I’m a fan of “rescues” or off-breeds. I’m not shopping yet, but was asking about conformation shots for Saddlebreds. Got a few, but made me think, how much do the confo pics influence your horse shopping? Do you go “straight to video”, rely on word of mouth/networking, look at the breeding (tougher for off-breeds, obviously), or other factors, when narrowing down your search? Ultimately, I need eyes on the horse, but I’ve done mainly OTTBs. As I get older, I want to get on the horse if possible, or go through a rescue with a great reputation and a trial policy;). Just curious about how most approach the shopping process, especially for non-WBs. Thanks!
Conformation shots are vital for me. I can tel a it about how a horse moves and possible downfalls just with the basic lateral shots and front and back. I know whether it is worth looking at a video from a good shot.
You need a good stood up conformation shot, that doesn’t make the horse look warped. Not every seller bothers to do this.
I’d say both cconformation shots and video are about elimination. Look at the photo and see if anything disqualifies the horse. Then look at video and see if anything disqualifies him. If not, go see in person. Watch the owner or trainer ride. If you like what you see, you ride.
Now the value of photos and video to the buyer is only as good as the buyers ability to evaluate photos and video. If you don’t have the experience to see confirmation glitches in photos and very subtle lameness or movement issues in video then these are of less value in narrowing your search.
There are two aspects to shopping for something. One is widening the search and increasing the number of appropriate potential horses. That’s where word of mouth and following up leads to horses that may not be actively for sale helps.
The other is eliminating horses that don’t meet your standards. Obviously you should know the bloodlines of your target breed, but any given horse might be better or worse than his bloodline suggests.
If you are looking looking at saddlebreds be careful to avoid lines with congenital lordosis. It is a horrible problem. It doesn’t seem to cause pain but it would make it impossible to do serious dressage.
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There’s a lot to learn from conformation photos - especially if you’re looking at track horses that you won’t be able to do trial rides on. (I know many of the OTTB programs who work at rehoming them are unable to offer the option of sitting on them before purchase for a variety of reasons.) You can, if you have a good eye, get a sense for some of the conformation that will help you in progressing along your discipline of choice.
With some of the “off breeds” that are still sport bred (again, thoroughbreds are a good example of this) I will still look at a conformation shot but am more interested in under-saddle videos because they are both bred for the job, and should have some education/understanding under saddle that will indicate suitability both for the job and for how suitable I am to bring them along.
In my area, there’s a few thoroughbred breeders who do breed racehorses but whose retired TBs are well known for excelling in sport. In general, I would suggest putting an ear to the ground to see if there’s anyone in your area with a reputation like that. It can help act as a springboard for your search (search for horses bred by them, find out what bloodlines are being used by breeders with that reputation and follow up on those, etc).
And then of course - borrowing a set of more experienced eyes to analyze conformation photos, videos, and the horse in person. Someone who has experience with assessing off-breed horses (both from a conformational standpoint as well as a training/performance one) is a great way to help set your search up for success!
That photo is a wonderful example of how hard it is for most of us to distinguish between basic conformation, which has to do with bone length and joint angles, and muscling, condition, pathologies, etc.
I have this same problem looking at young OTTB. I see weedy gangly unthrifty with thin necks and am always amazed when they turn into stunning perfectly built horses in 2 years.
I would not 100% trust my own eyes on buying a young or undeveloped horse 
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I feel like I should get CB’s original of that bottom picture to demonstrate what I look for, since that horse has it.
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I did see this EPIC before/after, and I saved it to email to a friend. I worked at sales barns and am very familiar with OTTB transformations. I like confo shots to look at skeletal structure, and I do think there are some “deal breakers” that may limit what I go look at in person. But I know that skinny necks and hay bellys and wimpy backs/butts are just undeveloped.
I’m glad I’ve seen and ridden a lot of “before” horses! One I really adored was a grade pinto that had a jug head and huge hay belly. But riding him, he had the BEST brain and was so scopey/athletic! The sales barn was/is big time, located in central US and sold to BNT on both coasts. The BO had ridden with former USET chef d’equipe and other top pros before breaking her back. I told her if she couldn’t sell the pinto, I’d buy him, and she broke into a huge grin and complimented my recognition of his quality. Of course, she had a strong reputation and sold him for WAY above my budget!
All of my current horses are way better than what I bought, and excited to try it with an ASB in future;). It’s awesome when they blossom like yours!
If you go by photos at all, you need to develop an eye for structure as shown in photos. For example, looking at those before/after pics, I didn’t see any different horse at all, just a horse with more muscling especially on her neck. It was easy for me to see that none of her angles had changed, and that they were good to begin with.
I was trained to see angles and balance first, before muscles. You can train your eye.
My experience with photos vs reality is that in most cases if you see a little flaw in a photo, it’ll be a big flaw in the real horse.
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