# What do you think of this Haflinger cross?



## rocky pony

She's a 9 year old 14.1hh Haflinger x Arab (double registered American Haflinger and Half Arab) mare who I'm going to be buying from a friend.
As far as what I plan to do with her, mostly just casual pleasure riding and lower level competition...I ride both Western and English and I haven't really ever honed in on just one discipline, I'd like to try just about everything I can with her and maybe focus on whatever we end up liking most.

I'm very interested in learning more about conformation which is the main reason I'm posting her up here. I'd just like to see what better trained eyes can see about her and also see what disciplines you think her conformation might make her best suited to?

I hope the pictures are okay, I'm really bad with taking good conformation pictures but I gave it a good try. Let me know if I should try to take better ones next time I'm out. Also, please excuse how wet she is in some of them, lol...constant rain these days.


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## BrewCrew

Cutie! I notice maybe a little base narrow? Pretty mane!!!!


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## Alwaysbehind

Are you sure it is double registered? I do not believe that American Haflinger Registry does cross breeds.

ETA - copy and paste from the website, rule #2 - An animal must be the offspring of a purebred Haflinger sire and a purebred Haflinger dam with at least 6 generations.


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## KawaiiCharlie

Im not much of an expert on conformation, but from what i can see she is base narrow, as someone else said. she also has really short cannon bones.. looks a little odd. 
also her point of croup is further back than it could be, which will make it difficult for her to get her back legs underneath her. and she has a bit of a large her, but who knows - that big noggin could contain a big brain. could work out for the better  she is a very pretty girl. can really see the arab in her face in the first picture and i like that she got the pretty haflinger colour.


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## lilruffian

I think she's a cutie pie!
As for confo, her legs & overall build is quite nice. Her neck however is a little too long and her head looks kinda big.
Nothing i would really worry about for what you plan to do with her.
I'd buy her personally


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## eccodecco

She is beautiful! Though her head and neck look bigger than the rest of her I still love the shape of her neck. she looks like she'll be a pretty mover and solid! (sorry not best on conformation)


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## rocky pony

Thank you guys! This has been an interesting read.
And yes, she is a really pretty mover! I'll have to get some video sometime to post up.

As far as AHR, Alwaysbehind, I wondered the same thing. I have not yet seen the papers but was told that she was accepted because of being a good example of the breed, don't know though. I am told that all her registry paperwork is on its way over next week or so and then we'll see how that all looks.
As my friend also bought her from long-time family friends, I would doubt if they would lie about it, but maybe there has been a miscommunication somewhere down the line. I suppose we'll see when they come.


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## Alwaysbehind

Post when you find out. I doubt she is registered. There are several references to how strict they are about registering horses on the site.


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## Speed Racer

I can see her being registered with the AHA as a Half Arabian since that's what she is, but I wasn't aware the Haflinger Registry would register a mixed breed. As Always stated, they're pretty strict on what can and can't be registered.

Sounds to me like someone might be a little mixed up, thinking she was registered with the AHR.

I can definitely see the Arabian influence, so I'm unsure how she could be labeled as a good example of the Haflinger breed. It's pretty obvious she's not a purebred.

Good looking little horse, but definitely doesn't look like a purebred Haffie.


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## rocky pony

Thanks guys for the concern. I will definitely post an update when I learn more, but as it's not the important part of the topic, let's just move forward with more conformation critique for now.


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## Alwaysbehind

Her back end looks weak and is out of scale to the rest of her.


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## rocky pony

Is that something that would be just her, or a conditioning problem? (or both)
She has been out of work for a few years and hasn't come back into any work yet because of the weather, so I'm curious to know if once she's working that will look better or if it's just the way she is.


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## Alwaysbehind

I think part of it is that she is a draft breed. Pulling horses usually have a bigger chest and smaller back end. They pull instead of push from behind.

I doubt it will be an issue for what you want to do with her.


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## rocky pony

Interesting, thank you for that


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## Chiilaa

KawaiiCharlie said:


> Im not much of an expert on conformation, but from what i can see she is base narrow, as someone else said. she also has really short cannon bones.. looks a little odd.


