Closed Knees

[griff]

We have a 3S X 3D to numbered Account 2009 Not For Love colt that we bred to sell and are looking at the F-T Mid Atlantic 2 YO-IN-TRAINING sale in May 2011.

The colt will be will be 24 months in March 2001 and was put with a "horse Whisper" last March who did a great job and even had him under saddle but with no rider.. He's turned back out now with two other yearling colts and is looking very good..

A major concern is this colt's half brother's knees were very slow to close and I am concerned about our sales plans if Phoebus Rising is also slow to close his knees.

We have him and the other two colts on gelatin which I think is an excellent supplement for bone and joint development but I'm not at all sure this will have any effect in speeding up his knee maturity..

I'm willing to try anything that has a decent following but am somewaht under whelmed with OCD pellets and Cal Density as I think I would be just as well off supplementing Calf Manna and lime.

Any suggestions will be appreciated. And we are aware this "breed-to-sell" might turn into a colt we race as a 3 YO.

griff

[griff]

Phoebus Rising is a 2009 colt and our original plans were to nominate him for the 2011 F-T 2 YO-IN-TRAINING Mid Atlantic sale in May 2011

sorry about the 2001 mistake

griff

[cewright]

I'm willing to try anything that has a decent following but am somewaht under whelmed with OCD pellets and Cal Density as I think I would be just as well off supplementing Calf Manna and lime.

griff

Hope you mean limestone rather than lime. Lime (CaO) is very caustic. Limestone (CaCO3) is chalk, the stuff they use to put the lines on baseball fields. I have had good luck with limestone. I buy it in 50# bags at a ceramic supply warehouse where it is called "whiting".

Chuck

[ratherrapid]

Griff--are you concerned about the knees in terms of the horse being ridden prior to the sale, or are you concerned that the horse would be age two, be in the sale and still have open knees?

[griff]

Ratherrapid

I'm concerned about both

I dob't think a 26 month old colt would do very well in a 2 TI-IN-Training sale if he wad open knees and had never been worked at speed.

What I'm hoping to find is a magic pill or supplement that will help this colt close in time to get a few one furlong works in before the mid may 2011 sale

griff

[Laurierace]

There is no magic growth pill. I think you already know that. This is where your ethics come into question as the majority of horses breezing at the 2 year olds in training sales have open knees. At least this sale is mid May and not mid February like the ones in Cali. If this were my horse I would put a nice foundation in him and hold off on the breezes until right before the sale. Breeze him as few times as necessary. You should be able to get away with 3-4 two minute lick 1/8th and two or three works of 1/8ths of a mile. Just enough to insure he knows what he is doing. Not sure where you are located but that is definitely something we could help you with at the training center. Best of luck to you, I appreciate the fact that you care enough to ask the question even though you may not like the answer.

[zinn21]

Ditto what Laurie stated. I do think training stimulates growth but that said all you can do if you hope to breeze is x ray the knees.

[ratherrapid]

she answered it. open knees early two year old always concern me, but it does look like the old time trainers trained right through. O'Gorman's book is interesting concerning early two year old development. He specialized in that!

[griff]

Thanks for the tip on O'Gorman. I'll see if there is anything in the book that might help

griff

[ireneinwa]

Most horses close 30 days after full two.

[griff]

ireneinwa

That would be good news but all my info says they close around 28 months on average and the F-T Mid Atlantic 2 YO IN-TRAINING sale is in May when he is 26 months old.

he did get 30 days with the best horse whisperier I have ever seen at 12 months of age and hopefully that might have triggered something beneficial.

griff

[ireneinwa]

Vets say 30 days after 2yr old birthday. Thats what Ive been told and we had xrays done to confirm what the vet already said for nothing but a bill.

[zinn21]

>>Vets say 30 days after 2yr old birthday<<

I've had them open @ 27 months.

[griff]

and our colts half brother was open at 34 months

griff

[ireneinwa]

What could make the growth plates not properly close in a timely manner?