Pedigree Query

my buddy says first year mares are not the best because the foal doesn't have the room to grow as much as a second+

but sometimes he likes to talk about stuff I don't know anything about so i just have to check to see if he is full of crap

thoughts?

Both Arrogate and California Chrome were first foals. They seemed to do pretty well.

I never said my buddy was smart; let alone a student of history.

There are other factors. First foals can be "small" especially if the dam is a very young filly. If the mother is not fully grown you might end up with a small horse. Both Arrogate and California Chrome were out of '06 mares so Arrogate's dam was 6 and CC's dam was 4 when each was bred. Some people will breed a two year old filly because they Can. Even a three year old if she is not fully developed may not be ready. Think about the mother as having a finite set of energy, nutrition and minerals required for her own body and now having to put that into factory production and share it. You might consider wanting the mother's body to just not need that to finish her own body's production or what can happen if you make her split it with a foal. Some TB's are precocious and have long bone growth concluded at 25-28 months and some not until 30+ months. It's really a case by case kind of thing.