It is very important to keep a young horses feet and indeed any horses feet, in great shape, right from the start.
A young horse still has much growing to do. There is no such thing as an ‘early maturing’ or ‘slow maturing’ breed of horse. No horse of any breed, at any time, is or ever has been skeletally mature before the age of six (give or take six months).
As far as their skeletons go, all horses are exactly the same.
The growth plate at the top of the coffin bone (the most distal bone of the limb) is fused at birth. This means that the coffin bones get no taller after birth and it’s the first growth plate to fuse.
In order of fusion after that:
Short pastern – top and bottom between birth and 6 months.
Long pastern – top and bottom between 6 months and one year.
Cannon bone – top and bottom between 8 months and 1.5 years.
Small bones of the knee – top and bottom of each bone, between 1.5 and 2.5 years.
Bottom of radius-ulna – between 2 and 2.5 years.
Weight-bearing portion of glenoid notch at top of radius – between 2.5 and 3 years.
Humerus – top and bottom, between 3 and 3.5 years.
Scapula – glenoid or bottom (weight-bearing) portion – between 3.5 and 4 years. Hindlimbs – the lower portions are the same as the forelimbs.
Hock – this joint is late and the growth plates on the tibial and fibular tarsals don’t fuse until the horse is four. The hocks are a known weak point and even 18th century literature warns against driving young horses in a plow, deep or heavy going footing and jumping them at height, for the danger of spraining their hocks. Tibia – top and bottom, between 3 and 3.5 years.
Femur – bottom, between 3 and 3.5 years, greater and 3rd trochanters – between 2.5 and 3 years.
Neck – between 2.5 and 3 years.
Pelvis – growth plates on the points of hip, peak of croup (tubera sacrale) and points of buttock (tuber ischii), between 3 and 4 years.
The last is the vertebral column. A normal horse has 32 vertebrae between the back of the skull and the root of the dock and there are several growth plates on each one, the most important of which is the one capping the centrum. These do not fuse until the horse is at least 5 1⁄2 years old. The taller your horse and the longer its neck, the later the last fusions will occur and for a male horse you add six months or so.
A young horse still has much growing to do. There is no such thing as an ‘early maturing’ or ‘slow maturing’ breed of horse. No horse of any breed, at any time, is or ever has been skeletally mature before the age of six (give or take six months).
As far as their skeletons go, all horses are exactly the same.
The growth plate at the top of the coffin bone (the most distal bone of the limb) is fused at birth. This means that the coffin bones get no taller after birth and it’s the first growth plate to fuse.
In order of fusion after that:
Short pastern – top and bottom between birth and 6 months.
Long pastern – top and bottom between 6 months and one year.
Cannon bone – top and bottom between 8 months and 1.5 years.
Small bones of the knee – top and bottom of each bone, between 1.5 and 2.5 years.
Bottom of radius-ulna – between 2 and 2.5 years.
Weight-bearing portion of glenoid notch at top of radius – between 2.5 and 3 years.
Humerus – top and bottom, between 3 and 3.5 years.
Scapula – glenoid or bottom (weight-bearing) portion – between 3.5 and 4 years. Hindlimbs – the lower portions are the same as the forelimbs.
Hock – this joint is late and the growth plates on the tibial and fibular tarsals don’t fuse until the horse is four. The hocks are a known weak point and even 18th century literature warns against driving young horses in a plow, deep or heavy going footing and jumping them at height, for the danger of spraining their hocks. Tibia – top and bottom, between 3 and 3.5 years.
Femur – bottom, between 3 and 3.5 years, greater and 3rd trochanters – between 2.5 and 3 years.
Neck – between 2.5 and 3 years.
Pelvis – growth plates on the points of hip, peak of croup (tubera sacrale) and points of buttock (tuber ischii), between 3 and 4 years.
The last is the vertebral column. A normal horse has 32 vertebrae between the back of the skull and the root of the dock and there are several growth plates on each one, the most important of which is the one capping the centrum. These do not fuse until the horse is at least 5 1⁄2 years old. The taller your horse and the longer its neck, the later the last fusions will occur and for a male horse you add six months or so.