# Critique My Fatty Gelding? - Thanks!



## jagman6201 (Mar 13, 2009)

So, we moved to a new barn last weekend, and they have this weird platform thingy in the arena; and Jag (my gelding) decided to walk up on it and stand nice a quite. So, I snapped some pictures. Not great conformation photos; but meh, at least I know he's on level ground!

So, I was wonder what you guys thought of him; he's nothing special, but I love him. He was originally trained WP and excelled nicely, very level as long as you kept his hindend moving, but I would like to work with him in dressage. I know he's never going to be a beautiful dressage horse that has huge floaty strides and is just jaw-dropping to watch, but I think he enjoys it. He's very inquisitive and likes to think out puzzles, so the detail-ness (I don't think that's a word!) of dressage is really nice for him, even if he doesn't want to move forward all the time!

But anyways, he's a 7yo paint/qh (registered breeding stock paint) and is 15.1hh. What I see when I look at him is he has fairly straight shoulders; not the worst I've ever seen, but they're still not ideal. He looks like he has a long back, but when I look at it proportionally to his neck, it looks like he more or less has short legs and a short croup that gives the illusion of a long back. He's slightly post-legged (though you can't tell too well with this photo) but has nice big hooves and angled pasturns. He has a bit of a knife-neck, but I'd rather that than ewe'd, and a generally plain head, not course but not refined either. Small eyes maybe. Short cannons and straight clean legs and a big ole' hay tummy! Hopefully now that it's warming up, we can work that away again!

So overall, I think he's pretty average, he has his faults, but also has his strengths that balance out pretty equally. I love him, even with his conformational 'defects' 'cause he's my boy!

Thanks!
Molly

P.S. I through in the last funny picture of him just 'cause it makes me smile!


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## close2prfct (Mar 9, 2009)

He's a pretty boy I love that last pic lol that's so cute


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## reining girl (Jan 30, 2009)

Hes a cutie, looks like my old gelding. I love the last pic lol super cute


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## Trissacar (Apr 19, 2009)

hahaha! I love the cone pic I don't see anything majorly wrong.


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## ~*~anebel~*~ (Aug 21, 2008)

For dressage he really is not ideally built. He is nearly even, but still slightly downhill and like you say, has a straight shoulder, is post legged and does have a longer back. These four conformation faults as a whole amount to a horse who is built opposite of how I personally like to see a dressage horse.
Of course, any horse can do lower level dressage, and I think that a lot of balancing exercises performed properly is really going to help him out. I would also tend to keep his work outs short (30 minutes) and really work on keeping the self carriage and developing more forward impulsion. Because he is not built for this work it is going to be really taxing for him and you never want to ride an overtired horse to reduce the risk of soft tissue injuries.

Good luck!


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## jagman6201 (Mar 13, 2009)

Thanks anebel; you pretty much hit the nail on the head. He's not ideally conformed not just for dressage, but not really the greatest for just general riding; his long back is what worries me the most because a longer back generally means a weaker back that will strain over time if he's not carrying himself (and I riding correctly) in the best manner. Which is why I'm working with dressage on him, so he can be moving in the most ideal manner (working w/ his phyiscal limitations, like how you said short work outs) so he lives a long, healthy, and pain free life. 
I don't show, so I don't have to worry about him being a 'pretty' ride, as long as he's moving forward in an effective manner that's all I'm going to ask of him. When I went about looking for a horse, I was looking for a good, sound trail horse and in that department, I couldn't have asked for a better one with his smarts and willingness to trust! 
If you wouldn't mind Anebel (and anyone else for that matter!) could you look at this image of him being ridden recently and tell me what you think, taking in account his physically 'disabilities' (as in his postlegged and straight shoulder). I'm not the rider in this picture, but go ahead and critique her in the manner of how she can better ride to make Jag's job easier/better (such as she needs to sit back, which will bring him move off his front more; though he's looking nearly level in this image which is a great accomplishment for us given he completely ran on his front end not only a couple months ago).
Thanks!
Molly


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## Nicole88 (Apr 16, 2009)

I just had to comment on the cone picture, it is adorable! He seems so proud, "Look what I've got!!"

I think he's very pretty!


