# Help Me Develop My Confo Knowledge :)



## GreyFeather (Sep 4, 2014)

Here is Ollie, the horse my Mum and I bred, as a 3yr old. This is probably the best conformation picture I have of any of my horses, past and present, at the moment so using it to practice on.

Would be very interested to hear if everyone else's critique matches the things I've picked out myself.

Please refrain from any comments about his head though, which I think is lovely (although I'm obviously biased). The one thing that would upset me is if someone said he had an ugly or plain face. Don't know why. Other than that feel free to be completely analytical.

Ollie very sadly had to be PTS at the end of last year .


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

the draft influence is visible in his bone, which is very generous, and his upright shoulder, and slightly over-straight hocks. he's a very nicely built horse who has that kind of build that keeps a horse sound for years.

Although personally, I think his face is adorable, I need to caution you that when you ask for a critique, it isn't fair to tell people which things they can or can not speak about.


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## Elana (Jan 28, 2011)

tinyliny said:


> Although personally, I think his face is adorable, I need to caution you that when you ask for a critique, it isn't fair to tell people which things they can or can not speak about.


And this is why I will not offer a critique of this horse. Clearly he was well loved and I am sorry for whatever happened that caused him to be put down (PTS).


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## GreyFeather (Sep 4, 2014)

Well I feel that whether or not he has a nice face is rather more subjective that whether he is conformationally sound. I would really rather people comment on the conformation of his body and don't see that there is any harm in requesting that they do so. Of course I realise I can't tell people what they can and can't do as it is a public forum afterall. It was just what I intended to be a polite request as I was wary of posting at all after seeing some comments that have been made about other user's horses (although I do realise this is by a select minority of members and not representative of the forum's conformation critiquers - is that a word? - as a whole!) which I felt were rather uncalled for!

Thank you very much for your critique though. His upright shoulder was definitely one thing I had picked out so good to know I'm on the right tracks there. I didn't realise he had an overly straight hock though so that's something I can do some reasearch on .

EDIT: Feel really stupid - the word is clearly critics. Ahaha. You'd never guess I studied English at university!


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## karliejaye (Nov 19, 2011)

Very solid horse, with a lovely face and kind eye. Looks to me to be slightly down hill and a little weak through the coupling/long in the back. Could have a touch more angle in the hocks.
I like his pastern and shoulder angles and where his neck is tied in. I wish more horses had the substance of bone he has. Really, really nice horse who looks like he was bred to work.


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## GreyFeather (Sep 4, 2014)

I genuinely don't mind hearing an honest critique of him generally, although yes he was very well loved .

And thank you Elana - it was a lorry accident. Very sudden and frustrating because it could have been avoided. However he wasn't showing any signs of distress while the vet was on his way so that's a silver lining at least!


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

it's not like his hock is hugely straight. in fact, it may be actually normal for draft breeds . Z, the hrose I used to ride, had a similar hind shape. He was a very nice ride with great impulsion and never lame.









he is an Irish Sport horse, so half draft. look at his rear , right leg and see how "open" the angle of the hock is.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I like him quite a lot. Very nice looking horse. As Tiny said, the draft influence is obvious in his heavy bones and big feet (and those feathers :wink. Slightly upright in the croup, also typical of draft breeds. Back may be just a touch longer than ideal, but nothing bad at all.

I really love his legs. Sure, his hocks may be a bit straight, but not bad. I adore his front legs; nice short cannon bones, short pasterns with good angle. 

I think his head is quite nice and I can't imagine why anyone would say anything bad about it.

I'm sorry you lost this gorgeous guy .


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## churumbeque (Dec 20, 2009)

I wanted to give a critique but when I scrolled down I was expecting to see a big head or ugly face. I did not and I couldn't quit staring at his cute head/face so I didn't notice anything else.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

He IS , or WAS, a really cute fellow. so sorry you lost him too young.


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## GreyFeather (Sep 4, 2014)

Thank you all. I was just being overly sensitive as I posted not long after reading a few older threads where comments such as 'ugly' were being thrown around in regards to the horses posted. Not that I think he's ugly - he just has a solid draft-horse head which isn't exactly refined, and it would have upset me to hear something similar about him.

Feel a bit stupid in hindsight seeing as anyone who would call another user's horse ugly probably isn't worth listening to anyway.

Thanks for the info re. his hocks. They certainly didn't seem to affect him negatively - he had very nice natural impulsion and power through the hind. I also thought he had nice pasterns/canon on the front so it seems I'm getting the hang of this!

Could anyone comment on his coupling? That's something I'm trying to get my head around. From what I gather short or long coupling is determined by the position of the LS joint in relation to point of hip? To my eye Ollie's LS joint looks to be roughly in line with his point of hip?

Also tinyliny - Z is a cutie!


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## Tryst (Feb 8, 2012)

Coupling is actually the length of the loin, so pretty much from the length from the top of the last rib to the hip.


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## GreyFeather (Sep 4, 2014)

Thanks Tryst - but it is beneficial for the LS joint to be positioned adjacent or in-front of the point of the hip? Even if that isn't what is mean by the term 'coupling'?


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## Tryst (Feb 8, 2012)

For most things the LS placed in line or in front of the hip is preferable, at least for horses that need to get their hind end underneath themselves.


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## ALegUp (Sep 26, 2013)

I think he was just lovely and I'm so very sorry for your loss.


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