# My gelding at age 3



## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

Hi guys! Some of you who have been around a while may remember Zane, my Missouri Fox Trotter/ QH cross foal. He came as surprise stowaway when I purchased his mother for trail riding. (The guy told me he didn't think she wasn't pregnant.) :lol:

It's been a wild ride for me, raising my first (and likely last) foal from birth. 

He started life with lots of health issues, lots of training issues, lots of stress on me. :lol: 

But we've made it to age 3, I'm riding him now, and while some rides are better than others, we've come so far! When he was born I didn't even know if he would survive and be sound enough to be a riding horse. Then he was such a wild child I didn't know if I would ever get him trained. But now I am riding him and that in itself is a miracle. I can post about his heath issues later if people are curious but I don't want to delve into that too much because I was unbiased critics of his conformation now at age 3. 

So without further ado, here is Zane at 3 years of age. Let me know his strengths, weaknesses, whatever comments you may have. 

Sorry the photos are at all sorts of crooked angles. We live on a hill and nothing is ever flat. I tried to get them as level as I could but it's hard to tell sometimes when you are actually taking them.


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## WesternTale (Jun 14, 2012)

Well you sure got a hell of a horse outta her!


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

Haha! That's proud momma in the background of the second to last photo.  I keep telling her "I don't know how you ever popped him out!"


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

Wow he looks great!

He has a nice rear end! Pretty nice balanced build. Nice dainty head and clean throatlatch.

The only things I see is that he is quite toed out in the back, the fronts are slightly toed out as well.

Excited to see how he continues to mature!!


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## Elana (Jan 28, 2011)

Very nice horse. He is a little long through the coupling and a bit light in bone. Gaskins are very light under a well developed hind quarter. Knees and hocks are nice and low. A bit tied in at the knee. Slightly sickle hocked. Neck ties in very nicely to a short and steepish shoulder. He is built quite level. 

Looks a nice enough horse.. the sort you can use.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Wow, check out that @$$!!!

THR, you know how much I love Zane! Didn't I tell you that everything would work out okay?

Sure, he's not perfect, but he still looks like the type of horse a person can throw their saddle on and _use_ without having to worry about him breaking down. I darn sure wouldn't be ashamed to be seen throwing my saddle on him.


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## morganarab94 (May 16, 2013)

I'm not good at critiquing but man he's a looker! What a nice looking horse!!


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## EmilyJoy (Dec 30, 2011)

I love his ears and face, so sweet!


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## amp23 (Jan 6, 2011)

He looks like a sturdy little guy! I like him. I don't know his background so I am curious to his history. Off to try to find out more about him...


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## JulieG (Jun 25, 2013)

Man he is handsome! Love that tail.


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## amp23 (Jan 6, 2011)

After looking at past photos and coming back to this, I can tell his leg is a little off but it's looking so much better. As long as he's still sound I wouldn't worry about it at all. Even though he was unplanned and he is grade, he's a really good looking horse. You should be proud of him and how far you've come with him!!


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## Raven13 (Apr 12, 2013)

I really like everything about him. I have not read any of your other posts about him but I will say that after my first impression of "wow!" my mind quickly went to "what the heck is wrong with his right hind??". Upon closer examination, I figured out it was probably like that due to an injury of some sort. (I'll be looking up your other threads about him to see just what caused it out of curiosity). Whatever happened it causes his right hip to dip lower, have less muscling, and stand with that leg towards his center line more so I'm not sure how much you'll be able to do with him beyond trail riding him. But he is a very handsome horse, besides let's face it...going off my assumption of an injury, you can't really count it against him I can only assume he was born with two lovely hind legs.

Certainly is a nice surprise horse in any event!


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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

He's greying out!

lucky! I love greys!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

Thanks guys! It's cool that he makes a nice first impression. If it wasn't for that darn hind leg he would be a really good looking horse. I think he outdid both his parents in the looks department. 

*Smrobs*, I was hoping you would see this post because you have been there every step of the way. He is finally turning into a mannerly horse! 
*
Raven*, you were right on target with the right hind leg, except that he was born like that. But it does cause his right hind hip to dip. I don't feel it when I ride him (as a trail horse), but you can tell when doing groundwork exercises that he turns left smoother than he turns right. 

