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Originally Posted by Bold Brooklynite
2YO horses are the equivalent of larger high school age humans ... they're muscular and powerful. The 8YO humans you're describing would be late-stage weanlings as horses.
Racing ... and training for racing ... helps the development and fitness of the proper parts of their bodies ... and even more important ...
... helps them develop mentally into professional athletes.
There's absolutely no data which demonstrates that late starters and light racers are more sound ... or better race horses ... than early starters and heavy racers.
Run 'em early ... and run 'em a lot ... they're no more likely to break down than they would otherwise be ... and they'll be better prepared physically and mentally for the tough career as a race horse.
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Bold Bkl
I'm only speaking from my own experiences.
All horses are different. Some mature earlier than others.
With that said, do you remember a filly named My Name's Michelle?
She ran at AQ this past winter, and won.
She was born and raised, and broke at the farm where I keep mine.
She got hurt early when a rider that was a bit too heavy for her took her to the training track before she was ready. It took her a long while to recover.
At least she got her win...but she hasn't raced back since.
That's only one example. There are quite a few more.
As I said, some can be raced early, but from my experience, it just might be better to give them a few more months to develop (calcify).
To me, it's easier to wait than push them to do something that they're not ready for.
DTS