# Critique New Mustang!



## CrossCountry (May 18, 2013)

Picked up this boy yesterday. 4 year old Saulsbury NV gelding. 14 hh, but very stocky... aka fat. Still working on gentling him so I can't get perfect conformation critique pictures.. Tell me what you can? 

Here's what I know:
- He's fat
- No muscle tone or topline
- Cowhocked
- Long back(?)

Thank you guys!


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

He does have a wee bit of a long back, but nothing horrible.

He is NOT cow hocked. At all. I love his hind leg, to be honest.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

not cowhocked that I can see. long back! upright shoulder. upright, sturdy pasterns, short, sloped hip. after he loses weight, he will be a sturdy trail horse . nice mustang~!


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## CrossCountry (May 18, 2013)

For some reason I thought he was cowhocked from looking at him last night.. Must have been a bad position! 

I can't wait to get him to shed some fat and gain muscle! I think he'll look ten times better in several months! When he's gentled what should I work on? I'd like to improve his back as it seems long and weak. Any tips?


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## Roanwatch (Apr 1, 2014)

subbing


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

I like him.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

hard to say now. it will become more obvious as you work with him. how did he get so fat?


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## aclassicalpaint (Feb 11, 2015)

Wow, love him! He has pretty substantial bone, huge feet, and if he is downhill it's only very slightly. His short pasterns might mean his gaits are a little bumpy, but I could be wrong! Great prospect, I could see him doing anything.


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## lostastirrup (Jan 6, 2015)

He looks chubby but not quite corn-fritters and dumplings fat. I like his build and those feet are beautiful. He's not downhill with an excellent shoulder and a good motor in his butt. I think you should do dressage to build up that topline, but then I am always inclined to suggest dressage to everyone...

Does he have a name?


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## CrossCountry (May 18, 2013)

His name is Asher! I think he's a good looking horse, but I wish his back was a tad shorter. 

Dressage would be fun, but I live in rural Idaho so there is really no dressage here. Maybe I'll see if I can find some online videos..


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## silverxslinky (Jul 23, 2013)

I think his back is a very functional length. You really don't want them too short or you can run into some very tricky saddle fitting issues. He toes out just a bit behind, but I would not consider it a conformation flaw toeing out behind to that degree is totally normal. His point of shoulder is really, really low. It's the only thing I can really fault him for. I'd be interested to see him move.


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## flytobecat (Mar 28, 2010)

I like him a lot.


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## Le007 (Jan 7, 2013)

Nice horse.


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## Samstead (Dec 13, 2011)

lovely boy! and once you get some muscle and top line on him, oh wow!


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## Elana (Jan 28, 2011)

Very nice useful looking horse. He might make a really good roping horse or ranch horse.


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## CrossCountry (May 18, 2013)

I was able to capture some movement after we attached the lead rope. What do you think? I love his trot extension..


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## EpicApple (Oct 19, 2014)

By looking at the pictures his back has a tendency to sway. The length of his back doesn't help with that. Right now it is very mild, but It might get a little worse with age. His back doesn't seem very strong structurally. Developing his topline will improve the appearance of his back a lot. I am not saying that a long back is directly related to a weak back. In fact jumpers with long straight backs have a tendency to bascule better over fences than those who don't. Then there's that point when it's too long and its a constant struggle for the horse to collect or shift his weight to his hind end. 
The humerus a bit too short for my liking and like someone mentioned, the point of shoulder somewhat low, thus the horse is slightly down hill. He also has a tendency to slightly toe-in in front, which can easily be fixed with a good farrier or trim. He has good bone, lots of substance and a kind eye. I do like his neck and the way it ties in. Would love to see picture of how he develops. Very cute face!

Remember I could be wrong since it's only a few pictures. Anyone welcome to correct me.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

I don't think he's cow hocked either. If anything, his hind foot might tow out a little. And yes, he's fat. Beautiful mustang though, I like him a lot. I love his feet too.

There are lots of videos on dressage and dressage training online. You can probably do the basics like that.


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## silverxslinky (Jul 23, 2013)

His natural way of going is pretty much completely inverted. This horse wants to throw his head up, pull with his shoulders, and trail his hind end behind him. You can see in the first trot picture that he's not even coming close to tracking up. This is as much about just how this particular horse is as it is about conformation. as other posters have mentioned this is not the greatest thing for his back.

No worries though! This can be fixed with proper training. It just can be a bit of a bear with this type.

The downside is that if you don't get him working over his back I would think you might have a horse with a very tight, tense, and possibly sore back. 

I still think he has a ton of potential.


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## Bombproof (May 20, 2015)

I really like the shape of his neck and his alert head carriage. 

It's pretty hard to critique conformation in a case like this because all our standards assume a horse in good condition who has had proper hoof care, etc. It's not completely fair to bring a horse in out of the wild and compare him to horses who have had optimal care. So take all criticisms and compliments with a grain of salt because he may look much different in 12 months. If I saw him running with a herd of wild, unkempt horses, he's one of the ones I'd try to capture.

A long back does not necessarily mean a weak back. They're pretty common in TBs and they mostly do just fine. Besides, I would say his back is on the long end of normal rather than really "long." It's hard to know how he will look and go when he is in good condition. He may have a tendency toward sway-back, but that may be just poor condition. With some exercise and training, his back may straighten up nicely. And I've seen horses with about that degree of sway have long, productive careers and it never got worse. Sometimes it's just how they're built. 

As to being a little downhill, perhaps, but unless you have him standing still on a perfectly level surface you can't really discern that. Regardless, I don't see anything I'd consider significantly outside the range of normal variations. He won't win a halter class, but there's no obvious reason why he won't serve many years as a general-purpose riding horse.


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## MaximasMommy (Sep 21, 2013)

He has a really cute spanish look to him. He reminds my of my lipizzan a bit. I'm just a brand new dont know much horse person but was he maybe a bit freaked out in those pictures so he was throwing he head up? I saw the lead rope trailing from his halter. I wonder if he was a little more comfortable and lunging on a line you held (I understand he's a new wild horse so that could take awhile) if his head would go down?


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## CrossCountry (May 18, 2013)

Updated pictures of the new kid. Asher is coming along really well. Just getting him used to being saddled now! Oh man did he have a good bronc session! Pretty entertaining. He settled down after about 10 seconds of bucking and started looking to me for guidance even though he was worried about this scary thing on his back.

He's going to be a really good horse.


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## saddlebred99 (Feb 19, 2015)

Wow what a gorgeous horse! Looks like he took to his first time being saddled like a champ! I'm really fond of his color and how his neck ties in


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## CrossCountry (May 18, 2013)

He's pretty much taken to everything like a champ! Thanks for the compliment - I think he's quite pretty myself.


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## Haileyshh (Aug 10, 2015)

I like him, and I especially think he's a good looking mustang. If you start him right, and slowly teach him how to carry his back, I'd say he's going to turn out really nice.


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## Fraido (Nov 26, 2014)

Oh I love this guy!


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