All I really want for him to be is a trail horse, so hopefully he will stay sound for that. What's kind of neat is that I think the older he gets, the less noticeable the leg is. But it is still there and always will be. It's actually a cannon bone deformity. :-(

But anyhow, I love him and if I can get some years of trail riding in with him I will be happy. If he doesn't stay sound, he can't help that. But I would like him to be broke and mannerly irregardless. So that is the goal we are working towards. :wink:

Here he is as a baby. I'm so glad that leg strengthened up some! It was kind of weak looking and very noticeable when he was a baby. I had a wonderful older vet who took x-rays and said he had never had a case like that before in all his years as a vet. But he thought he would be fine for trail riding. So here's hoping he was right and me and Zane will have a great future together. 

PS. *CLaPorte432*, I hope he goes through a dappled phase! I've had a couple other greys (his mom and an Arabian) but they were already fleabit by the time I got them. So this is my first time seeing a gray change. Crossing my fingers for dapples!


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

Do you guys think the leg was caused by his position in the womb? Or something else?

The fetlock joint looked normal on x-rays (they didn't go up as high as the hock but as far as I know his hock is okay too). 

I don't know if you guys are familiar with Breyer model horses? Sometimes you will buy a Breyer and the leg is a little warped? That's kind of what it looks like to me. Like someone heated up a Breyer and bent the leg backwards and to the left. It makes me wonder if he didn't have that leg in the wrong position as it was developing, or maybe he was too big and cramped in there and that leg couldn't grow straight for some reason. 

Hmm. Maybe that is something I should post in the breeding or health section. Not that anything can be done about it, but I would like to know what caused it. :? 

What do you guys think of his knees? Shouldn't they be closed by age 3? They still kind of look lumpy. If I feel them, they still have an indentation in the center, but not as deep as when he was younger of course. But it makes me wonder if his knees are closed fully. Are they always closed by 3 and this is just how his knees will always look I wonder?


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

trailhorserider said:


> What do you guys think of his knees? Shouldn't they be closed by age 3? They still kind of look lumpy. If I feel them, they still have an indentation in the center, but not as deep as when he was younger of course. But it makes me wonder if his knees are closed fully. Are they always closed by 3 and this is just how his knees will always look I wonder?


Pretty sure it varies... but usually a horse is done maturing at 5 so they'll probably 'close up' closer to that age.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Gosh, I had forgotten just how bad that leg looked when he was a baby. I'm glad it's gotten less noticeable too. Is there still a difference of a little over an inch between the height there?

It's probably nothing you'd need to worry about now, but eventually I wonder if maybe he'll need to be padded up by a farrier on that one hind foot to make him a little more "level". BUT, that's something between you and your vet and your farrier...and Zane, of course LOL.

He may have just learned to adapt and will spend his entire life sound and happy in spite of being a little crooked:wink:.


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## Kotori (Jun 18, 2012)

trailhorserider said:


> Hi guys! Some of you who have been around a while may remember Zane, my Missouri Fox Trotter/ QH cross foal. He came as surprise stowaway when I purchased his mother for trail riding. (The guy told me he didn't think she wasn't pregnant.) :lol:
> .


Best oopsie foal I've ever seen. My first thought was legs and pasterns, but both look good to me, with his legs looking textbook correct- no hint of sickle or post. (Heck, I've seen many intentional babies much worse than him!)

Edit: I'm sorry =/ didn't realize how old this was- mixed up my 'groundwork exercise' search with the new post tab...


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

Thank you guys for your comments.


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## BlueSpark (Feb 22, 2012)

I like him I have seen conformational train wrecks stay sound for hard trail riding, so there is a pretty decent chance that you will have no problems with this guy. I used to do 25 mile compedititve trail competitions on a ottb mare that was long backed, sickle hocked, flat footed, both fronts splayed out significantly and she was slightly over at the knee on both fronts, never a lame step. my barn owner did endurance for years on a ottb that broke her front right cannon bone. she is still sound now, at 22.

I love greys, and I think he is a very atractive looking horse over all.


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## csimkunas6 (Apr 18, 2010)

Oh my goodness! Zane looks amazing! Funny how you post pictures of him every time I start to think of how you and him are doing! So glad to hear you guys are doing well, I love how he has turned out!!


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

csimkunas6 said:


> Oh my goodness! Zane looks amazing! Funny how you post pictures of him every time I start to think of how you and him are doing! So glad to hear you guys are doing well, I love how he has turned out!!


Thanks so much* csimkunas6!* How's your Rodeo boy doing? Zane and I are starting to hit the trails a bit.


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## csimkunas6 (Apr 18, 2010)

trailhorserider said:


> Thanks so much* csimkunas6!* How's your Rodeo boy doing? Zane and I are starting to hit the trails a bit.


Rodeo is doing good, came over a 2-3month mysterious lameness, but he doesnt look anywhere near as good as Zane does! But we too have been hitting the trails!


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