Sometimes: Size Can Be An Issue

After a cooling homebrew, and a snoring Steven, armed with my TMobile 24 hour internet pass for just $ 6.99, I set to work. I had one issue with Sage and her possible adoption: Size.

I was surprised, when I first saw the fillies in the paddock with Sage, of their small size. Anywhere from 1 to 3 years old, they more closely resembled 10-24 month old foals, in my limited knowledge of equine babies. I had learned quite some time ago, reading over Steven's shoulder on the laptop on a BLM adoption page, that mustangs are trypically not large animals. We both noticed that larger mustangs seemed to be from the California bands. Later Robin said that while it is true that some bands tend to be taller, it really did not have anything to do geographics.

When Steven had initially spoken to Robin on the phone, she had explained a method of measuring a horse at any age that will reveal the final height. Not fully understanding the terminology, he was unable to relay it to me....otherwise I am quite sure I would have run out into the back yard and started measuring my guys....

When we measured Sage earlier in the day, using a lead rope and tracing the length from ergot to elbow, flipping the end up to the withers area, the rope said she would have 2-3 inches of growth to go. Yes! Good news! We then, of course, approached Skye and Reno: the 2 fully grown mustang mares. They were so patient. With no lead and only a flymask to hold, we measured them both. The measurement was spot on.

When the subject of size first came up after we arrived, Robin explained that often mustangs do not meet their full height until the age around 7 years old. In my reading that afternoon, that is exactly what I read, on multiple sites: mature at 4 to 7 years old. Good news, but why?

Jumping from pane to pane on the laptop, some mustang pages, some not, it occurred to me that growth spurts come at different times, and can actually be manipulated by feed, specifically: protein. However, a horse will not surpass it's genetic marker. That information I stored neatly in my mind, I proceeded to equinesite.com's bulletin board. The BB is one of my favorite horse boards for information, and there I posted a question. How to tell a young horse's finished height.

I had a few people tell me that if she is 5 years old, that is about as large as she would be. A few offered a method of measuring from the coronary band ( hair/hoof line) to the middle of the knee, then translate the inches to hands. There! At least I had another tool.

I woke Steven up at 6, we contacted Robin and left to meet she and Mike at the barn to go get some dinner. We followed our new horse friends to a restaurant that had teriffic atmosphere and very good food! I don't think I ever knew the name of the place, or I have just completely forgotten, but we had a wonderful time chatting about everything under the sun. Both Steven and I noticed that they knew nearly everyone that came in the place.....I felt like we were dining with local celebrities. You gotta love that small town flavor.

Over dinner, Robin asked if we were going to be around much the next day: Monday. We had no great plans to rush home, we wanted to spend a bit more time with Sage anyway. Robin explained she wanted to put the first ride on who she called " Little Sage", a 3 year old that had already been adopted but was at the barn for training. Mike would be at work and she explained she would like to have some horse people around. Of course we said yes!

Left the restaurant around 10 or so, back to the hotel, Steven crashed.....and I read, just a little bit more.......