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## LeahKathleen (Mar 5, 2009)

Nicole88 said:


> I just had to comment on the cone picture, it is adorable! He seems so proud, "Look what I've got!!"
> 
> I think he's very pretty!



That's exactly what I was thinking, "Mom, look! I got this thing, lookit!"

Ha ha.

I don't have a great conformation critique, as I rather suck at it, but I thought I'd ask - does he has Hot Scotch in his lines? Just asking because of his name. :]


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## jagman6201 (Mar 13, 2009)

LeahKathleen said:


> That's exactly what I was thinking, "Mom, look! I got this thing, lookit!"
> 
> Ha ha.
> 
> I don't have a great conformation critique, as I rather suck at it, but I thought I'd ask - does he has Hot Scotch in his lines? Just asking because of his name. :]


Thanks! He's got an infectionously funny personality! 

No, I don't believe he has Hot Scotch, he get's the Scotch from his dam (A Roping Scotch) and his great grandsire on his bottom Scotch Bar Time.


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## LeahKathleen (Mar 5, 2009)

Ah, probably a Hot Scotch sibling in his lines somewhere then, I can only presume. :]


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## jagman6201 (Mar 13, 2009)

Probably a cousin or something, but he's not in Jag's linage.


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## ~*~anebel~*~ (Aug 21, 2008)

ScotchMegafleet said:


> Thanks anebel; you pretty much hit the nail on the head. He's not ideally conformed not just for dressage, but not really the greatest for just general riding; his long back is what worries me the most because a longer back generally means a weaker back that will strain over time if he's not carrying himself (and I riding correctly) in the best manner. Which is why I'm working with dressage on him, so he can be moving in the most ideal manner (working w/ his phyiscal limitations, like how you said short work outs) so he lives a long, healthy, and pain free life.
> I don't show, so I don't have to worry about him being a 'pretty' ride, as long as he's moving forward in an effective manner that's all I'm going to ask of him. When I went about looking for a horse, I was looking for a good, sound trail horse and in that department, I couldn't have asked for a better one with his smarts and willingness to trust!
> If you wouldn't mind Anebel (and anyone else for that matter!) could you look at this image of him being ridden recently and tell me what you think, taking in account his physically 'disabilities' (as in his postlegged and straight shoulder). I'm not the rider in this picture, but go ahead and critique her in the manner of how she can better ride to make Jag's job easier/better (such as she needs to sit back, which will bring him move off his front more; though he's looking nearly level in this image which is a great accomplishment for us given he completely ran on his front end not only a couple months ago).
> Thanks!
> Molly


In that picture the main problem is that the rider is pulling. It is really subtle but needs to be corrected, the hands always need to be moving towards the mouth. Yes there are split seconds where the rider needs to turn a wrist or move a finger to get some flexion or make a tougher correction, but this is only once the rider has control of her hands. To do this, the first thing that needs to be done is she physically needs to put her elbows on her hips and rest them there. There should be contact marks on her hips and elbows when she gets off the horse. Then she needs to rest her hands down, put the thumbs on top and point them to the ears. Keeping the thumbs pointed to the ears helps for some reason, and even in the flexion and turning of the wrists, the thumbs stay pointed to the ears, this is the most effective way to correct an aid for flexion because you only need 5 degrees or less of hand movement.
I like how her leg is on, I don't mind where she is sitting just because she is in a cc saddle, I just like to see that she's not leaning forward. A little more balancing could be useful. A good way to think about it is like your neck is muscle-less so you need to use balance to keep your head on your shoulders. This keeps the spine aligned, discourages leaning forward, backward and to the sides and keeps the rider from looking down.
This horse really needs some suppling exercises too. Work a ton in walk. It would be easy to ride this horse in the walk for hours (in seperate short sessions), just because there is so much to work on. Keep the walk fresh with transitions to other gaits, but really get an active forward walk and work him in it with a lot of suppling exercises. If he resists by hollowing his back, then repeat the exercise again, and again, etc..

Good luck!


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## LeahKathleen (Mar 5, 2009)

ScotchMegafleet said:


> Probably a cousin or something, but he's not in Jag's linage.


Very true, ha ha. 

The reason I asked about Hot Scotch - I recently went to watch an APHA Halter show in Houston, and I was absolutely overwhelmed by the number of Hot Scotch babies. There were SO many, in every single class. Just nuts. Lol.


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