# Ugly yearlings????



## mellissa (18 August 2011)

Hello all,


I think I have really been through it with the youngster I bred.  He was the most beautiful foal, up until about four months.  He was born very late- end July so is behind most others.

At five months he looked hideous- almost vertical shoulder, pot belly, skinny neck awful coat.  At seven months he was getting there.

I went to see him at 11 months and I was made up- he looked superb.  Top class prospect, I was well chuffed.


I went to see him at the weekend and he is now 12 months and 2 weeks.  He looks awful again.  His shoulder looks upright- does this change after being a yearling?  His head looks too big for his body and set on too low.  His belly has gone potty again (he is wormed!) and I don't think he has grown in the past month or so.  He looks about 14hh.


This is the first one I have bred and he is from excellent stock.  I cannot for the life of me see how his parents have created this!

Do they change lots from yearlings?

 Lots of people on here going to futurity, but there is no way I could take this one out in public!  He is so very sweet I feel mean talking about him like this- as he was so beautiful.


Can anyone else make me feel better?


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## amy_b (18 August 2011)

I think its quite normal! Alfie changed loads between 10 and 12 months!! 
I cant onto facebook to show you his 10 month photo (phew!) but here he is at 11 and 12
11 months -





12 months - 





then he went a bit runty again after this.


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## whisp&willow (18 August 2011)

dont worry!!!  he still has many years of growing to do!   willow has so far grown very evenly, but her half sister (same sire) who is two weeks older has grown in fits and starts, and will look really nice one day... bit of an ugly duckling the next! 

dont write him off until he's finished growing.  and keep your fingers and toes crossed!   xx


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## joeanne (18 August 2011)

I bought the most stunning 4 month old NF a couple of years ago. 
Last summer I was starting to wonder what the hell I was thinking when I bought him, as he was simply the most fugly yearling I have ever seen.
He is now 2 and a half and has just started to remind me why I bought him!


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## Enfys (18 August 2011)

This is just why my yearlings don't get on the pages of HHO! You are not alone 

Most were lovely foals, now they look gawky, big heads, big bellies (yes they are wormed) bum high , bless, they are growing like weeds on grass and hay - no hardfeed, healthy, happy and sound, but pretty they are _not_! 

This is one of them at 4 months (QH):






and at 13 months:






This was his sire at 2, not the prettiest of beasts:






and at 6:


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## competitiondiva (18 August 2011)

haha, I wouldn't worry, look back at this thread a year ago and I was posting the same thing!!  He looked like a giraffe with a pot belly as a yearling, here are before and after for you to see!!
Foal:





yearling (about 12 months) one of the better photos! He looked his worst through his fist winter: 





2 years:


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## maggiesmum (18 August 2011)

Mine was the same..

As a foal 






Hideous at 18months






And now as a 3yo..


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## V1NN (18 August 2011)

Doesnt the saying go something along the lines of look at them at three days old and then not again until they are 3yrs? mines went through some pretty awful stages where i thought dear god why did i buy him, but now he is beautiful  x


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## foxy1 (19 August 2011)

Is it 3 days, 3 months and 3 years?? Lots of yearling look hideous and still grow in to beautiful swans


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## Alec Swan (19 August 2011)

foxy1 said:



			Is it 3 days, 3 months and 3 years?? Lots of yearling look hideous and still grow in to beautiful swans  

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I'm not too sure how to take that!!  

Anyway,  I have yet to see a beautiful yearling which finished as a beautiful horse.  I have all so often seen the reverse,  however!!  Don't worry.  He'll be fine!

Alec.


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## Sportznight (19 August 2011)

Alec Swan said:



			Anyway,  I have yet to see a beautiful yearling which finished as a beautiful horse.
		
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Then you clearly haven't seen my 5yo   Gorgeous as a foal & yearling, OK as a 2yo, improved as a 3yo, bloody awful at 4 and now a God at 5


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## Clodagh (19 August 2011)

Piper changes every couple of weeks, he looks like a gnu for a week or so, all bones angles and looking really mutley, then he looks sleek and beautiful for a bit then I turn round again and hes horrible! Hes on no hard feed bar a handful of balancer. I think, when hes looking rough, that he can only improve!


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## GinnieRedwings (19 August 2011)

I wouldnt worry about it If you look at the Futurity listing for the 1st day at Keysoe, there are exactly 5 yearlings entered, out of 70 odd youngsters altogether. Guess why? 

