# Percheron/Arab Gelding - Please Critique!



## shermanismybaby3006 (Oct 10, 2008)

I think he is cute. How tall is he?


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

The one thing I can see is that he appears to have a really big body on short legs, I'm not sure how that will affect him though. He's a beautiful guy!


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## equineangel91 (Oct 8, 2008)

i agree. he does seem to have short legs. However they do seem thick enough. I doubt if itd be a major problem


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## onetoomany (Dec 10, 2008)

Kind of hard to say from these photos. The ground looks like it's unven, which could be a large attribute of some of the issues that I'm seeing. I'm seeing different faults in each photo, so I think it is the photos not the horse. Do you have any other photos?


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## Jubilee (Dec 15, 2008)

I have more photos that might better show his conformation. I'll post them in a bit once I find them.

I'm not exactly sure how tall he is, he's never been measured. I'm not the best at estimating height but I would guess he's about 16hh.

Jubilee


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## Jubilee (Dec 15, 2008)

Well, I wasn't able to find any better still pictures, they were pretty much all like the ones I already showed you. But here are two short video clips I took that show is conformation a little. Their not the best but they may help. Forgive my goofiness in these vids, I get a little giddy when meeting new horse . He's being a little pushy in these vids and I'm sort of letting him get away with it, but this was the first time I met him and I was just trying to focus on us becoming friends. I'm working with hom now on respecting spacial bondries.





Jubilee


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## morganshow11 (Dec 19, 2008)

ummmm... he would be a good carrige horse, dressage, english or western.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

The only thing that I see is that his croup is kinda steep and his pasterns are a little short but those are traits that he probably got from his draft parent. I think he could be good at anything he tried. He has a very beautiful head with an expressive face like and arab.

Also, he seems a little flabby but that is easily remedied. He could use a little more definition in his chest and hip but that will come with fitness.


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## onetoomany (Dec 10, 2008)

I'd like to see a little more balance between his front and back end. I agree that his pasterns are short and it also seems as though the angles of his front feet are off. He looks as though he could use a little more heel. I also agree with smrobs that he could use a little trimming up.

I disagree though that he would make a good dressage horse as I think he would lack the impulssion, movement and ability to collect for long periods of time; his throat latch just seems to thick for it. I also don't think he would be a competitve western horse. Trail horse? Yes. Western show horse? No.


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## Jubilee (Dec 15, 2008)

I got a closer look at his hoofs today and he definitely needs a trim. I noticed something a little odd that I hadn't noticed before. There is a lot more wear on the outside edge of his hoofs than the inside. What does that mean? It's mostly seen on his right legs but it's the same way on his other hoofs too. The ferrier should be coming out in a few days. 

I've seen Percherons and PercheronX do dressage before. It's true that he may have trouble with impulsion at first, but his movement is actually pretty good. The other day he started side passing without me asking him to (I was on the ground and trying to teach him to lunge, he got a little confused and offered that all on his own), it was a nearly perfect side pass. His neck isn't nearly as throaty as it looks in these pictures, I don't think he would have much problem staying colected. Granted, it's going to take time to get him into the shape where he can maintain collection for periods of time. I admit that it is hard to tell from what I've posted. What does everyone else think?

Jubilee


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## Solon (May 11, 2008)

He's got the draft body with a small head and short legs. He might have some collection issues. I like his color.


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## makin tracks (Jan 25, 2009)

He's very Percheron. He has a lovely head and a really kind eye. He seems a little long in the body/back end but I can't quite put my finger on where the extra length is.

My daughter had a horse once which had quite short stocky legs (he needed them to carry his body) and, boy, could he drop his back end and power along!!

Does he have to be a competition horse? He would make a lovely general riding horse for the heavier rider.


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## Jubilee (Dec 15, 2008)

No, he does not need to be a competition horse, I just want some ideas about what he COULD do. I found out yesterday that he is a little older than I thought he was, originally they told me that he was 4 or 5 but actually he is 6 or 7. So it may be a little more difficult to train him as a competition horse. It's just that when I'm working with a horse I want to try and help them live up to their greatest potential. I really like Pride, he has a really good mind, I would be interested in buying him. His owners expressed to me yesterday that they are thinking of selling him. I told them that I would be interested in taking him, but it would probably be another year before I could. They seemed pretty excited about that and said that they may just hold onto him for another year. At that point I could at least train him a little more and get him ready to sell to someone else if I decided I didn't want to keep him. 

I wouldn't expect him to be a great competition horse, but if I were to train him myself I would progress him as far as he could go. My main discipline is Dressage so I would train him in those principles. But I'm also big into trail riding, so if that's all Pride was ever good at I'd be happy with that. 

Jubilee


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## makin tracks (Jan 25, 2009)

Well, I think he will be a lovely riding horse provided he has a nice temperament and he feels right for you.

I believe in one horse for everything because rarely can you afford one for each thing and in my experience they usually do very well in everything you ask of them provided you just want to have fun and not go to the olympics.
Sometimes, they can surprise you and reveal hidden talent you never suspected.

Plus, I don't think 7 is too old to train for competition (depending of course what level you are looking at) as we have had horses 11 or 12 in the past who have turned their hoof to whatever we have thrown at them and done very well thank you. i.e. going top 5 at state level pony club comps.

I reckon go for it Jubilee, if you realy like him, that's the main thing.


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## Jubilee (Dec 15, 2008)

I get what you are saying. I would much rather have a few horses that were versatile enough to do many things, than many horses that could only do one thing each. Horses are my intended career so I will end up having many horses, but they will probably all range in their skill sets. I want to give riding lessons, as well as train and retrain horses, so maybe Pride would eventually be a good lesson horse for adult beginner riders. Of course, only time will tell if he's up to that sort of job. I would definitely want to try to show him, as I'll probably try to do with most of my future horses, but I would not expect him to be my main show horse (unless he just decides to surprise me ). 

