# Unicorn....come hither!



## PintoTess (Aug 18, 2010)

huh????? lol


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

He's a very good-looking boy! A little thin for my taste in the picture but of course this was 3 yeares ago. He's very well-proportioned!


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## Piaffe (Jan 11, 2010)

What breed is he? he reminds me of a dutch warmblood my trainer has  i like him a lot!


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## TheLastUnicorn (Jun 11, 2010)

Okay... I might have missed some stuff... ran out of time... but here's what I got for Nelson 

Body Length = 7.78cm
Shoulder Slope = 60 degrees
Shoulder Angle = 86.52 degrees
Scapula Length = 3.15 cm which is 40% of Body Length
Humorous Length = 1.69cm about 53% of Scapula Length
Forearm Length = 1.96cm 
Cannon Length = 1.35cm about 69% of forearm length
Pastern Length = .61cm about 45% of cannon length
Back Length = 3.6cm about 46% of Body Length
Ribcage Length = 3.65 cm about 100% of Back Length
Hip Length = 2.43cm about 31% of Body Length
Femur Length = 2.49 cm longer than Hip Length
Pelvic Length = 2.43cm equal to Hip Length
Hip Angle = 59.75 degrees
Femur Angle = 60.06 degrees
Pelvic Angle = 59.65 degrees
Neck Length = 4.95 cm about 64% of Body Length
　
Okay… so Nelson here is showing a nicely balanced, square body… that’s the first thing I see when I look at this horse. 

Then, looking at his shoulder slope… which is 60 degrees (according to this photo) it’s on the steep side. We’re really shooting for around 45-50 degrees here. Unfortunately, it looks like it’s also paired with a pretty closed shoulder angle… seeing as how it’s 86.52 degrees… in a perfect world it would range between 100 and 115 degrees. Paired together we have a steep, closed shoulder, which is going to limit this horse’s scope to a certain degree… however he does have an amazingly long scapula, and that is paired with a more than adequate length of humorous… which means, his shoulder pretty much evens out in the end. Where the angles create a weakness, the size of that shoulder makes up for it to a certain extent, which probably means that his ability to lift and reach forward is not critically hindered. 

Going down his foreleg he is straight, and has enough bone and hoof for his size. His forearm exceeds the length of his humorous, his cannon is less than 75% of his forearm length coming in about 69% of forearm length (though, ideally we’d see it more like 50%… short cannons are good ) and a pastern length which is pretty good as well (45% of cannon length is well within the accepted borders)

His Back length is less than half of his body length, and his ribcage length is a little over 100% of his back length (this is a GOOD thing.. It makes for a shorter, stronger loin). I actually like how this horse’s back is connected - both at the wither and at the LS joint, and it shows strength even into this horse’s 20’s (he is over 20 right?)

The LS placement itself is pretty good too. In other posts I’ve mentioned that the placement should be at, or just ahead of the point of hip… so his is good (marked by a dot). 

His hip length is actually a little less than the idea - being only 31% of his body length (in this photo anyhow). The angles are pretty good too - if you’ll note there is less than 1 degree of difference between these angles, and that can be put down to the inaccuracy of the photograph without having to stretch the imagination. 

We can see that his hind legs are also well put together - there is enough angulation there to allow for power and thrusting ability… but not too much so. He’ll have some speed, power and agility in that hindquarter - as he has proven over the years.

His neck, in this photo comes up as being about 64% of his Body Length… this is technically a bit on the long side for his body, but, I don’t find it takes away from his overall look of balance. I will say that I find this gelding ties in low to his chest, thus, reducing the amount of depth to his chest - but I don’t think so much so that he’ll have any real issues because of it. His head is well balanced for his body. 
I know some history about this horse, so I can say, without a doubt this horse has heart… and it shows in his expression as well. His overall balance and the “sum of all parts” make this horse an athlete… so again, not the “perfect” horse, but an excellent example of how weaknesses can be balanced by strengths to provide a very serviceable horse.


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## Piaffe (Jan 11, 2010)

That is really cool unicorn! I like how you do that!


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## PintoTess (Aug 18, 2010)

wowowowowowowowoowowowowowowowow!!!!! i now know what the title means !!!! lol


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## lilkitty90 (Nov 11, 2009)

heeeeeeeeeeyyyy thats awesome!!!


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

TheLastUnicorn said:


> Okay... I might have missed some stuff... ran out of time... but here's what I got for Nelson
> 
> Body Length = 7.78cm
> Shoulder Slope = 60 degrees
> ...


 What did you use for the measurement?


