# What do you think of my Warmblood filly's conformation?



## MyFillyAspen (Oct 28, 2012)

This is Aspen, my Warmblood filly, who I purchased yesterday (her introduction thread is here http://www.horseforum.com/horse-pictures/introducing-aspen-376265/#post4928377). I bought her with the aim of doing dressage and dabbling in other disciplines with her.

I do apologize for not having proper conformation photos (she has only been handled since November last year) and will try to get some once she has learnt to trust me more I will take some pictures of her standing on leveled concrete. Please bare in mind that she has only just turned two this December and is still growing, I see that she is bum high, but would like to know what everyone thinks of her conformation? (again sorry for select few photos and odd angles), thank you.

These were taken today:






































Thank you!


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Not a badly built girl. Very pretty indeed!
From those photos, her shoulder angle appears to be a tad upright but with plenty of depth through the chest.
Neck is set a little high as a result
Long cannons in the front legs and possibly bench-kneed
Back is a nice length and i love the shape of her bum!
She is sickle-hocked in the back legs but i would not worry too much as the angle does not seem so very severe as to inhibit her later in life 
Again, very pretty horse you have there


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## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

What a stunner. And so mature looking for a newly-two year old!


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## FoxRidgeRanch (May 20, 2008)

I really like her, very very pretty girl, from what i can tell she seems to be very well put together and balanced. The pictures are all at funny angles but she has nice flow to her form from what I can see. I like the length of her pasterns, not too long but not too short. Decent leg bones, definitely feminine. Really pretty doll eyes and a nice head. I really can't point out flaws because I really know not a whole lot about Warmbloods but She's in general a really nice looking horse.


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## MyFillyAspen (Oct 28, 2012)

Thank you for all your replies  She will be used for predominantly dressage but we may do pony club etc and do some jumping when she is older (Dont want to jump her before she is ready mentally and physically, which means waiting until her knee-caps have closed). I do love her deep eyes, doll eyes as you called them FoxRidgeRanch :grin:. I agree she is quite mature looking for a newly two year old, I think that is mainly because of her breed, she will be a solid girl when she is finished growing, that is for sure, I can't wait to see how she fills out. She has a reasonable top-line considering she hasn't been worked much at all, and will gain more muscle now she is in a hilly 30 acre paddock. 

And because I am in lurrveee with her trot, and thought you all might like to see how she moves, here are few video-stills of when she was at her previous home!








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I will try and get some conformation pictures with her standing on level ground asap to help since all these photos were at bad angles etc


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## Elana (Jan 28, 2011)

From these photos it is hard to tell some things. You really need one photo of her standing with the legs nearest you plumb and the legs away from you inside the legs closest to you.. meaning far front back a little and far hind forward a little and the "film plain" of the camera parallel to her spine.. with the camera opposite her last rib in her barrel. 

She looks pretty nice from what I can see. Her back is short and her neck seems to tie into her withers nicely and her withers flow into her back. She seems to have enough rear end for drive. I wish she had a little more bone and larger hocks. I wish her knees and hocks were closer to the ground. 

What these photos suggest is she has a very steep shoulder and an over straight front end. This will limit her in dressage as she won't achieve the reach for extended movements.. especially the extended trot. 

In the last two photos of her trotting she looks to have great reach from behind but is limited in front. A conformation shot will tell more but that is what I am seeing so far from what you have presented. 

Two photos of her she appears quite down hill and two she appears less so. I expect she is.. as the one photo her front end is angled away from the camera and perspective will make her appear up hill. The other uphill photo she is actually standing with her front end higher than her rear. In the first photo she appears a little pigeon breasted with a low tie in if the neck to chest.

This is what poor photos say. Now, all of that critique or parts of it might be reversed with proper photos. Get some help.. it takes 2 people to take a photo. One to handle and set up the horse. One to stand out of the photo to get the horse's attention. One on the camera who knows what a good position is. 

