The fugliest crossbreed with hair gets attention on line. Funny thing, when I was a kid no one wanted feathers because no one wanted to ride a draft horse.
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raises hand
I’ve also wondered what people are seeing that I’m not with gushy responses. Glad I’m not the only one!
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i’ve ended up with a bunch of ugly horses myself. Mostly out of sympathy for them. I have the ability to provide a lifelong home with great freedom, vast grassland pastures and ample available shelters. I have a horse with a verrry low back, that i got simply to keep someone else from buying him and riding the poor guy. I have the ugliest gray arab mare, (rafter butt). Have a portly foxtrotter with such base-narrow hind that i don;t ride him, even though he loves me aboard. 18h Percheron is not beautiufl also. One or two of my mustangs aren’t that pretty too. But, each and every one spoke to me and i see the individual, the ‘person’ in them and that is who i love. Not their outside…
But, i have the resources to support fugly and beauty…so i do.
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Yes if you have pasture and enjoy keeping a herd, essentially running a sanctuary, there’s nothing wrong with fugly. For the rest of us, fugly to us means conformation issues that, as you clearly know, make the horse less likely to hold up under regular riding, or less likely to be competent at a given discipline. If you have only one horse, want to ride regularly, and are dropping money on board, you need functional conformation even if you don’t compete at a high level in anything. Most people don’t have the resources to give dozens of horses a pasture pet home, you are very lucky.
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People ask for conformation critiques but don’t want to hear any answers other than “he’s beautiful” “what a lovely horse!” Heaven forbid you should give an honest opinion of their sickle hocked, calf kneed train wreck.
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land and property taxes are cheap here. And when you have enough land to make your own hay, well, you’re basically self-supporting. We never take vacations, don’t eat out…don’t buy new vehicles and don’t spend much on ‘stuff’ (though we both have our weaknesses/collections). I would argue that our equine expenses for all 19 of them here are even with someone living on 1/4 acre in a suburb boarding out 1 or 2 horses. It’s basically a lifestyle choice more than luck (or money)
OMG Yesss~! Facebook has those conformation critique groups for dogs and horses (and cats and birds…probably lizards too Lol). And you get these teenage girls so HAPPY and in love with their first horse… and you just know any critical analysis at all would sooo crush their tender feelings. Everything is FINE until they repost because everyone scrolled on by…
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I think the answer to this is that 1) many of the people commenting don’t know any better and/or think all horses are beautiful and 2) social media is designed to encourage commenting as a form of engagement. If someone posted a photo clearly intended to show off their horse and none of their social media friends commented (or they did comment with something resembling the truth, haha), I think that would be stranger than all the positive comments. It’s just how social media is designed and how people use it. I personally do not like all the false positivity and shallow interactions, which is why I use Facebook only to buy/sell horses (because it’s apparently almost impossible to do so without it these days).
I’m going to look for that one, lol!
I think it is a shame that so, so many people have horses and never had instruction and are proud of it, as if being ignorant is brag worthy?
Just saw a very pretty picture in a sale ad of someone starting to turn a young filly.
Is one of those “what all is wrong with this picture?”, the horse is moving wrong, legs going every place, asked to turn at the wrong moment of a stride.
People like that also tend to be so happy telling you proudly how well their horses train and work, completely clueless.
An educated eye is something that anyone working with horses should achieve before riding on their own, much less attempting to train horses.
Is not fair to horses to make learning hard.
I see that all the time, have for all these years.
With all the information out there, is a real shame for the nice horses trying their best, some with little help from their human and the humans, that would have their work so, so much easier if they just knew a few basics, like when and how to ask a horse to move right.
The beauty of working with horses, you are always learning.
Use that to your advantage, ask those that know, and listen.
Your horses will thank you for it.
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Lord, there have been many times I wanted to reply on how much I dislike a horse. But that’s not nice and it doesn’t matter what I think. I will confess that I left the “Northern Illinois Horses” FB group because someone posted a video of a 3 year old trantering and all the responses were OOOOOH and AAAAAH cuz horsie was a Palomino with a pretty tail.
it’s all the Fabio horses that non-horse folks put up that get to me.
