# 10yo QH gelding - confo eval



## sandsarita (Jan 20, 2008)

This is my 10yo QH gelding Wesley, a project horse of sorts. I was wanting to get some conformation evals on him. I know a couple of things that are wrong with him, but am wanting other people's opinion. And yes, he is a little underweight, but since the grass is greening up, the weight is slowly coming back on.

For his history, his sire is pure western pleasure (Passing it Along - full brother to Barpasser's Image), and his dam is a foundation bred Harlan mare that has put 5 horses to the QH world in the top 10 in roping events, and has one foal I showed at the world in Trail. I started Wesley as a WP/all-around horse, but ended up preferring another one I was working with at the time, so he was roped on for a number of years and used as a general ranch horse. I have been working with him for about 5mo now, and took him to his first show this weekend. He's being aimed towards horsemanship, trail, showmanship, Equitation, and the over fence classes at the Buckskin shows.

Please let me know what you think of thim. Thanks!


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## im4dressage (Mar 11, 2008)

i'm not that great at the whole critique, but he looks like he would be an awesome Hunt Seat Horse


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## Abby (Nov 26, 2007)

He's got a jumping bump. :wink:


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## sandsarita (Jan 20, 2008)

What's a jumping bump? I've never heard that one before.

I am riding him hunt seat, and he's enjoying the jumping quite a bit, but with him only being 15H and not having a huge stride at the trot, I'm not sure how good he will do in the show pen. He has been able to make the strides down the line, so maybe he has more potential there than I give him credit for.


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## notorious_ (Apr 25, 2008)

his neck looks a TINY bit long.
other then that hes gorgeous!!
hes got nice color.
pretty good conformation, 
and looks to do well in the show ring [from the picture on your avatar]


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

He looks pretty nice.


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## sandsarita (Jan 20, 2008)

notorious_ said:


> his neck looks a TINY bit long.
> other then that hes gorgeous!!
> hes got nice color.
> pretty good conformation,
> and looks to do well in the show ring [from the picture on your avatar]


Thanks - he's actually a different horse from the one in my avatar. He's only been shown once so far.


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

on the longe line helooks like a western pleasure horse... how are his gates? he's a really pretty color.


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## Abby (Nov 26, 2007)

A jumping bump is when their croup meets their back in a sharp peak. Its is called a jumping bump because a lot of good jumpers have that.


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## mayfieldk (Mar 5, 2008)

He's a little downhill, and his shoulder is a little steep. He looks sickle-hocked, but that could just be the way he decided to stand for the picture.  His back is just a liiiittle long.
Buuut. I love his hocks, almost darn near even with the knees. Good pasterns, nice legs, pretty neck, gorgeous color. 
However, when you lunge him, you can see a little dip where his neck meets his withers. This isn't conformation, this is a CLASSIC sign of a horse pulling himself along with his forehand, and not using his topline correctly (Another sign is the steep angle of his rump). His topline is lacking, he seems strung out and not pushing himself through with his back and rear legs. I call these horses 'disjointed'... he can put his head down and instead of his back raising, it just stays hollow (that's why there's the dip before the withers, the muscle isn't pulling the back up to carry you!). He may have changed now that he's in training, I'm not sure. ^^;
My horse looks like that when he comes out of the pasture after winter... but after driving him up into the bit (and working him with a higher headset, like dressage), he is able to carry himself correctly, and then we go back to 'long and low.' 
Good luck with him!


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## G and K's Mom (Jan 11, 2008)

I agree with Mayfieldk, he is a little downhill, with a piece of paper on the computer screen those hocks look a fair bit higher than his knees. Shoulder is very straight, does he feel choppy?

I wouldn't say he has a jumper's hump, that doesn't look that big to me. I've sure seen worse....LOL he's out of shape.

On the loungline you still need to get him to track up and start using himself. That hind foot should land in the same hole the front foot just left. Push him a little more.

He's going to turn some heads. Good luck with him.


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## Harlee rides horses (Jan 13, 2008)

Rump seems too small, seems a very, very minute bit cow-hocked, I'm probably imagining things, seems heavy on the forehand. Very cute seems like he will be a great show horse :wink:


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## sandsarita (Jan 20, 2008)

Those pics were taken a couple of months ago, when I was just starting to work with him. He is a pretty lazy horse that I am having to wake up quite a bit. The lunge line photo was just intended to show another view of him. I know that he isn't pushed up enough in it, with him being as lazy as he is. And no, I can't really push him up more on the lunge because you can absolutely not use a lunge whip with him as he is terrified of them. I've just made sure that he can be lunged in case I take him to a show and am unable to ride to warm up for various reasons. Under Saddle, he moves much more underneath himself, especially now that he is moving off of my leg, both forwards and laterally.

Yeah, he is more of a WP horse than a Hunter. He was bred to be an all-around horse. He has better than average movement for a WP horse, but isn't a good enough mover to compete at the worlds. So, I'm focusing on the all-around events with him where he still has to move correctly, but they don't have to be as slow, or quite as fluid in his movement.

I'll try to get some videos of him later on of how he is working. I have a few from when I first started with him, but he's changed a lot since then.


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## love-a-hero (Apr 3, 2008)

Very Nice


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## mayfieldk (Mar 5, 2008)

My horse sounds a lot like yours, with the same issues. My horse lunges like he's going to DIIIE, and when you get on him, he'll start to move out worlds better. haha


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## sandsarita (Jan 20, 2008)

Thought I would update this thread with a couple of photos from his first two shows. Unfortunately none over fences - the barn photographer was at the trailer helping her daughter at Brownland (starting hunter) during my round, and didn't come to the second one. The person taking pics at the second one just couldn't get one over the jumps. Oh well. Here we go.


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