# When do horses stop growing?



## chunkytfg (16 October 2008)

Just curious about our 4yo ISH

he is only 15hh but is quite bum high.

some people have said he's finished growing by 4 and others rekon there is probably another 1/2  hand in him yet?

What do you rekon?

I dont have any pics yet that would show it.  just general opinions would be a good start


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## hadfos (16 October 2008)

All depends on what his mature height will be??how big were parents??and actual breeding....my tb was never raced as i bought him at 6mnth old,he had a final growth spurt at 8yrs old 
	
	
		
		
	


	




,he is 17hh,was never force fed to grow up quickly and was left to develop!!
The bigger warmblood types take longer to grow up and develop,also horses that have big parents,if he is bum high he hasnt finished growing and should be given time off for front end to catch up!!Hope this helps...as for the they have finished growing at 4...bull,as said above depends on type breed etc etc


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## chunkytfg (16 October 2008)

When you say given time off how do you mean?

would time off be no work or nothing too serious?  

As things stand he will be used to gentle hacking till april time when my step daughter will have finished her winter dressage league and will move onto schooling the new horse.


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## ironhorse (16 October 2008)

Our American Quarter Horse grew 2in between the age of 6 and 8 and between the age of 8 and 9 has put on so much muscle that she's had to have new English and Western saddles. Good reasoning for buying s-h rugs (also gone from a 6ft to a 6ft 3in rugs) and tack for youngsters!


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## lizzieuk1 (16 October 2008)

i have an ISH aswell and got him as a 4yo, he was 16.1 when i got him and he is now 6 and i feel only just stopped growing and is now 16.3 !! he was also quite croup high when i got him so i would expect yours to grow a bit yet.  they do tend to take a bit longer to grow than the tb types and i have also noticed that it takes this time for them to be able to work properly.


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## Damnation (16 October 2008)

It all depends on the height of the parents, what breed the horse is etc.
When I got my mare she was 4. A TB so I would have thought she was fully mature. I got her, she muscled up and filled out by 2 saddle sizes and shot up 2 and a half inches 
	
	
		
		
	


	




I doubt she will have another growth spurt but when I had her vetted etc the vet said she wouldn't grow! Now I have a full up 15.2hh


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## at work (16 October 2008)

I think their skeletons are pretty much full height at 4 and by about 5 the are joints fused etc. _someone will correct me on ages for this! So they won't technically "grow" anymore after 4-5 but physical maturity and muscling up can take a few years after this, so a mature well muscled horse will look totally different to and much bigger than an unridden 4yo


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## Shilasdair (16 October 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
I think their skeletons are pretty much full height at 4 and by about 5 the are joints fused etc. _someone will correct me on ages for this! So they won't technically "grow" anymore after 4-5 but physical maturity and muscling up can take a few years after this, so a mature well muscled horse will look totally different to and much bigger than an unridden 4yo 

[/ QUOTE ]

No, there is no set age for skeletal growth to stop, although parts of the skeleton mature more quickly than others.
My Tb mare grew an inch after she was five.
S


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## Taffster (16 October 2008)

Have to agree here my horse has grown just short of 3" from rising 4 to rising 7 and he is still looking bigger and bigger each season started in a 5'9" rug and is now in 6'3 - 6'6" so definately carried on growing from 5 years.


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## PennyJ (16 October 2008)

I would say by 8 they won't get any taller, but may still chunk out.  Just my personal experience/opinion though.  And of course each one is different.


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