# Please Critique my stallion.



## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

Honestly all of that fuzzy hair and and jet black, thick coat is making me go cross eyed and I can't tell much at all. Maybe you can braid it and take some conformation shots?


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## rbarlo32 (Aug 9, 2010)

Can't really get any better photos of him as I am really the only person in the house that can take a half deasent photo of him and he always tries to come over to me.


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## alexischristina (Jun 30, 2009)

He looks obese to me... I'm not an expert on Shetland ponies but he looks bigger than 'well built'.


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## rbarlo32 (Aug 9, 2010)

Nope you can feel his ribs with out much pressing, he meant to have a little fat as he is a native pony as it is part of what keeps him warm, but he is about right for this time of year.


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## BarrelracingArabian (Mar 31, 2010)

He looks like he is a bit butt high	, thick throat latch, no neck/ really thick neck which makes him look really obese but he looks like he has a cute head and a nice little booty on him.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## themacpack (Jul 16, 2009)

BarrelracingArabian said:


> He looks like he is a bit butt high , thick throat latch, no neck/ really thick neck which makes him look really obese but he looks like he has a cute head and a nice little booty on him.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


ITA - plus, either it's just his butt-highedness or he has a wonky back -and the curve to his back makes the drop of his belly look more pronounced. - specifically the 4th, 6th and 8th photos (if I counted right - the last one and every other on the way up from the bottom). When he has his hind parked out behind him it reduces that appearance, but when standing properly up under himself it's rather pronounced.


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## alexischristina (Jun 30, 2009)

Ah, the way mac explained it makes a bit more sense. He still looks fat to me but like I said, not an expert ;D I have a 'shetland' who is quite dainty looking. Granted she was an auction pony and 'shetland' can mean a lot of things without registration.


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

alexischristina said:


> ...I have a 'shetland' who is quite dainty looking. Granted she was an auction pony and 'shetland' can mean a lot of things without registration.


 Old-style Shetlands vary greatly from the new-type ones. I had a more modern-type Shetland out of the WCF lines that was also built much daintier. You really can't compare the two types 

Rbarlo, out of curiousity, what are his lines like?


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## rbarlo32 (Aug 9, 2010)

alexischristina said:


> Ah, the way mac explained it makes a bit more sense. He still looks fat to me but like I said, not an expert ;D I have a 'shetland' who is quite dainty looking. Granted she was an auction pony and 'shetland' can mean a lot of things without registration.


That will be because yours will be an American Shetland where as mine are British.


His bloodline is Wells, Wells and More Wells
Enrique of St Ninian Shetland Pony


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## rbarlo32 (Aug 9, 2010)

BUmpety bumpety bump


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## FeatheredFeet (Jan 27, 2010)

I think he's very typical of his breed as it used to look. I had a peek at his pedigree and he's _very_ tightly bred on a few horses and looks just like them, which would be expected. Handsome lad, when he's all groomed and not sporting a winter coat. What happened to his tail?

May I suggest something please? Ask someone to go over your entire website and clean up the sentence structure, spelling and punctuation. I also couldn't get the pics to load.

Lizzie


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## rbarlo32 (Aug 9, 2010)

I am redoing it just need to get around to it, a very slow boring task.

The last photo was taken about two weaks before we got him and the show photo was the summer before we got him, he was put in with a gelding whilst his breeder/old owner moved ponies around and it chewed off his tail, it has grown back well now.

Actually for a pony with the amount of Wells breeding he has he is surprisingly uninbred and the man no running the Wells stud doesn't seem to find anything wrong with breeding very inbred ponies which makes it a next to impossible task of finding a nice mare with Wells blood to put to him. And I agree I think he looks most like Wells Final Command.

And thank I think he is very handsome too but was wondering what other people thought, as I have been told alot of nice things by people but it is hard to tell if they are just being nice. One person even went as far to say he was the best Shetland she had ever seen a photo of.


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## Fulford15 (Oct 17, 2012)

He is stunning, I think this is what Shetlands should look like! Tough little ponies they are... I always say they have "little man syndrome" :lol:


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## rbarlo32 (Aug 9, 2010)

Thank you. He doesn't have Little man syndrome so much but Star my 31" stallion now the amount of character he has for a little pony boyo boy.


