# Hunter Jumper prospect? Please critique this 6 year old thoroughbred..



## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Shoulder angle is just a tad steep
Appears to stand under himself and possibly over at the knee
Neck is thin
Slightly roach-backed
Hindquarters needs work but dont appear to be structured too badly
I would say that he is posty in the back legs, though it is hard to say with the way he is standing


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## laurenlewis24 (Dec 1, 2012)

lilruffian said:


> Shoulder angle is just a tad steep
> Appears to stand under himself and possibly over at the knee
> Neck is thin
> Slightly roach-backed
> ...


 
I am very inexperienced when it comes to these terms...could you break it down for me please? Tell me what each of these means. And could he jump?


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Ok, well the angle of his shoudler is a bit steep/upright. It should be close to 45 degrees or so (in the photo, the red line shows his shoulder angle, and the blue is roughly where it should be)
As for him standing under himself it simply means that he appears to be leaning forward on his front legs. Normally, on a correct horse you should be able to draw an imaginary line from the point of the wither, down through the leg to the back of the hoof (as in the photo, you can see he is set behind the line).
The roached back is indicated in the photo, it is slight and hard to see, but you can pick out a slight indent in the back, just before the point of croup (high point on the top of hindquarters).
Posty legs mean they are over straight (his area almost sickled, where they bend under his body from the hocks).
As shown in the photo, on a correct horse you should be able to draw an imaginary line from the point of the butt, down the back of the leg.
I will try and repost a photo of a more properly conformed horse


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

As for jumping, i would keep looking for a better build, at least in the legs and hindquarters.


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Here's a photo that will have to do.
You can see where the lines line up correctly to his body.
This particular stallion is a bit high in the wither. Normally the line should extend from the high point of the wither and connect with the high point of the croup, but in this case the line is slightly above the point of croup.
This is common in Thoroughbreds and i'm noticing quite ideal in jumpers


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