# Advice on horse i might buy



## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

He does not track up and he has quite a bit of knee action at the trot. I think even at the breed shows where they do more Wenglish than what I would call HUS they still want the horse to track up (use themselves) and have a swinging shoulder with minimal knee action.

He is very down hill. I thought the rules had been changed that the poll should not be below the withers.


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## Dressage10135 (Feb 11, 2009)

Agree completely with AB. 

Also, is it just me or does it almost look like the canter (lope?) is a 4 beat instead of 3?


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

It does look like that at times, for sure, Dressage.


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## Dressage10135 (Feb 11, 2009)

Ok good I'm glad I'm not just seeing things :lol: 

OP, I personally would pass on this horse and keep looking. There are so many horses out there, why not get something that isn't going to take a lot of work to break some pretty bad habits?


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## precious12 (Jun 25, 2009)

His canter is good, not a 3 beat in my opinion, but i knew the knee action would be a debate..but judges love him down here, but what i am most concerned about is the hot spots anybody have an opinion or experience with that?


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## Dressage10135 (Feb 11, 2009)

If his canter is good shouldn't it be a 3 beat? I was always taught that a canter or lope is a 3 beat and a 4 beat would be considered a gallop or the horse is lame.


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## precious12 (Jun 25, 2009)

Meant to type 4 beat... he has a very distinguised 3 beat not a 4 beat... and his head set is right, what i am more concerned about is the hot spots?


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I find it hard to be objective about how a horse goes when I watch that kind of "going". I mean, head artificially held low and horse moving without hind end engagement or lift in the sholders. This horse actually moves pretty decent , compared to so many I have seen ridden this way. With more correct riding, he may start tracing up and engageing behind. The rider sure was workin' hard at her posting and rib ticklin'.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

He is not 4 beating at all. This horse would clean up in APHA shows in HUS. Go with the vet check on the hot spots, humid climates have their own set of problems.


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## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

I'm not sure what is meant by hot spots so I can't help you with that one.
It looked like the rider was trying very hard to make this WP horse go English-ish. I got tired just watching, wouldn't want to peddle that much.
The horse appears very nice, despite the rider.


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## Katze (Feb 21, 2011)

< is confused...that low hanging head thing is trained into the horse??? why...? Looks like he's going to trip over his muzzle lol.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

The low head carriage (peanut rolling I suppose), is trained to a certain extent, also it seems to be natural in some of these breeds, mostly QH & Paints. Looks very unnatural to someone who isn't around this genre of competition & for the record, I am not fond of it but I can appreciate it. I can understand the low head carriage in WP, reason being a horse is relaxed and is not in a position to spook with his nose in the dirt but as for the English AQHA & APHA classes, I can't answer that. All I know is, if your horse doesn't travel with it's head in a position as the horse in the video, you might as well stay home.


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## Katze (Feb 21, 2011)

^ ok got it, i'm strictly an english rider, never "got" western, that's why the head carriage looks unnatural to me, thanks for enlightening me =)


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## pinkswagger26 (Jul 15, 2011)

I am not a horse expert but humanly speaking they look sad when they put thier heads down, like a dog that has been beaten down. Again I know nothing about showing but when I take pictures of horses and look at pictures ( One of my hobbies is photography) of horses I want to see thier beauty, strength, and confidence. In my personal opinion it is not relatable...hmmm...what I mean is if I saw a picture ( something like a poster) of a horse with it's head hanging down with/without the rider I would feel sad for the horse. I wouldn't go "WOW, that's stunning!" I guess when I think of dressage I think of something like a Tennessee Walking horse with it's neck held up high and it's tail lifted struting around with pride and confidence. If I watch a video of a horse with it's head down and the rider tugging frequently it looks brutal (to me a horse novice and very empathetic person).
When I watch a show or see a horse I want to feel in awe of the movements or training, you know like "WOW, that's so cool!" Confidence is beauty, just like a little child that says "look mommy at what I can do!" Whether they fall on thier butt or not doesn't matter because when they stand up wearing a huge grin and you can see pride in thier eyes, then you smile too.

Again I am a novice and know nothing about dressage, just giving a perspective to the average untrained eye and my artistic eye says "not pleasing to this eye."


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Eh, he seems like he could be a nice enough horse with some better handling. He moves out okay for a western horse, though his head definitely needs some serious work. At the lope, she was constantly sawing on his mouth in a curb bit just to keep his head that low (hence why it was bobbing up and down constantly) and if APHA rules are anything like AQHA rules, then yes, his head is too low, especially at the trot.

I can't seem to get the APHA handbook to load on my computer but the AQHA clearly dictates that any horse who has his poll/ears carried below his withers, then it is an automatic DQ. If a horse is trained to lower his head on command but carry it nice and level, you can always just ask him to drop it lower if you need to. However, picking a horse back up after he's been taught to carry his nose in the dirt takes some doing.

This is quoted from the AQHA rule book regarding HUS horses:




> The poll should be level with, or slightly above, the withers to allow proper impulsion behind. The head position should be slightly in front of, or on, the vertical.​
> 
> 
> *(f) *
> ...





So, that horse is nowhere near in accordance with the rules for a HUS horse. He'll need some serious re-training before he's competitive.​


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## commonfish (Jan 2, 2011)

I'm not going to really comment on this guy other than that to even a novice WP rider that just doesn't look pretty. :think: 

But the heat spots, those I can comment on. Totally normal. Our dog gets them every summer, he lives out doors and has a perfectly happy healthy normal life other than the occasional sore. You can find ointments in pet stores marketed to help with them. Heat sores are exactly as they sound- sores caused by the skin rubbing against itself and basically becoming a friction rub. The sweat on the skin makes it worse or something, which is why they happen in summer, and not when its cooler. I believe that's how our vet explained it to us when we had them checked out- though not in quite that terminology.


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