# critique my quarterhorse?



## heyycutter (Sep 26, 2009)

Heres cutter, my 13(+/-) year old quarterhorse. in these pics he was deturmined to eat grass so dont mind the struggling to keep his head up haha. what do you think?





























http://i35.tinypic.com/2wcqqkw.jpg


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## EventersBabe (Oct 1, 2009)

He toes out in the front two hooves, A very short neck.

I dont know much about confo but I need to find my confo book because I can see somthing else maybe with his legs but I cant put my foot on it.


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## SierraSyd (Oct 4, 2009)

Well the 2nd pic you can somewhat critque on, but he looks nice. He looks like he needs muscle tone in the back for a AQH, but he's neck looks short and I can't tell if he has a dip in his crest? Someone can tell me if I'm wrong, I still learning


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## heyycutter (Sep 26, 2009)

he was gelded when he was about 8 and i think thats the reason he has a really big chest, its hard to get his hind even with his big front end. any tips?


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## xEquestrianx (Aug 30, 2009)

The main faults I can really see, are that he is thick through the throatlatch, he is roman-nosed, his topline is weak and he looks a bit cowhocked.


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

Was he gelded late? He has a really thick neck....nothing compared to Sundance's neck, though lol! Ok, here's my critique:


*I can't really tell how his head joins his crest without a pic with his head up...
*He has small-ish haunches
*the distance from the front of the stifle to the point of the hock is longer than from the hock to the ground
*high stifle, but a little too far back (good with groundwork, but will have no extra extention if doing jumping)
*nice square butt
*hock is even with the chestnut on the front leg, which is very good. A horse with too-low hock can't move his hind foot forward as efficiently and has a shorter stride. This reduces a horse's ability to travel with maximum leverage and power. A horse with a too-low hock has less thrust from the hind leg and therefore less speed...so you want a nice alignment from the chestnut to the hock.
*Good pronounced topline; not too round
*looks as if his downhill balance is desirable (common to sprinters)



Overall, he looks great


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

EventersBabe said:


> He toes out in the front two hooves, A very short neck.
> 
> I dont know much about confo but I need to find my confo book because I can see somthing else maybe with his legs but I cant put my foot on it.


There's a really good confo book preview online here:

The horse conformation handbook - Google Books

I think it's like $20 in stores, but that shows you a preview.


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

xEquestrianx said:


> The main faults I can really see, are that he is thick through the throatlatch, he is roman-nosed, his topline is weak and he looks a bit cowhocked.


I thought the same


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## heyycutter (Sep 26, 2009)

equiniphile--thanks for the very detailed critique, and yes, he was gelded around age 8. 
i dont know a whole lot about confo, but whats wrong with a roman nose?


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## SavvyHearts (Sep 29, 2009)

IMO there is nothing wrong with a roman nose, just some people do not like the looks of it. There has been talk (not sure if it's true) that horses with roman noses can breath easier. Again not sure if that's true or not...something I heard a while back. 
I personally like the look of roman noses on horses, especially on QHs or Paints (geldings or stallions only though...not on mares  )


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## kchfuller (Feb 1, 2008)

he needs some more muscle in that butt


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

nothing wrong with it, just a feature some horses have. And his isn't very pronounced compared to some horses like this:


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## binkyhoo (Jul 13, 2009)

I too dont mind a roman nose. I have one myself. My only crit is that he might need a bit of conditioning? It could just be the time of year or a gloomy day on which you took the pix, He would be awesome with a bit more shine on his coat. 

Very nice horse.


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## onetoomany (Dec 10, 2008)

As far as QH conformation- he's a bit off in some points. He has a very weak hip and a very straight shoulder. His neck is too short and throat latch is pretty unrefined. While he dosen't have a total QH head, he does look like a very sweet boy. His front legs don't look too bad but his hind legs are pretty straight. I disagree with the cow hocked comment as it is very hard to determine if a horse is cow hocked unless there is a hind end shot. He's probably not going to win any halter classes but he does seem like a good and sweet boy.


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## AussieDaisyGirl (May 21, 2009)

No critique from me I think he's handsome! I love his colour!


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## heyycutter (Sep 26, 2009)

thank you everyone! i agree that he needs muscle tone, the backyard barn i keep him at doesnt have anywhere good to ride, (the grounds uneven and has holes and stuff) so i usually ride in the other horses paddock but i cantwhen its muddy and its like alllllwwwaaayyyyyssss muddy. and me and him just had an accadent recently (he was fine except for some cuts, but i went to the ER). so hes gotten time offf. im actually looking for an decently priced barn with an indoor (so i can excersize him more) in the middlesex MA area. any ideas?


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