Im only taking mine because he looks like this (but he is 16 months old, born in April):







But not so long ago, he looked like this (one of his better photos)  I like to call it his yak x giraffe phase:







And as a foal:









Alec Swan said:



			Anyway,  I have yet to see a beautiful yearling which finished as a beautiful horse. 




			Alec, I'll ignore that 

I started a thread on the Facebook Breeding group about yearlings and the wisdom and usefulness of evaluations like the Futurity in their case - i.e. did any of the very experienced breeders on there felt they would be able to see through the fugly stage and decide whether a yearling (one they didn't see as a foal) had potential, despite what they looked like on the day. No-one actually stuck their neck out to say they would... Several people said they wouldn't dream of showing any of their yearlings in public and one person said that the Europeans (who are very big on Futurity-like shows) thought we were mad to even consider taking yearlings and 2-year olds anywhere...

Hope that reassures you some 

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## not_with_it (19 August 2011)

GinnieRedwings said:



			I wouldnt worry about it If you look at the Futurity listing for the 1st day at Keysoe, there are exactly 5 yearlings entered, out of 70 odd youngsters altogether. Guess why? 

Im only taking mine because he looks like this (but he is 16 months old, born in April):







But not so long ago, he looked like this (one of his better photos)  I like to call it his yak x giraffe phase:







And as a foal:









Alec Swan said:



			Anyway,  I have yet to see a beautiful yearling which finished as a beautiful horse. 




			Alec, I'll ignore that 

I started a thread on the Facebook Breeding group about yearlings and the wisdom and usefulness of evaluations like the Futurity in their case - i.e. did any of the very experienced breeders on there felt they would be able to see through the fugly stage and decide whether a yearling (one they didn't see as a foal) had potential, despite what they looked like on the day. No-one actually stuck their neck out to say they would... Several people said they wouldn't dream of showing any of their yearlings in public and one person said that the Europeans (who are very big on Futurity-like shows) thought we were mad to even consider taking yearlings and 2-year olds anywhere...

Hope that reassures you some 

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It's interesting you should say that as I though my yearling looked really well for a yearling but when we went to the futurity none of the yearlings in my section got higher than a second premium. Dix is ever so slightly bum high but looks in proportion ( I call her a beefcake as she is sturdy looking) but the comments were that she needed more power from behind. If a horse is slightly bum high they will lose some of that power, but that doesnt mean she doesnt have future potential. Therefore is the futurity just like showing where they only judge what they see on the day?
		
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## shorexhorse (19 August 2011)

If they were an ugly foal, then you have no hope   But as you said yours was a beautiful baby just hang on in there.. how many teenagers look nice anyway? all spots and greasy hair and ganglyness....


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## Dexter (19 August 2011)

I bought a 10 month old foal and he was FUGLY! So the next spring I bought a beautiful foal, thinking I would show him while the fugly now yearling stopped looking so fugly. Sadly the beautiful foal is now way fuglier than the original foal ever was, however the original foal is now a 2 year old, and while hes not a show horse, hes turned into an utterly stunning 2 year old. 

I havent got any good pictures on the laptop, but I find for youngsters the best thing to do is to squint at them through half closed eyes from 100 yards away


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## mellissa (19 August 2011)

Thanks guys, it is great to see I am not alone! There is no way I could take him out in public to a futurity or even to sell!

This one is a long term investment then- no getting rich this year! Will have to keep playing the lottery. 

I am definately praying that the ugly duckling beautiful swan happens.  He was a beautiful baby so maybe there is hope!

I don't think I will see him for a couple of years now!


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## Shilasdair (19 August 2011)

Both my youngsters were so hideous as yearlings, that I could only bear to look at them in the dark.   
They all have big heads, scrawny necks, narrow shoulders, high bums, and straight back legs.
Try not to look at them any more than you have to -  rug them up til they are about 4.  
S


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## mellissa (19 August 2011)

I think that the futurity results are showing how difficult it is to look beyond what you have in front of you, with yearlings. 

Maybe that is why the price of yearlings seem to be equivalent of foals.

It is a bit exciting to wait and see what happens to the horse that you so painstakingly created, after hours of Internet searching and genetic researching.  I do hope that I will be able to see the fruits of labour blossom!


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