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## GreyRay (Jun 15, 2010)

Thats awesome! You'll have to do Shaffiek some time =D


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## TheLastUnicorn (Jun 11, 2010)

equiniphile - I used Screen Protractor 4.0 and a program called Bit Ruler (though I think BitRuler also has the ability to do angles)

You can do all the same measurements with the "real" tools too, just place them over the screen - the actual measurements might come out a little different than mine, but the ratio's should stay about the same.


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## MIEventer (Feb 15, 2009)

Thank you Dahlin'! I <3 Ya!


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## Clementine (Sep 24, 2009)

WOW, Unicorn - that is impressive! How long did that take you?


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## TheLastUnicorn (Jun 11, 2010)

It takes me about 1 1/2 hours to do all the lines... then the breakdowns and typing it out. (I can see and "say" it a lot faster... but transferring the information on my computer slows things down a bit, I still need to smooth out the process LOL)


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## MIEventer (Feb 15, 2009)

I <3 my Unicorn  She had me do her horse once - that was halarious.


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## maura (Nov 21, 2009)

Unicorn, that's amazing. 

And thanks for the detail on how you do it. I tried to draw some lines on a photo to illustrate similiar points using MS Paint, and well, it didn't come out well.

I also like that your analysis considers strengths balancing weaknesses and overall function. 

Do you feel like it's cheating when you know going in that the horse is eventing sucessfully into his 20s? LOL


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## MIEventer (Feb 15, 2009)

Unicorn and I have been friends for about 4 years now. She's one of my absolute best friends - but she's in Vancouver B.C while I am in Michigan, U.S.A. So yeah...she knows Nelson very well. She was by my side when Nelson first came into my life - she actually analyzed him during that time..all that technical, scientific approaches she uses. Her words helped make my decision on taking him into my life  

lol, cheating? Maybe  - but she did speak the scientific truth ...... lol, I sound like a dork. 

I think what she does is amazing  And she spoke the honest truth. I'll tell you what, when Nelson retires and I am in the search for my next horse...she'll have a huge part in my decision 

~~~

I say - if anyone else wants their horses analyzed like she did for Nelson - please feel free to post here


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## maura (Nov 21, 2009)

MIE, I hope you know I was kidding. 

I absolutely agree with the analysis. I don't have the wonderful tools that Unicorn does to perform it and demonstrate it, but the analysis is spot on. But if you *know* Nelson and his accomplishments; it's kinda a foregone conclusion that his strengths balance his weaknesses and he's a functional athlete, right?


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## TheLastUnicorn (Jun 11, 2010)

Maura - actually, I don't think it's cheating... I consider it "proof" that the science works. I find a lot of people approach conformation from a subjective standpoint, and it's not a subjective thing. Good conformation will stand the test of time, and my opinion of Nelson wouldn't change if I didn't know how old he was or what he does, because the numbers wouldn't change if he were a trail horse. You'll note that while I do sometimes mention musclature, it's not actually a part of whether a horse is "ideal" or not... that's because conformation actually has little to do with musclature (yes, some conformational weaknesses will show themselves as musclature issues, and likewise the strengths will show as strengths too) it's actually about the bone structure of the horse. 

The horse is a sum of all parts - so it does little good to just pick on a few points... or focus only on the weaknesses. There is no such thing as the "perfect" horse (or if there is, I haven't seen it) there's always SOME flaw you can find, if you go in depth enough. What I'm doing here is actually VERY basic... on purpose... I like to do it the way I do as a learning tool, the points I'm talking about are the basic points for someone to go out and take a look at a horse and decide "is this horse capable of what I want to do?". 

Paint isn't ideal for doing the lines... I downloaded a free paint program called Paint.Net... it's not the best I've worked with, but it doesn't do too bad (I used to use Macromedia Fireworks - AWESOME program, but expensive... when I got my new computer I never loaded it, but I should)

MIE - has it been that long? Huh... time flies when you're having fun!


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## MIEventer (Feb 15, 2009)

Maura, I know you're kidding  No worries. 

It has been that long Unicorn, it's almost like it was just yesterday that I moved here.


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

That's amazing. I know it takes time, but whenever you get around to it I posted my Paso Fino up on the critique board if you'd like to have a go at him


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## lilkitty90 (Nov 11, 2009)

this is the kind of info i wanted to know when i had my mustang critiqued. if your up for it just let me know what kind of picture i need and i'll go searching!


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## MaggiStar (Mar 19, 2010)

Thats soo high tech im gonna get decent confo shots if you could do my girl


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