So you don't think 7 is too old to saddle train a horse well? I'd be up to the challenge, even if it meant he would only turn out to be a trail horse. 

Here is a link to another thread I posted in the Horse Pictures section. It has photos of Pride running around. He moves very nicely.

http://www.horseforum.com/horse-pictures/pride-motion-21454/

Jubilee


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## makin tracks (Jan 25, 2009)

He does look nice when he's moving. 

In my opinion 7 is not too old, it depends on the time you spend and of course, the horses attitude.

I had an "of the track" boy who was 9 and he became a very adept sporter and jumper, and wouldn't have made a half bad dressager if he hadn't done a suspensory ligiment - not a world beater, but pretty good for the competition in my area. He just wanted to please and was happy to try anything (very enthusiastically sometimes). 

However, one thing he did NOT get and never will is campdrafting. He thought chasing cows around a course was the most stupit and tedious thing he had ever done. In fact, he spent the whole round looking at the arena fence and deciding what his chances were of jumping it. 

So, I lived with the fact that he would never win the 'Gold Cup' and satisfied myself with him bringing home lots of ribbons for his other endeavours.

Even my old girl, who, at 19 had her first game of polocrosse, and she wasn't too bad at it and I reckon if I had given her a few more lessons she could have competed at a base level carnival quite successfully.

All you have to do is give them a chance to do what ever it is you want to do and they usually will have a pretty **** good go at it.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Of course 7 is not too old. My newest mustang turns 7 this year and only has about 60 rides on him. It all depends on the horse's physical ability and temperment as to whether he will be easily trained or not. All you can do is give it your best shot and I'm sure that he will do the same. Good luck


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## jacken around (Oct 14, 2008)

Oh Man he's So cute with those little legs and big round body just wanna cuddle him


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## jeddah31 (Jun 11, 2008)

He's very percherony. I have a percheronxTB and I can see a lot of her in him. (exept the arab face!)

Short legs on a bold and long body tend to be a major percheron breeed trait. He could definately use muscle all around his hindquarters..but he's not even broken in is he?

Perchys have great quiet manners, and I think he could do ok with basic flat work and dressage. Jumping would be pushing it, only because he has SUCH a solid build, I'd say if he was trained to heavily in jumping he'd break down further down the track, i don't think his legs would cope with the impact, however small jumps every now and theen would be good for him!

He looks like he'd be a great kids horse or trail riding horse


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## Jubilee (Dec 15, 2008)

No, he's not broke yet. He's absolutely no training. He's a completely clean slate. Because he's six years old, he may have some trouble with his training because he will probably be a little set in his ways. But I'm still hopeful for his training. 

I'm not a jumper (never have really done ANY jumping except for logs and ditches on trails) so I have no plans for making him jump. Dressage is my thing... along with trail riding. 

I do like that he takes so much after his daddy. I love arabs, but they are not really my favorite conformationally. I really love draft type horses.

I had a weird dream last night that Pride's owners sold him to their neighbors . It made me really sad in my dream, I felt betrayed. It was really weird. 

Jubilee


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## SamboStar (Sep 18, 2008)

I think he looks very cute! I love the arab face. Is that him in your av?


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## HaflingerCowGirl (May 10, 2007)

Awww he has a perchy barrel belly  so cute. the short legs just make him look like a pulling horse.


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## Jubilee (Dec 15, 2008)

Yep, that's him in my avatar. That has to be one of my favorite pics of him. It was taken the first day I met him. He was VERY curious about my camera. He tried to eat it a couple times, haha 

Jubilee


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## Lucara (Apr 5, 2008)

Hey, how is your project going? Any final pics of him? ooorrr any more pics of him in general? LOL


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## Jubilee (Dec 15, 2008)

Yep, I finished the project. I didn't get to do everything I wanted to, but my deadline was up. He still looked stunning though. I'll post some pictures of it soon. Things have been really busy lately.

Jubilee


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## Jubilee (Dec 15, 2008)

Here we go. Here are a couple before and after pictures of him. 

These were taken the day I first met him. 



















These were taken the last time I went out to see him.




























Tell me what you think of the improvement.

Jubilee


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## Remali (Jul 22, 2008)

Dang! I love him! I'd like to have him and use him for trails, gosh he is just beautiful.


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## Jubilee (Dec 15, 2008)

I certainly think he would be a fun trail mount. He would most definitely catch people's attention . I really hope that it works out for me to keep him. 

Jubilee


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I'm sure that it will. He is beautiful. I love dapple grays, the only bad thing about them is that they will all eventually turn white.  Not that I have anything against white horses but I like darker grays better.


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## Jubilee (Dec 15, 2008)

Yeah, I feel the same. I wish that horses stayed dapple grey forever. But that's okay, I think he'll make a lovely white horse too.

Jubilee


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## Remali (Jul 22, 2008)

I love those dapples too.....but he will be stunning pure white too. He's a beauty.


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## BarneyBabby (Nov 18, 2008)

Im guess the first 2 pics are the before and the last 3 are the after. Because the last 2 seem that he has lost the some flab and and went to Fab haha.
Hes beautiful! And the last 3 photo it looks like hes more lively.....


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## Jubilee (Dec 15, 2008)

Yeah, the first two were the before pictures, the last three were after 

If he did loose some flab it probably didn't have anything to do with me, I really have exercised him much. Mostly I've been working with ground manors and I've only just begun lunging him. But you're right he does look a little more lively... maybe he did loose some weight too???

Jubilee


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## Starlight (Dec 15, 2008)

I think BB is right. He did loose some weight I think its just because he is do MORE exercises. It might not be much but enough to help.


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