# Nova has just turned 5 years old



## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Eh sorry it won't let me ad more photos on one post... Will have to do one by one


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Hindquarters are here


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Her right side


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Eh.... I am posting this from iPad... Not sure why it's turning the photos like this......


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Front legs


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Three quarter


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Head shot


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Shoulder and neck


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Shoulder and front legs


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Right side again


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

One more front legs.... Oh Lord don't know why they come up upside down! Can anybody fix it pretty please?


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Okay guys - I am on a regular computer now and have flipped all the pictures correctly.. I am sorry about that - iPad was acting all weird about it...
Here she goes


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

And 2 more and DONE... Critique away


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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

I think she is beautiful. Some just take more time to bloom then others. I think he biggest flaw is having a long back. I love he chest. Straight legs. Nice neck and proportioned well. I'd like to see a bigger hindend to her, but I like big butts. (And I can not lie...) haha.

Overall, she looks very well balanced. Beautiful coloring. Such a cute face. Nice horse.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Kyro (Apr 15, 2012)

I like her legs, nice angles to pasterns and cannons are a good lenght. I don't see an overly long back, maybe slightly..would like to see some more muscle on her neck but that will come with work. I like her shoulder too. You have a very pretty horse there


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Yeah she has lost all the muscle she gained last year.. because of me not being able to ride all winter long - it is still freezing outside as I type this and we still have snow on the ground obviously - it goes from very icy to very muddy, so you can't do much at all.. good thing is I want to use that big gap as "reset button" to work on some of the riding issues we had with her last year. Being the fact she is 5 and quite an alpha personality, I think having this 4 month riding break will benefit her.. She does muscle up nicely with consistent work - I am attaching 2 more photos here, these are from September 2013 when we were at a "play day" event, she does have butt but it goes flat like mine in winter hahah 
- I was hoping to see her grow couple more inches, but I think if she doesn't grow anymore this year than this is it.. I think she was stunted as baby before I got her because she did look bad and was quite thin and neglected - she wasn't even leading and never had a hoof trim at the age of almost 2.. the last picture attaching to this post is I believe from the next day I got her (drove 15 hours to OK to get her  )


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Ok we got 2 opinions so far - can anybody else pitch in? I know it's Monday


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## disastercupcake (Nov 24, 2012)

Cute mare,

She's well balanced. Has a long back, tad sickle hocked, her femur is short, which places her front legs close to the point of shoulder. Pasterns are a hair too upright.

Very nice shoulder and neck. Very cute!


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

disastercupcake said:


> Cute mare,
> 
> She's well balanced. Has a long back, tad sickle hocked, her femur is short, which places her front legs close to the point of shoulder. Pasterns are a hair too upright.
> 
> Very nice shoulder and neck. Very cute!


<==== Disastercupcake - I am learning about confo just like all of us - can you please tell me how this would affect mechanics of her body and performance (possibly soundness in the long run): " her femur is short, which places her front legs close to the point of shoulder."

Thank you!


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Also here is what I found about her breeding and siblings:

"Color me Smart Gal" aka "Nova": Color Me Smart Gal Paint
Currently about 14.1HH or 14.2HH (haven't sticker her lately)

Sire: Cruzin for Color X Color Me Smart X Smart Little Lena
Painted Horseshoe Ranch, Cruz
<======= in the last picture on the bottom Nova looks like his carbon copy.. color and build...

Dam: Jacks Princess Di X SpooksRoyalBlackJack X Spooks Royal Crown
Jacks Princess Di (London)
<=== I really don't see much resemblance from her Dam

Her full blooded sibling "ERC CRUZIN TO WIN"
Childs Performance Horses: Geldings
(he's the gelding shown on the top 3 pictures in the above link page)
He was a finalist in 2008 World Show in Junior Reining and Junior Working Cow Horse. I wondered why Nova liked to play with "beef" so much  Also they crossed this Dam and Sire 3 more times that I know of - so they probably liked what was produced - Nova was the last baby out of this cross to my best knowledge.. I was wondering if it would be a good idea to send her off to professional training for cutting / reined cowhorse - my trainer said I should but I was hesitant as they can be really rough with the horses.. I don't want her hurt - but I would like to show her as I do want to breed her in the future. She is my personal horse and I really only use her for my enjoyment (we like to sort / pen / trail / play horse soccer etc. nothing serious as I don't have enough time to travel to all cow shows that are so distant to my area  I would like to have couple of foals out of her in few years, purely for my own enjoyment - I would be very picky about a stallion I would pick for her.. I am thinking it would be a stud with more substantial bone and size (probably roping / ranch bred or similar) and shorter back as I am aware of her back being long-ish.. So many cutting horses are this long and I don't think it would be good to breed her to another cutting bred horse as they can be so line-bred... Out of foals I would like to get smart (she is too smart for her own good), more laid back (she can get hot when under a lot of pressure / speed), taller and thicker boned foals that would excel as all around ranch horse - I love how smart these cow bred horses are..


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## disastercupcake (Nov 24, 2012)

MyBrandy said:


> <==== Disastercupcake - I am learning about confo just like all of us - can you please tell me how this would affect mechanics of her body and performance (possibly soundness in the long run): " her femur is short, which places her front legs close to the point of shoulder."
> 
> Thank you!


Hi 

Soundness is affected by the horse's way of going, and any jarring, or sudden weight changes. So when judging a horse, it is ideal to have identical angles of shoulder and pasterns, and hip. 

This ideal can be changed for certain disciplines, like reining prefers a more steep hip, more upright shoulder; its easier for the horse to pick up his feet quickly and turn very tight. 

The femur length will limit a horse's front leg extension. So her front stride will be short. Upright pasterns don't act as much the shock absorber as they should. You may find that she has a jarring trot. I would not jump her, as the front end would break down from the stress.

Balance refers to the length of the neck, back and hip, in relation to each other, as well as their depth and angle. Your girl has a very graceful shoulder and neck, a longish back that doesn't seem to detract from her, and a good hip. I would predict that she stays sound, especially if you work her over her back and into a little collection to lessen the stress on the front. She looks like a great little western horse


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

disastercupcake said:


> Hi
> 
> Soundness is affected by the horse's way of going, and any jarring, or sudden weight changes. So when judging a horse, it is ideal to have identical angles of shoulder and pasterns, and hip.
> 
> ...



<=== I see - thanks for the info - I find studying horse confo as fascinating! She DOES have short stride in the front but I do not jarring feeling from it - her slow jog is very comfortable and she prefers it over extended trot - if you ask her to go into extended trot it's not comfortable for me to ride it - her lope is comfortable (loping little western horse for sure). She does work collect nice and reach under-herself with her hind end. You can see her move here in this video clip: https://vimeo.com/70703870

She is the "little tyrant" pushing away that black/white gelding (he was very new and "freshly" cut stud colt and could smell it  (he was cut 3 weeks before that). She is not normally that psycho.. She was just protecting "her gelding"


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## MyBrandy (Jan 19, 2011)

Disastercupcake - did you mean that her humerus is short not her femur? AFAIK - isn't humerus in the front leg / shoulder and femur in the back? Because otherwise I don't follow how short femur is bringing her front legs too close to the point of shoulder like you mentioned.. I am just trying to understand how it all works


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## disastercupcake (Nov 24, 2012)

Ha!

Yes, so sorry. Must be tired, I'm losing it


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