# Purchase ? Critique helpful



## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

_The pictures leave much to be desired for critiquing a horse..._
_All my comments are subject to better pictures being truly needed as so much is "off" and guesses with the horse being photographed on ground that is not flat, is full of manure and mud he stands in..._
You need to ask the seller to remove the horse from the paddock and have the horse stand on _level_ hard ground of packed dirt, concrete or blacktop, and preferably with a solid background behind them.
Take pictures of the horse so the horse fills the viewing square evenly...
Front of the entire horse, back of the entire horse, from each side, then one closer of the head ears forward & alert, standing square of equal weight on each hoof.
_
With much question because of the footing, terrain and distance from the animal..._
I question the hind end stance of the horse appearing very straight, post-leg.
I question the horse as in one picture hind legs look a decent straight, wide appearance of leg and hock but the other picture the horse appears sickle hocked and more than just a acceptable toe out that is normal for good movement.
I question the front legs below the ankle as there are "bumps", many of them, but not clear enough to see what it is.
Knees look large and flat, fairly straight but not positive there is not a slight twist happening.
The horses left front has some shadowing, but also possibly a high bow with thickening appearance...very unknown if actual or not.
I question the length and angle of all the feet hidden in a paddock surface.
I question how the SI joint is making the horse back appear to long, not to long, a light hind-end or adequate butt and then the tail-head and slope of the rump..the shadowing is terrible to guess on.
The pictures do not show clear enough a shoulder angle in relation to leg/hoof angle.
The throat-latch is unknown as is the tie-in appropriate or not of chest neck area to make the front end match in ability that of the hind.
The heartgirth looks more than adequate.
The face looks long with a nice shaped ear and eye, wide spacing between ears could be for a wide forehead...again though guesses not seen.


I will say again...
All my comments are subject to better pictures being truly needed as so much is "off" and guesses with the horse being photographed on ground that is _not_ flat, is full of manure and mud he stands in...
He could be a really great animal or one that has questionable flaws...but to be honest, fair and true to the animal the people selling the animal should of presented him in pictures or to you in much better surroundings.
I think he has much to offer you but to evaluate him as he is without being very guarded because I can see the uneven ground, the muddy cupped paddock area and it strewn with filth he stands in...the horse is _not_ shown to his best advantages...very sad for a sale prospect to be shown this way.
This horse has a great disservice done to him and his good attributes are hidden right now.
He has certainly faded greatly in those pictures from what I can see from a dark brown to a light brown/coppery shade is wow quite the spectrum of coloring.
:runninghorse2:...
_jmo.._


----------



## Little (Apr 16, 2020)

Better pictures for opinions


----------



## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

You should of shown these and not the others but...you probably won't like my thoughts anyway.

From the front..
The front legs each toe-out.
Shoulder to me is pretty straight, a bit higher neck tie-in than is my preference.
The horse almost looks over at the knee.
There is something weird especially with the left fore and how the horse stands on it...
To me the front hooves appear very toe long and under-run in stance...
The horse almost looks to be being forced to stand and pull his weight forward over his legs with a neck stretch so exaggerated and the leg placement below.
Nice length neck and proportioned head with flat profile, nice eye and well shaped ear.
The horse is just a tad butt high but a nice top-line shown.
In a natural resting hind leg pose the hooves are pretty close together and pretty angled from the hip to the floor, not off "the 4-corners of the body" as is optimum in build.
Hind legs still look straight and posty in appearance.
Hind end looks lacking and weak with a to far back SI joint compromising butt strength.
A short, steeper croup appears.
Longer back than I would want.
Hocks do not resemble symmetry but a larger right hock, possibly capped in appearance or residual swelling from a injury.
I look at the right ankle inside and wonder if he used to brush/forge with a pointy look of old scarring one of my horses had that looked like this in photos.

The horse *is* handsome and these are much better pictures for showing the animal off.
If you go to see, look with a fine-tooth comb, if serious about the animal a very through PPE by a vet specializing in lameness and movement issues needs done and probably several views of several body parts to rule out what is questionable.

Remember critiquing is all someone's opinion versus someone else's..
The secret is does the horse as you see it and evaluate it meet your needs, wants and from professional opinion of the attending vet will it meet your riding needs and does the vet see glaring future issue{s} of soundness or lameness tendencies presenting.
:runninghorse2:...
_jmo..._


----------



## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

What immediately jumps out at me is a super upright shoulder, very post legged, and I want to reach into the pic and cut about an inch and a half of his toes off and get those heals back.

I guess it would all depend on what type of riding you want to do.


----------



## Little (Apr 16, 2020)

Thank you very much


----------



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Ok. Well, I often differ from the crowd, but . . . I do not see where there is any real conformational issue here. This seems, to me, a very typical QH conformational type. I do not see ANY conformational issues here. I cannot see an upright shoulder, thought that is a possibillity . I see a very text book representation of a QH type in your photos. 



Nothing that warrents worry. If you were to show more detailed photos, we could work hard to find problems, but with this level of scrutiny, . . . it seems like a pretty typey QH horse.


----------



## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

Tiny is right, The things that I see are not going to hurt the horse. I have a mare that is a little straight in the hind leg and she has only been lame one week in her life due to her frogs of her hooves staying too wet and one hoof got sore. Nothing to do with anything conformational.
His upright shoulder, which I do see, might make for a little Jolting ride. That's why I said it depends on what kind of riding you want to do. Also, he's NOT downhill, which I see in quite a few quarter horses.

The hooves are too long in my opinion, but a good farrier can address that.


----------



## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

Well I wanted to say... First pic is a very good one, to show that's the back view & the horse appears brown. Second pic shows nicely the horse appears bay/dark brown & has long front feet... 

Don't think she looks too bad conformationally, in as much as can be told from these pics. But I do indeed see the upright shoulders - not a 'fault' depending on what you want to do with the horse. Ditto with the posty back legs, and she looks a little sickle hocked to me, tho not horribly. Depends what you want of her I reckon, as to whether they'd be deal breaking 'faults' or not.


----------



## Little (Apr 16, 2020)

Western pleasure is what I would do, trail, hms , sms, jump a log here and there on a hack


----------



## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

This horse would be a fine one to see in the ring...
But, I would tell what your intent is to the vet when that PPE is being done as movement is a big part of what is judged and movement by the horse is reflected in movement of the rider astride.
Let the vet guide you on how to proceed...:wink:
:runninghorse2:...


----------