I do not see bench knees because no photo is of her front legs set square looking at her knees. Bench knees the cannon is offset, usually to the outside and not below the forearm bone, so that it causes sheer at the knee. 

I look forward to better photos. I would love to be wrong about her front!


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## RiskyFilly (Oct 15, 2011)

Sorry I have nothing to add conformation wise, but she looks like a doll! Love the third picture...so shiny.


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## MyFillyAspen (Oct 28, 2012)

Thank you for the comments - I tried to get some conformation shots tonight but none of them worked very well (wrong angle/she moved etc). My mum snapped this for me, thought I'd share it here incase it might be of any use (it is at a slight angle). Will get conformation images this weekend hopefully. :smile:


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## Elana (Jan 28, 2011)

Here is what I get from this photo. First she is very down hill. Notice the line at her feet actually angles down (because her hind feet are closer to the camera than her front feet) but the line from root of neck to point of buttock still angles down hill. This may improve with age.. and is likely due to the Thoroughbred influence in her lines back a few generations (is she a Holsteiner?). 

She is slightly back at the knee. This will NOT change as she ages. Her legs are her legs. Her hind legs are over straight with the stifle placed too far to the rear and a bit too high. Her hocks are sickled and are too far forward placing the feet too far forward as well. Again, this will not change with age. Legs are what they are. 

Her coupling is on the long side with the Sacrum placed a bit too far back (and this is common with poor stifle placement). Again, this won't change although it may become less noticeable as she grows into her body and her body becomes more full. Her shoulder is a bit steep and the point of shoulder is a bit low. As she grows this may change with the shoulder becoming steeper. It will not become more laid back with growth since a foal typically has a very laid back shoulder that only steepens with growth. If her shoulder stays where it is, it will be adequate. 

Her neck has a dip in front of the withers and her over all neck set is a bit low. This may change a little but it is more likely that the withers will become more prominent. Again.. that is a growth thing and may change. She is quite hammer headed at this point.. with an abrupt tie of her head to her neck and not much room for her throatlatch. This may improve with age.. but usually not.. and it might interfere with her free breathing in a demanding sport such as 3 day event. 

She also has a slight dip behind the withers that will probably at the least remain the same as she grows though it could also get worse. It probably won't improve. 

Her bone is fine at this age, but it won't change with age while her body will become fuller and heavier. In the end she may be quite light boned. Pasterns seem a good length.

This horse has an over all pleasing look. She is young and as you can see from my comments there is room to change and this is why I do not like to critique young horses. That being said, her legs are what they are and they will not change. As the old adage goes when judging a young horse: "Tops may come but bottoms? Never!" 

She is very well cared for and very nicely turned out. It is clear she is well loved and in the end she may do very well in something she is driven to do. After all, John Henry, Exterminator and Sea Biscuit were all winning Thoroughbreds that had pretty mediocre conformation (not as good as this horse!) and they won huge money and ran many years on the track. 

Sometimes it is the horse that tells us what they can do!


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## MyFillyAspen (Oct 28, 2012)

Thank you Elana - very good description and visual. She is far from perfect, and is downhill atm, hoping that will decrease as she grows if not doesn't matter - she's here to stay! I think this angle of photo makes her look a bit worse than she is (downhill) but will be getting pictures this weekend hopefully of her standing on concrete so will have some level shots then (it's hard atm as she is agisted in a far out paddock and away from the stables, with me at work I dont have alot of time right now to bring her up, so apart from feeding and spending some time with her can't really get the best shots for conformatiom but am planning to get my mum to help me with some this afternoon. I dont know alot about the warmblood breeding but I posted her on a facebook group and asked and had people reply that she had Dutch, Hanoverian, Danish and Holstein (her breeding is here if you would like to have a look? Aspen Australian Warmblood). 

She's definately picked up a bit condition wise - and acutally has a nice shine to her coat and is developing dapples. :grin:.


