>>>> Are there any studies or expert articles about icelandics growth rates? I >>>> bet they peak out early in life height wise and then bulk out as they age. >>>> Whereas my walking horses seem to grow taller and taller til age 5-7, and >>>> then once they got their full height started bulking up.
What I've noticed Janice, is that with "big" breeds, newborns can often walk under their dam's bellies for the first day or two, maybe up to a week. I haven't seen an Icelandic foal that can do that, even Landi, who was born slightly earlier in the gestation cycle than my other foals. To me, they seem very tall proportionally when they are born. Now is this just an Icelandic thing? Or is it a pony thing? Or is it because all of my mares have carried their foals fairly long, a couple almost a full year? I don't have any experience with other pony foals, so I don't know. Now, as far as how long it takes horses to get their full heights...I've had only two "big horse" foals that I bought as weanlings. Gracie was as tall as she is now when she was two, but man, did she ever bulk up afterwards. Cruise on the other hand, was barely 13H when he was two, and very refined, looking more like a light-bodied TB colt rather than a bulldog QH. Cruise continued to grow in height and bulk until he was at least six, maybe seven. Ironically, Gracie was 14.1H when she was two....and Cruise was 14.1H when he was seven, and he's definitely a bulldog QH! Same height. Gracie is QH x Mustang, and Cruise is QH, so they are basically the same type, essentially the same breed. (Both have a little TB in their QH lines.) Whatever caused the difference in their growth patterns, it wasn't a breed thing. The thing I SUSPECT is the reason, and I only suspect it, is that Cruise was gelded late. He was a cryptorchid (which seemed very rare until I met Icelandics) so for various reasons I didn't get him gelded until he was two. There is a fair amount of empirical evidence that colts that are gelded late will grow longer, and that stallions often don't grow as tall as they would, had they been gelded. Of course, that's hard to verify, since no colt can grow up both as a colt and as a gelding! Of course, Cruise could easily be a one-horse statistical fluke, but it will be interesting to see how Nasi, also gelded at two, will grow. I know another Icelandic colt who was gelded at two, who had a good growth spurt between ages four and five. It looked like he might not make it to13H, but I think he's more like 13.2 now. His growth pattern reminds me of Cruise's, making me think the age of gelding might really be a factor. It's just a guess though. It will be interesting to see if Nasi has a late growth spurt. I'm sure there are individual grow rate variations just as there are with human kids too. I was my full height by the time I was 12, whereas my own daughter continued to grow until she was about 15... Karen Thomas, NC
