Conformation is not my strong point and I’m just curious about what the masses think about this mare.
Photo isn’t ideal; it’d be best if she didn’t have those boots on, and if she was absolutely square to the camera. But from this angle, my impressions are:
Over-built front end
Under-powered hind end - loin and HQ need filling out
Not bad shoulder angle/humerus length
Somewhat coarse throatlatch, under-neck bulge
Looks like she hasn’t been ridden back to front much, and has developed a bit upside down and backwards. Mostly would be reversible with correct riding.
Stout looking cob type.
Forward girth groove might not be a saddle fitting problem with her moderate shoulder angle.
This is worth what it cost you, lol
From a sport perspective, my first impression is that her upright hind pasterns and straight hind end will make it quite difficult for her to be able to step under herself and carry herself uphill. Additionally, having a straight hind leg (to gauge this, you look at the angle from stifle to hock to pastern) may cause some soundness issues down the road as it places a lot of undue stress on the hocks and stifles.
However, she has very good bone, a good shoulder, her neck set ties in higher than you normally see for a stock horse, and I do not think she is built very downhill despite the misleading picture. From the elbow forward I really like her - but the weakness of her loin and straightness of her hind end would concern me from a breeding perspective.
By and large she looks like a stock horse, not necessarily a cob-type. She has a refined neck and face - and is certainly less coarse than the stock-types I see around here.
I would try to snap a different picture of her - try to get her standing with equal weight on all four legs, without her tail obstructing her hind end.
I like the mare, actually. Is she a POA? She’s small, and has that appaloosa coloring, with some Arab characteristics.
She has a lovely shoulder. And I like her head, it’s refined. The neck might be upside down, but it’s hard to tell since it’s being pulled up.
I don’t know why people park horses out, you can’t see the true structure (which may be why they do it). Given that, she does look weak in the hind end.
She has nice bone, and looks correct. I would question why they need bell boots on the front – is she overstepping and clipping her heels?
The left hind hoof looks weird and misshapen, could be the pic, but I would investigate that.
I think she’s a cutie but I wouldn’t take out a bank loan to buy her unless she’s got a solid performance record.
[QUOTE=Kwill;8229314]
I like the mare, actually. Is she a POA? She’s small, and has that appaloosa coloring, with some Arab characteristics.
She has a lovely shoulder. And I like her head, it’s refined. The neck might be upside down, but it’s hard to tell since it’s being pulled up.
I don’t know why people park horses out, you can’t see the true structure (which may be why they do it). Given that, she does look weak in the hind end.
She has nice bone, and looks correct. I would question why they need bell boots on the front – is she overstepping and clipping her heels?
The left hind hoof looks weird and misshapen, could be the pic, but I would investigate that.
I think she’s a cutie but I wouldn’t take out a bank loan to buy her unless she’s got a solid performance record.[/QUOTE]
I was wondering if she was maybe an Appy race horse… it would explain both the neck muscling and HQ muscling.
The undermuscling of the neck wouldn’t concern me - that is usually the result of the riding work and not necessarily the result of the horse’s conformation.
I agree Beowulf, the neck looks like a lack of correct schooling.
The hind end, though, is more problematic, she’s not strong in the loin connection and undermuscled back there.
It is interesting when you take a horse out of context – her riding history might tell more about her suitability for various disciplines. I always like to see them move, too, that tells me a lot more.
[QUOTE=beowulf;8229305]
From a sport perspective, my first impression is that her upright hind pasterns and straight hind end will make it quite difficult for her to be able to step under herself and carry herself uphill. Additionally, having a straight hind leg (to gauge this, you look at the angle from stifle to hock to pastern) may cause some soundness issues down the road as it places a lot of undue stress on the hocks and stifles.[/QUOTE]
This was my first thought as well as I had a Morgan built this way who developed chronic stifle lameness by the age of 10 and he’d only been a trail/pleasure/pet horse.
I’d love to see her moving. She’s cute. 
HA I was coming back here to say pretty much the same thing. She is long and weak in the loin and short in the hip but has a lovely shoulder comparitively which ties in higher at the chest than would be expected given her other conformation.
I agree that the neck muscling can be helped with proper schooling.
But once again the proof is in the pudding if she is already working!
I have seen some lovely confomation horses be absolute oafs and some horses who look like they shoudn’t be able to move have beautiful floating lofty strides but those cases are the freaks and not the norm.
As others have suggested hind limb angles are very hard to determine in the photo. I think that she is probably too straight as well.
But she is cute and I would not be afraid to buy her if she is kind and sound and has even a small performance record.
There are no perfect ones!
Not a very good conformation picture to work/comment from. Wouldn’t be fair to the horse or you.
Take the bell boots off, pull her forward and get her hind legs underneath her and “square” her up. Stand in front squat down and get her to drop her head. If she is a “peppermint patty” hold one out in front of her and crinkle the wrapper. In other words try and get her stand in a comfortable relaxed position.
The beauty of digital pictures is you can just keep “snapping” away and you’re bound to end up with a couple of pretty decent ones.
My impression very consistent with those above. Looks like a workmanlike, solid “hony”. Not breeding quality. Based on conformation and current muscling, I’d anticipate a bit of puller, a heavy-on-the-forehand kind of ride, but obviously that can be helped with training. Her parked-out setup in the photo might be misleading me into that impression.
The hind legs are her weakest attribute- post legged and I don’t like those short straight hind pasterns. There’s an assymetry in the hind hooves (vs. the front hooves, and vs. each other) that I keep looking at and wondering about.
OP, for lots of examples of what a good conformation pose looks like, scroll through these pics:
http://www.bloodhorse.com/stallion-register/SearchResults
Agree you can’t comment too much, as the camera appears to be at a angle. HH was very kind to post the link to some good confo shot. A COTHer should write a “How To” for newbies. Is there an app for that?
I can say her hind pasterns appear very straight and I can’t tell with the bell boots on her front.
What has she been doing? (and have the person up front let go of the horse’s head).
She looks cute to me
Not a confo expert by any means, but WTFragle rock is going on with her feet?!? Am I dumb and have been putting bell boots on wrong my whole life?! and the hind left toe looks almost cleft in the middle and turned in…could very well be the angle tho of the picture.
If its for a family pet or even a lesson barn, then who cares what she looks like as long as she is happy and healthy doing her job.
second and third look…
I def see she is not standing like a good Hony should for a confo shot, but is standing great for an AKC judging lol
They turned the boots up to get the hoof shot … couldn’t be bothered to take them off?
OP did you take this picture, is it a sale ad, what?
This was actually her coggins picture and the vet wanted the bell boots flipped up to show any leg markings (or lack there of in this case). She tends to be a little hot on the ground and was definitely crabby about being at the clinic that morning so we were snapping pics between episodes of prancing, circling and other fire-breathing dragon impressions.
Under saddle, she’s awesome. I can trust her with any rider and she is bombproof in any situations. Those who said she tends to be heavy on the forehand are right. It’s very hard to get her to engage the hind end and ride back to front. Her feet look funky because of some mud/manure on them. She pooped on the trailer and still had some buildup of it on her hinds when we took the shots.
For those wondering about her breed - she’s an Appy/Irish Draught cross. Short and stocky- about 15.1hh. She is wearing bells because her shoes are set a bit back to provide additional heel support.
I appreciate the info from the masses - thanks so much! If I can manage to get a better shot of her, I’ll post it.
