# How is my horses conformation? Pictures*



## toto (Mar 3, 2013)

He needs his feet done- his heels are so long.. aside from that- he has longer pasterns (but correct)- ewe necked- under muscled- downhill type- nice shorter back- like his shoulder- possibly camped under? Id like to see him with a proper trim. Hes a good lookin gelding for sure.. looks real kind and sweet.


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## Nikkibella (Mar 10, 2012)

What is ewe necked and camped under ? He is in SERIOUS need of a trim and because of that he hasn't been ridden in a couple months causing what little muscle we had been working on to completely fall away  I heard that having long pasterns can be dangerous for him to jump but he is a jumper so are his pasterns too long to safely jump ?
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## toto (Mar 3, 2013)

Its worth a google. 

:shock: a few months? :-o thats no good.. he needs them done badly.

I wouldnt jump him with those feet-- but i used to jump a horse with longer pasterns 6+ft with out problems-- have a talk with your vet and see what they think about it.. he is kinda fine boned..


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

HIs heels are under run, quite badly, so not only do you need to trim back the toe, but the angle of his foot needs to be made more upright and work (over several cycles) to lessen this underrun heels. 
He looks distinctly cowhocked, and a bit posty legged in the hind. His knees are small and tied in behind.

His back is not short, but rather, to me, looks on the long side, and the coupling (the area where his pelvis joins his spine) has a "groove" kind of there. IT is what is called a weak coupling. Are his feet normally underrun in front like that? if it's been that way for a long time, there may be stress on the tendons, and thus pain, and thus he stands camped under a bit to take weight off his front feet becasue they are not comfortable.

Do you have a good farrier? would you consider having a second opinion from a different farrier than the one that is making him have such underrun heels?


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## Elana (Jan 28, 2011)

A horse like this needs to have his feet professionally trimmed every 4-6 weeks. If you are jumping him, he probably needs shoes too. 

If you cannot afford to have his feet done every 4-6 weeks then you should not have a horse. It is that important. Really it is. 

He is not a bad horse. He is a bit light in bone but not a bad Thoroughbred. The top of his neck is under muscled and the underside of his neck is over muscled. This tells me he is lacking in foundation work.. probably travels to the jump head high and I am going to guess he wears a martingale. 

So... he needs more feed (he is thin), he needs his feet done NOW and he needs more foundation work.. such as lots of caveletti and trotting up hills and learning to work from back to front instead of front to back. I would lay off jumping for 6 months and get him squared away on flat work, weight gain, building proper muscling and NONE of that until you address a regular farrier schedule.


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Personally, I think his front legs will look much better conformationally when his feet are up to par. They do need done, badly. I can't judge too much because mine is two weeks over due (for what I prefer, but nothing bad), but months is unacceptable. I'll probably end up going on an 8 week schedule with my own touch ups at 4wks (I'm just too lazy and my farrier is cute..so I'm not going to just do them myself although I can, lol).

His back isn't overly long, but it's a smidge longer than ideal. But, many TBs I see have longer backs than the general QH/paint types.

Back legs are posty, very much so. My mare is the same way though, which I seem to believe is partially due to being racing-bred.

As for his neck..I don't believe it's muscled wrong. He has an ewe neck, but I don't think it's due to over muscling on the underside. Yet again, my mare has the same, lol. My mare actually does have an inverted neck on top of the ewe right now though, she only rounds out at the walk right now. It's definitely something to work on though.

Elana, I'm not sure where you get that he probably needs shoes to jump? Mine will eventually jump (swear this gelding and my mare are brother sister, they look identical confo wise, lol), and she will not be getting shoes. She has solid feet (which I think thus boy will have with correct trimming), which shows no reason for shoes.

Personally, I'd love to have him in my barn, he's not too bad at all.
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## Elana (Jan 28, 2011)

It depends on how much jumping and the horse's feet of course. A LOT of Thoroughbreds have very thin hoof walls and to keep the feet solid when jumping a lot and jumping high, some need shoes. 