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## Elana (Jan 28, 2011)

I looked up her pedigree and the Thoroughbred comes through loud and clear.. and Holsteiners tend to have a Thoroughbred look about them. That is why I asked. 

My concerns are with using her for dressage with that shoulder and rear leg angulation. You can train all of it.. you can learn HUGELY from training a horse all the way to Grand Prix even if the horse never competes successfully at that level. This horse may compete successfully through level 3. I would work her and do as much as you can and take her as far as you can.. learning all the way. It will be awhile before you do anything anyway because of her age. 

There is no rush.


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## MyFillyAspen (Oct 28, 2012)

Certainly no rush Elama - the fact she could possibly go and compete succesfully at level 3 is great, as we will really only be doing the smaller shows, but nice to know she has potential to advance through the levels with me. :smile:

I got some conformation pictures today, but they aren't the best, but I thought I'd include the best ones here. :grin:

Today she is exactly 2y and 3m - she is currently down hill and I noticed that she is cowhocked. Some of the pictures arent the best due to angle/the way she stood, but these are the best ones - hope they are a bit more helpful.


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## Kyro (Apr 15, 2012)

Nice back, cute face. I'm hoping the neck will fill out nicely when she starts work  I see her being a bit sickle-hocked and standing wide behind, but I love her front legs. I like her butt too.. overall, I think she will benefit from some future dressage work to improve her topline. I don't think her back legs will hinder her ability in dressage too much. Very nice horse, good luck with her!


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## Elana (Jan 28, 2011)

She is truly a bit cow hocked behind as opposed to being straight but toed out as the hind leg is a spiral construction. The leg actually shows an angle at the hock. 

It is not severe, but it is there and it probably will stay the same as she grows. Yes to camped under and sickle hocked too. 

She has some rotations going on in the front legs. Her hooves have issues as well. I see flared, flat feet and excessively long toes which will lead to run under heels if not addressed. I hope the Thoroughbred side of her pedigree did not leave her will thin walled flat feet. 

I will be interested in seeing photos of this horse when she is 4 years old.


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## MyFillyAspen (Oct 28, 2012)

Thanks for all the replies. Aspen and I will be starting some ground work training this weekend/next week. If you want to say updated with Aspen's progress please like her facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SuperfineAspen (I have had a jump up in downloads so am limiting uploads to her facebook page for now). 


Aspen is booked in with the farrier for tomorrow afternoon (she has only had her hooves done twice in her life) hopefully it wont be too eventful but this farrier is apparently very understanding and works with the horses rather than just getting the job done, which is exactly what I want for Aspen (I explained to him about her on the phone also).


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## MyFillyAspen (Oct 28, 2012)

Thought I'd post some recent photos so you could all see how she is growing- she is very very bumhigh atm!

Sorry for some angles not being straight on/her being wet! 


































She has hit 15.1hh (was 15.05 when I bought her).


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## MyFillyAspen (Oct 28, 2012)

Bump


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## amgThoroughbreds (Aug 14, 2013)

I don't know anything about conformation but she is such a cute little filly Looks like she's maturing nicely. And I just noticed, her pedigree says 2011 so wouldn't that make her 3 yrs old not 2?


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## MyFillyAspen (Oct 28, 2012)

amgThoroughbreds said:


> I don't know anything about conformation but she is such a cute little filly Looks like she's maturing nicely. And I just noticed, her pedigree says 2011 so wouldn't that make her 3 yrs old not 2?


Thank you she is going through a bit of an awkward stage right now but is a bit cute in my eyes :wink:. She was born December 22nd 2011 so is 2 and a half now


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## MyFillyAspen (Oct 28, 2012)

Bump? *too short*


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## Tryst (Feb 8, 2012)

I agree with Elana's critique given a few months ago. I don't see that she has changed all that much since then. I would give her another year to grow up and then maybe repost for another critique.


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## MyFillyAspen (Oct 28, 2012)

Ok, thank you  Will post more pictures at another time.


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