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I feel so called out 
I got a pretty fugly 3 year old mare when I was 17, but I thought she was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen.
Luckily, she actually turned out to be a seriously fantastic horse, even with a less than stellar confo. So much fun to run XC on, one of the best jumpers at my barn (limited to under 3 feet but great form and is a blast with complicated courses) that the kids love to borrow for lessons, had a former WEG eventer absolutely gush over her in a clinic recently which made my entire year. But God I had no idea how awful she looked as a baby!
Us a few days ago, I’m super rusty jumping but she took care of me.
As far as having critical thoughts when I see people gushing over ugly horses now… GOD YES. Especially halter bred QH that look like someone took a giant lump of clay, made a vaguely horse shaped body, then stuck four sticks on for legs. I am absolutely vicious in my mind now, mostly for the breeders that think that is a great look to shoot for and all the people egging them on.
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I was a teen who loved my first horse as a teenager. Long necked, long backed, straight shouldered, herring gutted, and a huge scar on the front of a hind leg, where his tendon was tied back together by a vet, however he was told he was the most beautiful horse in the world and he believed it.
We went from pure beginners to winning the Zone 1 D Grade Showjumping Championships, a One Day Event by 66 points and competed at the Zone 1 Dressage Championships. He lived to be over 30 years old and taught my husband to ride.
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LOL, I’m a vet and I am pretty much a loner when it comes to the horse world. I have never known a day that I didn’t own a horse (or two, or three…) When I go to horse shows the only people I might be standing near is one of my adult children. They know not to repeat/share what I say. I used to have acquaintances that would ‘try’ to stand near me while watching those in warm up or riding a test, if dressage, or watching whatever performance in whatever discipline; but I typically would drive them off because I did NOT want them to hear my comments (so hard to keep everything locked inside). I CAN’T watch without immediately seeing lamenesses, improperly muscled beasts, whatever isn’t ‘quite right’ etc. Yes, I do see some very nice horseflesh but more so my eye first goes to all the flaws, major and minor and then my mind will immediately categorize the horse as fit for the job or not. I simply can’t help it. I rarely see the color and if I do then it must be something spectacular or ‘eew’.
I like most here am consumed by horses; but I grew up on a working farm and recognize the value, intrinsic and extrinsic of each beast. I caution people when they ask for my opinion that my opinion is exactly what they’ll get, no punches held back and ask them if they wish for me to proceed. I do NOT comment within ear shot or in print unless someone has asked me to or if it’s someone I know and I really do appreciate the horse flesh they have.
None of this is said as if I haven’t owned a fugly or two and beauty beyond function truly is in the eye of the holder. I know many who wouldn’t be caught dead owning a beast or breed of my choice. Ex. I have a mustang who is the best darn trail horse I’ve ever owned. He takes care of and truly loves my SO. This guy is worth his weight in gold (horse and human, LOL). Some people we see on the trail will comment on ‘such beautiful horses’ when we pass by and my SO beams. Truth be told, the mustang is a typical ‘jug head/hammer head’ type. He has bone that goes all day long, is a beautiful mover and balanced in his build (plus he was a stallion for a few years with a band of mares, so he’s got that look going for him too) but if you were just driving by and saw him standing out in pasture now, you’d probably not look twice and thought you were passing a pregnant mare (prone to hay belly posture). He’s bay with chrome so I think some who comment just see the color (you know something shiny), I usually assume they aren’t ‘horse people’; others will ask about breed (if they don’t see the brand) commenting on what lovely bone he has, and I assume I have a horse person in my presence; others comment on what a nice horse because I think they recognize that it’s his brain that is of most value, again some form of ‘true’ horse person or perhaps a SO or parent of one, ie someone with some sort of experience or common sense. Yet, when I see gushing comments that don’t match what I see before me I usually assume that it’s an individual who doesn’t have experience or someone who has more concern or interest in the two legged beast than the four.