In this horse's case I would shoe him simply to help with allowing his heels to grow down and his toes are shortened. I know a LOT of people get all they need from barefoot trimming etc. Good if they can. I never could. I really used my horses (two hours or more each day for 6 days a week) and had to ride a lot on the shoulder of paved roads. I tried to do the barefoot thing and it just did not work and I had to shoe. There was no magic formula.. and when my farrier came at 4-6 weeks he used to say I was the only client he had where my horses shoes were worn out. 

Horses had their shoes pulled from Thanksgiving to April 1. Winters the cows were pretty close to home and the dairy herd was in the barn so riding was not as necessary and was very curtailed. My Thoroughbred needed plates in front year round (tried barefoot and she just destroyed her feet and was so sore it affected her back.. and that was just mean.. shoes fixed that). BTW she was never on the track.


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## GotaDunQH (Feb 13, 2011)

Agree with Tiny and Elana. On the feet issue....it's already been said, but the feet need serious work and CONSISTENT maintenance. A horse trying to perform with feet and trim angles like this is asking for trouble with tendons and ligament up the leg and into the shoulder. TB's are notorious for having weak feet...it goes with the territory, so for a horse this size....I also agree about the shoes. Sorry...I don't buy the whole barefoot thing, especially on large performance horses.

The horse needs a much better feeding program. His spine is visible (and hip bones, ribs as well) and he needs fat and muscle to cover than spine and other bones. This is a horse care management issue that needs to be addressed ASAP, especially a horse in work. He's not getting enough fuel to match what he is burning off....sorry. 

And he is long backed....look at where his back starts to the last point on his spine where is meets the top of his croup. With weight first and foremost and muscle which comes with work, the MUCH better foot care...he'll look different...but his basic conformation will be there which others have pointed out.


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## Casey02 (Sep 20, 2011)

Along with what everybody else has said I would like to see more weight on him


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## Nikkibella (Mar 10, 2012)

Ok , I don't know if I wasn't clear on this but his feet have not been left for months , I haven't ridden him in months. His feet are obviously overdue but only about two weeks, he has very this hoof walls and as soon as his feet get long they splay straight outward causing cracks and a bunch of mess. I DO have the money to get his feet done but my farrier has recently shattered his hip and I am in the process of finding a new farrier. Simon is actually an Appendix (QH/TB) he is from Alotta **********. I'm obviously not jumping him with his feet this long ..? I did clearly state that I wasn't riding him AT ALL , so how would I jump him ? I know that his feet are long !!! I just wanted to know more about his bone structure and overall conformation. Thank you to everyone commenting without calling me a bad horse owner.
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## GotaDunQH (Feb 13, 2011)

Nikkibella said:


> Ok , I don't know if I wasn't clear on this but his feet have not been left for months , I haven't ridden him in months. His feet are obviously overdue but only about two weeks, he has very this hoof walls and as soon as his feet get long they splay straight outward causing cracks and a bunch of mess. I DO have the money to get his feet done but my farrier has recently shattered his hip and I am in the process of finding a new farrier. Simon is actually an Appendix (QH/TB) he is from Alotta **********. I'm obviously not jumping him with his feet this long ..? I did clearly state that I wasn't riding him AT ALL , so how would I jump him ? I know that his feet are long !!! I just wanted to know more about his bone structure and overall conformation. Thank you to everyone commenting without calling me a bad horse owner.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


No one called you a bad horse owner, and I am very familiar with Alotta **********. Even two weeks overdue for a trim....his feet should not look like that. So that tells me that your trimmer is not trimming him correctly. Sorry....not trying to bust yours chops...just giving you straight up facts.


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## Elana (Jan 28, 2011)

If his feet chip up the way you say and he has very thing walls, you probably need to shoe the fronts even when you don't ride him. 

I had Thoroughbreds and QH's and Apendix QH's and those thin walls could be an issue! Hard to build a heel and keep the toe short on some of them and can be really hard without the support of shoes. 

I like your horse.


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