# So............ Why do they do that for Confo Shots?



## Honeysuga (Sep 1, 2009)

It is caled parking out, I have no clue why they do it, maybe to show off their really long hind legs?, but the first horse is related to my moms new mare!


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## Pro (Apr 23, 2009)

I don't know, but I think it makes them look terrible.


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

It's part of the breed standard. Certain breeds are expected to "park out" instead of stand square. It's just a breed thing, and you can tell quite a bit from the photos as well


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## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

Its just MHO that it makes them look weird. I can't tell how thier hip is and their hocks are when hey stand like that. And how their shoulder is to their neck.


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## Solon (May 11, 2008)

It's uuugly. I don't see how you can tell anything about their conformation, except that they look mutated.


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## charlicata (Jan 12, 2010)

In the American Saddlebred shows that I used to do, at the end of the class, we would bring the horses to the center of the ring, back them up a couple of steps, then have them park out for judging. When I asked the trainer that I was working with why it was so important that they "park-out", he told me that it made it harder for them to take off when mounting. As far as parking out after the ride, he said that it showed that the horse had discipline? Which I still don't understand, but whatever floats their boat.


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## roro (Aug 14, 2009)

IMO it's a nifty trick for hiding bad withers and faulty hinds!


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

It's just a different way of setting a horse up. It's the way this set of breeds does it - called "parking out" - nothing wrong or ugly about it, it's just a breed thing. If you're familiar with the breed and what to look for, it's a good conformation picture. Let's not jump on one set of breeds because of how they set their horses up, please.


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## Solon (May 11, 2008)

If you post a picture like that you're bound to get comments from both sides. The position is ugly. Now the horse may not be if it was standing like a normal horse would. 

My horse stands like that, but he's peeing when he does it.


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## flamingauburnmustang (Dec 25, 2008)

LOL! I agree with the above post...so true... :lol:


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## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

Solon said:


> If you post a picture like that you're bound to get comments from both sides. The position is ugly. Now the horse may not be if it was standing like a normal horse would.
> 
> My horse stands like that, but he's peeing when he does it.


lol,yeah. I am not singling out breeds. I don't see how it would be bad even if I did.......... but thanks for the answers, ive always wondered why.  
Do they ever square them up,too? Because I see stud ads and they don't show squared at all. How can you correctly see everything when its like that?


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## Solon (May 11, 2008)

thunderhooves said:


> lol,yeah. I am not singling out breeds. I don't see how it would be bad even if I did.......... but thanks for the answers, ive always wondered why.
> Do they ever square them up,too? Because I see stud ads and they don't show squared at all. How can you correctly see everything when its like that?



I think roro hit i on the head, a nifty way to hide faults.


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## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

kinda the same,right?








anyway,back on subject.


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## Honeysuga (Sep 1, 2009)

I know a bunch of TWH owners who have TALLL horses and they have TWH's specifically because of bad joints and arthritis, so the parking out makes them much easier to mount and as has been said, makes it harder for them to take off while being mounted.


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## maura (Nov 21, 2009)

Actually, parking out started out as functional. Saddlebreds and TWHs are suppossed to park out for mounting and dismounting to make it easier for the rider. This always worried me because I think the strain on the horse's back must be incredible; but it did have a functional origin. And if you consider the original purpose these horses were bred for, it makes tons of sense. I personally would love a horse that lowered itself to the ground to make it easy for me to get one, again, if I wasn't worried what I was doing to their backs. 

I can only guess from here; but having a horse park out during a show is essentially showing training, obedience and ground manners. How it became a convention for standing confo shots, I dunno, on that, I'm clueless.

And back to worrying about their backs, I always stand in my stirrups when my horse parks out to pee - that's just the way I was taught. I hate to see people sitting it the tack when the horse is stretched out and on tiptoe behind.


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## Ariat164 (Nov 27, 2009)

i personally think it is gorgious


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## ShutUpJoe (Nov 10, 2009)

I think it's pretty too. I was always told that parking out was for mounting purposes as stated above.


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## charlicata (Jan 12, 2010)

This is Ty, the saddlebred that I traded for Rosie. I was holding him for my hubby to get on (just to be safe because he hadn't been on a horse in close to 30 years). Honestly, he was so tall that if he hadn't know how to park out, I wouldn't have been able to get on him. I tried the mounting block thing, but he always move away from it when I was trying to use it.

And yes, they are supposed to square up in a show situation. That is the purpose of backing them a couple of steps, to make sure their back feet are squared. Then it's a simple "park out" verbal command or touching the back of their front leg with the whip to get them to do it. Ty had a verbal command.


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## Jessabel (Mar 19, 2009)

Personally, I think it makes them look like they're peeing. ;D And it looks uncomfortable when the horse has a rider because it hollows their backs out. I do kind of like the Saddlebred way when all four legs are parked out, not just the back ones.
My favorite is the "Thoroughbred stance" with one hind leg behind the other.


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## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

oh! So it for mounting and dismounting? That makes sense now, because weren't they bred on plantations or something? And those pics I posted first were to show you what I meant in case I didn't describe it well.
But then why do they park out in stud ads? Ive never seen one that showed squareness.


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## Solon (May 11, 2008)

I can see mounting and dismounting. But saying you can't get a horse up to a mounting block is just lack of training.


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## charlicata (Jan 12, 2010)

As far as the lack of training Solon, Ty was 19 when I got him. The person that I got him from was very heavy. Too heavy to have been riding him. They said that they were only able to use a mounting block the first time they got on him. After that, he would always move away from it. Don't get me wrong, he would walk up beside of it and stand, as long as nobody was on it. But I even had a trainer work with him. He got his ground manners back in line, and had him loading and unloading from the trailer in no time. What he told me was that he associated the mounting block with back strain. And at his age, instead of trying to retrain him to think otherwise, it was best if I just got on him from the ground since he would stand perfectly still. The only other type of training that he had gotten was strictly for the show ring. In other words, pick the front feet up as high as possible, and be scared so they always have the head up, the big eyes, and their ears forward.

I know this from the show barn I used to work with. The owner would put stretchers on the front feet and light chains on the back feet. If the horse wasn't holding his head up and ears forward, he would have somebody stand in a dark dark doorway where the horse was being ridden and either blow baby powder right in front of them or shake a plastic bag tied to a stick in front of them. This whole manner of training is exactly why I don't show anymore. I'm perfectly happy with my natural moving horse on the trails.


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## HalfPass (Jun 12, 2009)

I am with JDI on this one.
It is a breed thing. IMHO, it does not hide faults or make the horse look anything other than beautiful and show off their wonderful features. 
I also agree with Maura, I too was taught at a very young age to stand off my horses back if they needed to take a pee. 
hp


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## Indyhorse (Dec 3, 2009)

I think it looks pretty  And I agree I don't think it hides faults - in fact it kind of accentuates how frighteningly long the neck is in the first picture :lol:


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## Honeysuga (Sep 1, 2009)

It isnt really that long, it is just the angle he has it... On any other breed(unless it is gaited and supposed to have lonnnng hind legs) it would look terrible, but on a TWH, I think it accentuates the qualities people look for in a TWH...


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