Short cannons are actually a desirable trait


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## KawaiiCharlie

Chiilaa said:


> Short cannons are actually a desirable trait


oh really? looks really odd to me. i personally wouldnt like a horse with short cannons lol


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## SAsamone

KawaiiCharlie said:


> oh really? looks really odd to me. i personally wouldnt like a horse with short cannons lol


Not sure if this is true, but i was taught that since a horse's weight is mostly placed on the front, bottom part of the leg (the cannon bone) it is desirable to have a shorter bone, as this makes it more sturdy. Hope that helps


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## KawaiiCharlie

SAsamone said:


> Not sure if this is true, but i was taught that since a horse's weight is mostly placed on the front, bottom part of the leg (the cannon bone) it is desirable to have a shorter bone, as this makes it more sturdy. Hope that helps


ahhh i see. still think it looks a little strange, dont think ive ever seen a horse with cannons like that... probably just because i dont pay much attention lol


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## SAsamone

Oh I don't know about her, lol- She's really adorable, but I didn't pay attention to her cannon bones. I was just commenting due to your previous post


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## Golden Horse

She is as cute as all heck, and I bet she will make a great companion and friend who will be able to turn her hoof to just about anything you choose to ask of her.

She is not double registered, the AHR will in no way entertain registering a horse who is not a full Haflinger, and there is no part bred registry, but that is a side point, if she is registered as part Arab then she has papers, what more does a person need?

As to her confo, others have pretty much covered it, she has her shortcomings, but from those pics there is nothing that screams don't buy her.

Have fun with her, I think it is a nice cross for a fun and useable mount.


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## rocky pony

Hmm, I'm so curious to know what made them think that she was AHR
I know pretty little about all of these things, but would there be any unrelated Haflinger registry that may have registered her? Or do you think they just got confused over the years?
That's odd. I'll be interested to see what they say in that matter.

But yeah, it's good that she has the half Arab papers! None of my previous horses have been registered anywhere anyhow so I was always curious as to their lineage and such.

I'm pretty excited about her, she just has the most perfect personality for me...and for what I do that's really the main thing that matters! The fact that she's adorable doesn't hurt, though, lol
It's been really interesting to read the comments on her conformation. I'm the first to say I'm not so great with critiquing conformation, but usually I have at least some insight...until I'm talking about a horse I'm in love with, then all I can see is "Nope, nothing wrong with her anywhere at all, 100% perfect," ****


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## Hidalgo13

She's a beautiful horse.


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## Chiilaa

KawaiiCharlie said:


> ahhh i see. still think it looks a little strange, dont think ive ever seen a horse with cannons like that... probably just because i dont pay much attention lol


Ideally, the cannon should be half the length of the forearm


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## MacabreMikolaj

The weaker hind end is characteristically an Arab thing as well - they're known for having more power in their shoulders. My Arab mare is of the stockier type, and she looks ridiculous with her itty bitty bum and massive shoulder. However, it always made people bet against her in a race and won me money! :lol: Never quite sure where she got that speed and power from!

Anyway, I think she's adorable. She's got some of the classic minor flaws like perhaps not perfectly straight legs, but for what you're using her for I think she has a very sturdy little frame that you won't find any conformational based injury in! I very much like the way she is built!


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## Zora

I think she looks very nicely built! Pretty mare.


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## lovesmyhawse

*....*

I love her! She's Beautiful!!


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## Tymer

Is she maybe a teensy bit stiff in her hind end? She stands consistently with one leg much farther forward than the other.
She appears to stand under herself a little bit, but then in other pictures not as much. Not an issue really...
Pretty solid conformation. Nothing awful, nothing crazy amazing. Sturdy horse. Built to last!
..Take my critique with a grain of salt, I'm a bit of a beginner to conformation.


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## Alwaysbehind

Did you get her yet?


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## rocky pony

Nope, not yet. It'll probably not be until May or June, and still waiting on the papers coming in to my friend. Should be any day now!


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## Alwaysbehind

Looking forward to updates.


And the whole Haflinger registry explanation.


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## csimkunas6

I would love to see more pictures of her later down the road. I think she is a very cute girl!! Very interesting cross(to me anyways) But I do like the cross. Have Fun with her!! She seems like she is exactly what you are looking for


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## rocky pony

There will definitely be many more to come! She's something of a dream horse to me, I'm just having a blast with this girl. We're gonna go places for sure!

I'm going out tonight so I'm going to ask if she's heard from the previous owners about her papers yet. I think they should be due to have arrived any day now!


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## Alwaysbehind

How is this girl working out? (Yes, I was just thinking about her.)


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## rocky pony

It's been going really well! The weather got nicely cleared up so we've been riding regularly and she's just fantastic to work with. Just the perfect horse for me, from all I've seen so far! I can't wait for everything to get in gear so I can make things official and bring her over to my stable already.
We've been continually asking about her papers and honestly I'm beginning to wonder if maybe there aren't any at all, hmm...it's a bit odd, but ah well. It's definitely not a deal breaker for me if they don't turn up with them, though it would sure be nice. And like we were talking about, an explanation about the AHR thing would be interesting to get, too...but at the end of the day, all of my previous horses have been grade, so that wouldn't be a change for me anyhow.


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## Alwaysbehind

Glad she is working out so well.


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