Anuario Raza Polo Argentino Anuario2018 | Page 256

- As a forecast of future performances in which
animals are not measured.
Growth control should begin as soon as possible,
and an important point to take into account is its
weight at birth. This is a good indicator of the adult
size the foal will eventually reach, which is also
influenced by the age of its dam and the state of
the uterine environment, as well as the season in
which it is born and its sex. Afterwards body weight
may be measured monthly. Weight registers of
lactating colts help identify possible deficiencies
in the nutritional contribution of maternal milk both
as regards quantity and quality. In practice it is
common to start taking measurements when the
foal is weaned, at which time it is easier to deal with
the foals without their dams.
Growth Rate measured in kgs/day is defined as the
weight increase over a period of time. Rapid growths
have been associated with problems related to
bone development. Numerous pathologies that
settle in different parts of the skeleton and at
different stages of growth are well known, and were
grouped together in the old days under the heading
254
of Developmental Orthopedic Diseases (DOD), and
are currently studied as Juvenile Osteochondral
Conditions (JOCC). On the other hand, foals that
grow too slowly will possibly not reach the ideal
size, and maybe this might reduce their sale value
and/or diminish its chances of reaching a sports
performance in time.
Another key issue related to monitoring growth is
to define management and feed at each stage. As
we said at first, nutritional requirements for growing
foals are usually based on age, live weight (LW),
adult weight and Growth Rate (GR). Therefore, and
according to goals proposed in order to be precise
when determining nutritional needs, it is necessary
to measure these variables.
Thus we highlight the importance of having local
growth curve models to better understand the
process of breeding and that each establishment
may be able to apply their own according to
their objectives, genetics and agro-ecological
conditions. Registers of this kind will be extremely
useful in helping to define “normal growth” in
foals; make comparisons between them and
between generations, and it will also help relate
the information with possible musculoskeletal or
performance problems in the adult athlete.