Please ask yourself: is there any reason that you have to be riding that particular horse before he’s four?

Lihtsalt mõned laused välja rebitult, et teinekordki sel teemal mõtiskleda. Esimene allikas on sisuliselt lühem variant teisest, kui keegi neid lugeda viitsib.

http://www.hoofrehab.com/ArticlesPDF/Timing%20and%20Rate%20of%20skeletal%20maturation%20in%20Horses.pdf

• No horse on earth, of any breed, at any time, is or has ever been skeletally mature before the age of six (plus or minus six months).
• The process of converting the growth plates to bone goes from the bottom of the animal up. In other words, the lower down toward the hoofs you look, the earlier the growth plates will have fused; and the higher up toward the animal’s back you look, the later. 
• Hock – this joint is “late” for as low down as it is; growth plates on the tibial and fibular tarsals don’t fuse until the animal is four so the hocks are a known “weak point”.
• And what do you think is last? The vertebral column, of course. A normal horse has 32 vertebrae. These do not fuse until the horse is at least 5 ½ years old and this figure applies to a small-sized, scrubby, range-raised mare. The taller your horse and the longer its neck, the later the last fusions will occur. And for a male – is this a surprise? – you add six months. So you have to be careful – very careful – not to yank the neck around on your young horse, or get him in any situation where he strains his neck (i.e., better learn how to get a horse broke to tie before you ever tie him up, so that there will be no likelihood of him ever pulling back hard).
• What is very unlikely to happen is that you’ll damage the growth plates in his legs. At the worst, there may be some crushing of the cartilages, but the number of cases of deformed limbs due to early use is tiny. The cutting-horse futurity people, who are big into riding horses as young as a year and a half, will tell you this and they are quite correct. Want to damage legs? There’s a much better way – just overfeed your livestock (you ought to be able to see a young horse’s ribs – not skeletal, but see ‘em – until he’s two). 
• Structural damage to the horse’s back from early riding is somewhat easier to produce than structural damage to his legs. Did you ever wish your horse would “round up” a little better? Collect a little better? Respond to your leg by raising his back, coiling his loins, and getting his hindquarter up underneath him a little better? The young horse knows, by feel and by “instinct”, that having a weight on his back puts him in physical jeopardy.

http://www.equinestudies.org/ranger_2008/ranger_piece_2008_pdf1.pdf

• American breeders and race trainers have programs for young horses, even foals, in which they run as a group or herd to left, on unbanked hard turf or dirt. When bone-scans or postmortem studies are done on young horses that have undergone this "preconditioning", it is found that the left sidewalls of the cannon bone shafts have thickened in response to the stress. This is remodeling of the bone.
• It is the spine of the horse that governs the overall coordination of the limbs and the animal's running "style". It is the spine, not the limbs, that the animal primarly uses to compensate for potholes, slick spots, and other irregularities in the track.
• So do you then have to wait until all these growth plates convert to bone? No. But the longer you wait, the safer you'll be. Decisions when to ride should not be based on the external appearance of the horse. There are some breeds which have been bred in such a manner as to look mature long before they actually are mature. 
• Take away the emotional worry and mental concern, teach the animal to release the muscles of his topline and those of the crest of his neck and all your concerns with whether he has a good "nod" or why he is maybe pacing are going to fade right away.

Ärge siis kartke noortele hobustele vähem jõusööta anda:

http://www.equinews.com/article/physitis-young-horses-diet-change-often-necessary

• An overconsumption of energy is typically the root cause of physitis, assuming there’s been no physical trauma such as running on dry, hard ground.
• Breeders shouldn’t be concerned that a slowdown in growth will affect mature size, as generally this will not happen. It might take a little longer to achieve physical maturity, but the advantages of sound growth far outweigh any benefits to a hurry-up-and-get-there approach.
• On the other hand, offering a young horse with physitis middling hay and no other source of nutrients is not the answer either. Young horses still require protein, especially lysine, and essential minerals. 

Lõpetuseks ka insuliiniresistentsuse teemadel:

http://www.equinews.com/article/laminitis-insulin-resistance-equine-metabolic-syndrome-fast-facts

• Feeding cereal-rich diets can induce insulin dysregulation even if a horse or pony does not become obese in sensitive individuals
• Horses and ponies fed only one carbohydrate-rich meal a day had better insulin responses than horses and ponies fed multiple meals that potentially overstimulate insulin receptors.