Hi friends! I am still a bit of a confirmation newbie so thought I’d pick y’all’s brains about what you think of this filly! She is a three year old TB, about 15-ish hh, and while trained for racing, ended her career unraced. I feel like her hind end looks weird but can’t tell if it’s the lighting… what do you think?
Is this your own horse?
None of the pix are at a good angle and she isn’t standing square in any of them, including the footing making her look uneven, so it’s pretty hard to judge.
Can you retake photos square from the side and on concrete?
Super adorable face
@mmeqcenter unfortunately not my horse; a horse I am considering looking at as a foxhunting prospect
It is hard to tell from the angles of the picture, but she has a lot of good things going for her. She’s muscled because of the race training but I see her getting a whole lot better muscling when she’s using her body better and filling out with age.
Maybe she’s a bit splayed with her hind feet but it is really hard to tell. A more straight-on side picture would illustrate her hind end conformation better. I’m fine with a standard conformation picture (horse not square) (an example is this https://www.hilltopfarminc.com/stallion/negro/) .
Is this all you have to judge her on? Or have you seen her in person, seen her move, etc?
I have show dogs and if this was a show dog, I would think these must be the best photos (e.g. that rear shot), because who would provide them if they weren’t better than in real life? But, an average seller/photographer might not realize that they have caught the dog/horse in a bad position and send them on anyway. I would want better photos if I could only decide based on photos.
In general, though, I would never really want to make a decision about a horse on photos alone. I would definitely want at least video from each side, and if possible coming and going straight toward/away from the camera.
Also - it’s conFORmation. Picky spelling error but it’s a big difference.
I would never make a critique based on these pictures. Even a decent confo pic is so important. Everything needs to be in perpendiculars - camera lens perpendicular to the middle-ish of the barrel, not angled forward or back, as well as vertically perpendicular. The near side cannon bones need to be pretty darn straight up and down - perpendicular to the ground.
Footing needs to be firmer than this - the RF is toe-down in the sand.
This was taken from too far forward of the barrel, which shortens, the neck, straightens the shoulder, “moves” the front legs closer to the withers (bad), shortens the hind end.
It’s conformation. Nothing to do with church!
I see very upright long pasterns. Right hind looks turned out. She looks overly straight through the hind end, but that could very well be a poor picture angle. Neck is very light on muscling. I’m not real thrilled with her conformation overall. Nothing terribly wrong, but not a horse I look at and go “wow” either. I would keep looking unless she has really good training or a wonderful personality.
Honestly most TB grow up to have pretty decent functional conformation. They may not all be suited for dressage but they almost all can make a decent lower level jumper if sound.
And honestly most young horses have growing stages where they look like train wrecks.
I agree I dont find these photos super useful. Her hind toes are pointing down into the sand. The photo angle is subtly off.
Bad photos of a 3 year old TB don’t tell us a lot.
You can’t tell any of those things from this pic. Artifacts from the angle of the photo aren’t reality
There’s no way at all to judge hind end angulation with 1 legs forward, 1 trailing, and when viewed from an almost 3/4 view.
The pasterns aren’t all that upright either. They look more upright than the are because toes are pointing down in the sand.
Many 3yo TBs have much younger necks. What we really need to see is a proper side view to really see how it all attaches relative to the shoulder
It’s a terrible photo to judge anything about almost any horse.
Here is the mare’s link. I recognized the seller’s facility @JB more photos and I think a video
Holy crap, those front feet! Her legs will look SO much better once those feet are fixed and the leg circumference (not simply cannon bone) can expand.
Still cannot tell anything of real value about her conformation from any of those pictures.
@lenapesadie was close!
It’s actually this mare. Still less than stellar photos, but there is a video. I’m exploring getting an OTTB/OTSB so trying to educate myself more on conFORmation 
before falling in love or making a purchase
https://www.changingsaddles.com/post/please-be-quick-3yo-filly-15-2hh
This is a pretty good example of how pictures “tell” a story that is totally different from the video. Those photos are set up poorly and don’t accurately represent what we see in the video. . If I remember tomorrow, I’ll take photos of my horse at similar angles and then “proper”. You’d be surprised how much it distorts the picture.
I like this mare and her pedigree. She is moving sore behind, but that isn’t uncommon with horses off of the track. If she were mine I’d turn her out for a few months and reassess. Her feet are in awful shape and I’m sure that’s hurting her. Lots of horses will stand this way and it can trick the eye into thinking that’s the actual conformation of the horse. Her pasterns are not too long when I watch the video, but her toes sure are.
Talk to Amy. She will be able to help you find a horse that matches your needs.
100% what Beowulf said
This is honestly some really great insight. I will definitely speak to Amy.
I appreciate your willingness to post photos of how it ought to look vs how it does; it’s always hard to base off photos, especially given that confirmation is my weaker area of expertise. Thank you for being so candid, I really appreciate it. The hunt for a new horse is never easy!
I stand corrected.
Get them both 
Like I said, there is not much to dislike about this newly off the track 3 year old. All 3 year olds are a bit of a risk because they aren’t finished growing yet. But if her brain is good and/or you can help her brain, she should make a decent foxhunter. Of course, you won’t know about that until you take her out in the field (hilltopper at first) and then over some fences. See if the current owners can free jump her for you. I think 3"6" max, and see what the fence heights are in your foxhunting area. Many hunts have lower fence options. Form isn’t as important as can she jump it comfortably, or can she learn to jump it comfortably. Remember, she’s just 3 and only knows how to sprint (not collect to jump). You can work on her jumping yourself as you retrain her from track training. I wouldn’t work her at first flight until she was at least 6. But that’s me. Give them time, it’ll likely pay off in lack of lameness later in their career.
I think she’ll be a very different looking 6 year old.
I like her video. Her body looks very different from the photos, more substantial. Obviously totally green track broke horse. People who like working with OTTB would do just fine with her.
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