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A combination of people who don’t actually know what they’re looking at and flatterers. I’m still in a lot of sale groups on FB just because I think watching the ads come and go is…interesting. And I see lots of posts where the description and the pictures/videos don’t seem to match. Which I understand from the seller’s POV, they’re lying to make a sale usually. But the comments and the people interested I find more confusing. Even if you didn’t know much about conformation a simple compare and contrast with good examples of the type you’re looking for and the one pictured in the sale ad should give enough insight to make one pause. There’s a difference between not picking up some faults which require a more trained eye and thinking a super duper fugly creature is at all put together decently.
I’ll admit my eye isn’t trained the best so if even I notice a lot of this stuff…
I think those of us that do notice these things don’t bother commenting because a sale ad on FB is really not the place you want to start an argument with people over. The things some people post…
I had a pony who looked like he was put together out of spare parts. He had a huge barrel and very long face (yes, I often asked him “why the long face?”), but pony length legs, a short back and huge neck. He was a wonderful driving horse, and my daughter said he was very smooth to ride in spite of his awful conformation. When I bought a harness for him, the harness dealer thought I’d measured him incorrectly. I whipped out a picture of him, and the harness guy said he’d never seen a pony put together like that. But he agreed my measurements were probably correct.
This is Salt in his winter yak coat. The extra pair of legs belongs to a mule deer with whom Salt was sharing his lunch.
Salt died a few years ago in his 30s. I still miss him, along with all the others I’ve had.
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General thoughts.
Part of knowing horses is being able to see the subtle issues in good horses as well as separate the good from the less good. And then of course bring able to fit up and ride a horse to bring out his best qualities. Often what looks fugly is under muscled.
I have a handsome Paint mare and get “beautiful horse” from hikers in the park, “great bone and feet, real nice horse” from stock horse people and “what were you thinking?” voiced silently from dressage people.
Over the past year I’ve started working with a green buttermilk buckskin Lusitano cross mare with a huge mane and tail. The response I get from random people is a whole different level of “oh. My. God. What a gorgeous horse.” it’s like going out for drinks with your supermodel friend. Suddenly the level of response is on a completely different level.
As far as in the field versus under saddle. I know a WB gelding that when I look at him standing still, he has objectively perfect English sport horse conformation but he still looks kind of plain and boring. I would not say beautiful horse in his paddock. But when he’s under saddle and carrying himself he is stunning. On the other hand, I’ve known horses that were stunning beautiful in their paddocks, looked like they had the conformation to move well, but were just mehh under saddle evrn with a good rider.
And as far as Roman noses, I was watching someone training a true banana headed Lippizan over the course of several years. Honestly he was kind of fugly in the paddock, long backed for his height. But once she got him collected he was stunning and interestingly, once he was starting vertical flexion and his head approached vertical, the Roman nose really accentuated the picture which I would never have predicted.
If someone turned up with a sad looking horse and wanted my advice, I would talk about building topline and muscle. Honestly a lot of horses with good functional conformation like 3 year old OTTB or 12 year old QH broodmares can (in totally opposite ways) look awful until they are in shape.
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Aint this truth! Especially the part about the mane and tail drawing in the non-horsey folk. I own two bays who are half-brothers, visually very similar. One exudes this natural gravitas, while the other defines ‘plain brown wrapper’ until he moves. Objectively, the plain one is far more talented in terms of sport. I take both to the same park for conditioning hacks and always get stopped when I am riding the dramatic one by people who want his picture. I think it is the Fabio Forelock.
I agree with you about most fugly horses just being in poor condition. I’ve seen a few fugly transformations themselves where all they needed was a nice layer of fat and a little muscle to be truly transformative.
One of my students, started by apologising for the horse she had. I don’t know what people who had told her but she was embarrassed for him.
I taught her how to be proud of him and to what he would become. Start by putting a rug on to bring the shine out. Groom him daily. Feed him well. Learn to ride correctly. Love him.
He was an old black horse. He would become shiny, muscled and younger.
The people who had said awful things would eat their words.
Especially if a horse has tb or arab in them somewhere they will come back with some TLC.
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