Conformation 2 year old - would love feedback

[DiamondJubilee]

I would love to hear any and all feedback on my 2 year old Hanoverian x BRP/welsh guy who now stands 15h. I did breed him myself and is my 1st and only breeding I will ever do (I will leave it up to you pros now!! Much easier to purchase when they are on the ground. Kudos to you breeders. I have all the respect for you).

I have been unable to take him to any open line shows as he did have surgery on his leg last year (club foot) and there is a bump still on it, so I have not taken him out yet. I find this to be a good way to get some feed back, plus getting them off property is a bonus as well of course…But as of now, I have been unable to do so, so I would love to hear any feedback from you all. He was bred to be a small hunter for me, perhaps a driving horse as well if he has the mind for that.

I have a few shots of him from last week when he did not have his fly sheet on. He is loose in the paddock but did stand up quite well for his photos. One is quite far away but I thought you could see his hind legs a bit better since the wind was not blowing it across his hinds in that shot. I did add a trot photo but he’s not moving very forward in it, but you can get an idea of movement. They are screen shots from a video so hopefully they upload here ok.

I always thought he was quite compact with a short back (not an issue) as he does wear a 66-68" blanket still, even though my 14.2h ponies wear 72" - of course he is still a tad narrow and hasn’t filled out due to his age. His legs are so long he still has to do the foal split to eat and reach the grass! So not sure if its just his legs that are so long or his neck is too short? His bone is quite refined as well, which I was surprised as both his sire and dam have good bone. Perhaps that will change as well as he grows?

[SusanO]

He is a very pretty 2 year old. So many 2 year olds look like yaks at that stage in their life. He could very well end up with more bone and get longer in the back.

[JB]

I’ll reply with a nearly identical reply to the latest 3yo conformation post, because it’s a nearly identical situation

A better picture is needed to evaluate his hind end. His tail hides his near hind leg, and it doesn’t have a vertical cannon bone, along with the camera lens was a bit too far forward of the horse’s barrel, so there’s no way to evaluate almost anything back there, including the angle of those legs. I do suspect his pretty nice back there

His front end is good. Not great, but good.

Pillar of support - line drawn vertically through the crease in the forearm muscle - is in front of the withers (good) but not by a lot. It comes down around the back 1/4 of his foot, which is good but it only does that because of more upright pasterns. They’re long enough that the uprightness doesn’t bother me much Ideally you want the PoS to be well in front of the withers. The closer they are, the more front-heavy the horse.

Lumbo-sacral (LS) gap - looks to be where it should be, which is right over the point of the hips. That’s one thing that doesn’t change based on stance because of how the skeleton is

Neck tie-in - it’s good, above the point of the shoulder, coming nicely out of the top of the withers, and the length is nicely balanced. At 2, he may look very awkward next week lol

His shoulder slope is good, though the scapula itself is a touch shoulder The angle - scapula with humerus - is nice and open (90* +) which is needed for folding the front legs. My guess is he’ll be pretty tidy with his front end over fences, as the shoulder has room to rotate back to move the forelegs forward, and the > 90* angle (best I can tell) of the scapula/humerus will allow the legs to fold well

His back is nice, not too compact, well-proportioned with a nice shorter loin as well. His back will length a bit, as will his neck, but mostly, what you see here is what you’ll get, proportionally, since his hind quarters will lengthen a bit as well

I suspect he’s got a pretty nice hind end, but he has to be standing with the near cannon bone vertical to see what’s what

He certainly got the pony head didn’t he!

I just realized who this is (foot surgery), and WOW!

[SimonSays]

He’s beautiful! What a fun size!

[luvmyhackney]

He’s lovely! Bet he is stunning playing out in the field.