going to try to do better.

5. Continue to work on trailering him to new places. I don't want the only time he ever gets on a trailer to be for a vet visit. We have a local riding club with a covered arena, so I'll probably start trying to haul him there. This will of course depend on our schedules since I haven't learned to pull a trailer yet. :)

Well that's all for now. I hope everyone had a wonderful first day of the new year. Mine was great and I'm going to strive to continue that theme for the rest of the year. :)

Merry Christmas! -Picture Intensive-

Sorry, I have about a million pictures to show of Chrome's first snow and his first Christmas!! It's well worth it though so please be patient. I had so much fun with him this morning even though the wind was blowing in almost twenty mile per hour gusts with a wind chill in the single digits! I had to go inside three times just to warm my hands so I could click the shutter button on my camera!! Remember you can click the images to enlarge and I'll be writing the captions above the pictures. Just want to prevent any confusion.

Up first we have one of my favorites. This is such a beautiful picture of Chrome cantering and Sarge running in the background. Chrome was so full of himself. I had so much fun watching him gallop around, play with sticks, rear and buck.

This second picture shows Chrome sliding to a stop as he came around their paddock at a dead run and saw me in his path. I actually got hit by dirt clods!! I'm glad he had such good reaction speed because I wasn't moving fast enough to get out of the way. :)

A couple of cute trotting pictures.

This is a cute picture of him galloping. I just love how his feet are together. It looks like he's hopping around like a lamb . . . or goat kid!

Kicking up his heels. Wish I'd gotten the rest of his body in the shot, but I couldn't zoom out fast enough. Don't worry he's not as close to me as he looks. So far he's not shown any inclination to kick in my direction, even when he's feeling playful.

I like how the wind has his mane blown straight up in the air in this picture.

Pawing at the icy ground.

Playing with a stick. Definitely his favorite game. He likes to swing them in circles. I'll have to get a video sometime. It's very cute!

This is such a cute picture!! I caught him in the middle of shaking his head. I don't know how I got such a sharp image with his movement, but I'm glad I did because it's one of my favorites.

Still chewing on his stick.

I like his expression in this one. Look at that eye!

I realized during the second time he was pawing what it was he was doing. He was actually pawing frozen sticks loose from the ground! So smart!

Checking in with me.

Being silly.

Chasing the cat. I love how this picture turned out. Definitely my favorite picture of the morning! If you look closely you'll notice Sarge running to intercept the cat. :)

Giving me silly faces. I think he wanted me to play instead of standing still to take pictures, but there was no way I was getting away from the tree I was using to block the wind lol.

Looking very handsome!

Walking into a twenty mile an hour gust of wind. It was crazy!

Silly colt.

Found another stick.

I wish I hadn't had the camera zoomed in for this next shot! I was not expecting him to rear up, as he never does. Just shows how excited he gets about those sticks. I'm going to have to find him some more toys.

Proudly carrying his stick around.

Still playing with sticks. I like his expression in this picture. :)

Investigating the plywood that was leaned up against a tree, but fell over.

Coming to see me again.

I wish this one wasn't so blurry and was zoomed out a bit, but still had to share. It's hard to get still shots of galloping horses. If my husband had been home I would have gotten more video.

I love the way his neck looks in this picture! Once again the wind has blown his mane straight up into the air.

Saying hi.

Either looking for grass or sticks.

Looking for the neighbor's horse.

And after grazing for a while he came back inside the barn for breakfast. :)

Last but not least, a short video to really put into perspective how silly this colt is.