# My horse's conformation critique



## annaleah (Jul 6, 2010)

Is he a TB I'm guessing? he has nice confo..neck ties in nice to shoulders...looks like he has nice, straight legs..I'd say he'd be good for hunter/jumper.


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## howrsegirl123 (Feb 19, 2012)

Actually, he's a Quarter horse, but I think he looks at least appendix. 

Thank you for that, and I'm actually going to probably be doing some hunter work with him.


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## OctoberArabian (Feb 17, 2012)

I don't have any technicalities for you, but I think hes beautiful, very proper


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I think the conformation of this horse if very good. Overall balance is good (back to neck length ratio). His hocks are nicely angled and canon bones not too long. his sacroilliac joint is a bit behind the point of hip, and I seem to remember reading that that was not such a good thing. But he has a nice big hip. He might be tied in behind the knee a tiny bit (the photo is not super clear).
all in all, I like his confo a lot.


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## howrsegirl123 (Feb 19, 2012)

Yes, sorry, the pic was a little blurry. Thank you though!


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## SRCM16 (Oct 7, 2011)

Pretty nice conformation, only thing I see is he's got large/tall withers, and his legs look a bit thin. I'd use him for eventing (dressage, stadium, and cross country), or equitation.


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## TheLastUnicorn (Jun 11, 2010)

The biggest thing that jumps at me from this photo is he is downhill in balance. I mention it because he seems a good example of what "downhill" is in a horse who is not actually butt-high. 

His neck ties in low, making him a bit "front heavy", and if we were to draw a level line from his point of hip extending past his chest we would see that line intersect a bit high up on his neck (if we imagined him standing with his head up)... Rather than the widest part of his neck. (pah, I can't find the site which had a great explaination of this)

A horse is downhill in balance when the line from the point of hip (actually the LS joint... But for our purposes the point of hip works as a decent marker because photos don't show depth properly) is on a downward slope to the widest part of his neck (or lower cervical curve of the neck) 

In addition, he has a less desireable LS placement (Lumbar Sacral... Rather than the Sacroilliac (sp?) ) than we would like to see, having it fall behind the point of hip when viewed from the side.

What these two things will mean is, this horse will have to really work to get his front end "up" and bring his hinds underneath him.

His shoulder angle appears OK (without measuring, it appears to be a little over 90 degree, which is good), but, eyeballing it, it does look like he has a fairly steep shoulder SLOPE... This is good news/bad news if you want to jump. The shoulder angle being "open" will allow for greater range of stride and longer strides... The steep slope can make for a choppier ride/less shock absorption but can also allow for more ability to lift his knees. He IS standing under himself, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he is not so steep that you will lose quality of stride... (if we bring his front leg forward a bit we will see his shoulder rotate to a less steep slope) 

He looks, to me, like he may be a bit straight behind... But very marginally.

Overall, I like his balanced look (as in his front, middle and back end all match), I like his head and neck shape (if not exactly where it ties into his shoulder down low), he had a fair amount of hip, and though he may tie in a bit behind the knee he appears to have nice legs... His other faults will probably mean he will never get beyond lower levels of anything, but he should be able to do a little of anything, passably well.


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## GotaDunQH (Feb 13, 2011)

howrsegirl123 said:


> I was hoping someone could give me a critique on my horse's conformation, his faults and weaknesses, what discipline that looks like it could suit him...just whatever you can from the picture.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Starting from the front, I like his neck, like where it ties in and just because it ties in low, DOES NOT mean he will be heavy upfront. Correct TRAINING will help him use his front end well. Because he's an Appendix, he has your typical TB withers (from the TB part of his pedigree). Love the pasterns and angles, but would like to see a little more bone from the QH side of his pedigree. He is carrying alot of TB characteristics, but that's OK. I WOULD like to see a lower hock set on him though. Because he is a little downhill with a higher hock set and slightly longer loin connectio, it will be harder for him to drive deep underneath in the back end, and lift the belly through the back. But he looks HUS all the way, and even though he has some "longness" in him, that longness is matched throughout his body, which DOES show balance. If he had a shorter neck, matched up with the rest of his body....there would be no balance.


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## TheLastUnicorn (Jun 11, 2010)

Ok, yes, just because his neck ties in low to his chest does not necessarily make for a front heavy horse, but this horse's balance does.

To help demonstrate this (the lines are not perfect, my first time trying this on the iPad) 








The pink line is as close to level as I could get with the app I was using, the purple line shows this horses balance from hip (representing LS) to the Cervical Curve of the neck (well, it isn't totally accurate because of how low the horse's head is, but even if we imagine it up higher, it won't be enough to make it match the level line). This is signifying a front heavy horse on the very structual level. 

I added the green line, which is almost level, to show the horse is not visibly butt high, as we are generally trained to look for balance this way.

I did one of my horses who I would also say ties in a bit low up front, but is more level in overall balance. (being a little downhill is not a huge detriment, and most horses actually are!) 








Again the pink line is as close to level as I could get, the purple represents the horse's balance (this line is actually looking a tiny bit higher than it should, but was as close as I seemed to be able to get) and the green line actually shows him as uphill by a little.


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## howrsegirl123 (Feb 19, 2012)

Could you critque her's too? She's another one of my Quarter horses...sorry she isn't standing sqaure.


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