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## FeatheredFeet (Jan 27, 2010)

I didn't mean to imply that I am against inbreeding. As a matter of fact, I'm all for it - IF the breeder knows what they are doing and are _setting type_ and using near perfect horses. 

Few animals are truly 'inbred', unless someone is breeding back to the same horse, generation after generation. And even then, there are others in the pedigree to consider. 

Lizzie


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## rbarlo32 (Aug 9, 2010)

When I say inbreeding I mean very inbred. For me Ricky was pushing it, but to actively choose to inbreed when there is lots of other ponies to choose from, from just as good of lines is bad for the bred, it reduces the health of the pony, apernetly this stud breeds badly tempered ponies with health and fertility problems, probably due to the amount of inbreeding, the more inbred the more chance of genetic disorders.

Some examples.
Wells Vitesse Shetland Pony Not too bad but not what I would do.

This one is a terrible example, I don't see why you would want to inbreed so much, the dam is inbreed already, as it is a cross between the foals sire and his dam then she is crossed with her sire. They are not short on quality ponies to breed so it makes no sense to me.
Wells Payton Shetland Pony

Wells Wayward Lad Shetland Pony

These are but a few examples of the huge amount of inbreed foals they breed, not all as bad as the last two mostly like the first.


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## FeatheredFeet (Jan 27, 2010)

The thing is, you have to _understand fully_, about inbreeding. What it does, what it doesn't do and what it achieves. 

There is unfortunately, a whole of of myths and stories, about inbreeding. Most are not true. Inbreeding DOES NOT CAUSE problems!!! And that's a fact. Remember those three words. What it 'can' do, is show a breeder something which might have lain hidden in the line for years. If an offspring shows up with something undesirable, then he knows not to pursue that line of inbreeding further. If an almost perfect specimen shows up, then he can be fairly sure, that that colt will be prepotent for all his attributes. 

Inbreeding, can set 'type'. A type the breeder desires to have in his line. A type which is going to be probably, very prepotent. 

Wayward Lad, is an offspring of a mare bred back to her sire. Very common to breed this type of breeding in many breeds, if the breeder wanted to produce something like Extra Special or Vijay.

Payton could be be expected to look a lot like Petrena and have her good points and also faults. 

Vitesse is a very common type linebreeding. This is what most breeders do. It won't necessarily produce something prepotent for type though.

In outcrossing, one really never knows what to expect. The offspring can look like one of the parents or neither. 

Breeding is all about knowing as much as possible, about every horse in the first three generations. Every horse. After that, not a whole lot matters, but the more one knows, the better.

Whether inbreeding, linebreeding or outcrossing, the breeder should have knowledge about the horses they are breeding and those in the pedigree. 

Lizzie


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## rbarlo32 (Aug 9, 2010)

Actually inbreeding can cause problems, ressesive genetic disorders that lay hidden in the ponies lines will be much more common, with outcrossing you can add a line that may be more immune to a certain diesese or not carry one, alot of people have told me that quite a few Wells bred ponies, ones bred by the stud not just having their lines, have had alot of health problems and some are found dead in the field with no appernt illness before hand. IMHO the quality of the Wells pony whilest still fantastic so times in more hit and miss then a couple of generations back and of a slightly lower quality.

I would never inbreed like that, but to each his own.


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## FeatheredFeet (Jan 27, 2010)

Actually inbreeding can cause problems,

As I said before, it doesn't 'cause' them. They were there all the time. What it does do and only sometimes, is bring things to the fore, so the breeder knows what might or might not, be lurking in his herd.

If one uses superior animals, without hidden genetic problems, then inbreeding will only express more superior animals. 

One thing which has been proven and only using rats for 10 straight generations, is that the last generation is usually smaller. 

As I previously mentioned, inbreeding should only at attempted by very knowledgeable breeders. We unfortunately see too often, irresponsibly inbred animals. Sometimes it's colts over 6 months old, left with their dams or full brothers and sisters, housed together. Incidentally, I have never found any reason to breed full brothers and sisters, regardless of quality. I don't feel it achieves anything. 

Lizzie


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