Curious: what conformation flaws are deal breakers for you?

[kelo]

Bad legs/feet. Anything more than very minor deviations in leg straightness, inadequate bone or improper foot size/shape, I am out.

I am feeding a (lame) bad-legged horse for the rest of his life and learned my lesson from him. He is crooked, straight, and has bad hooves. He’s a good horse, but…yeah, he’s been unsound for a while.

I didn’t buy a yearling last year that I desperately wanted (had the breeding, movement and conformation) as, when I went to see/buy the horse, I found that in person, the lower front leg was more crooked than photos/video showed. The yearling’s dam was on site and they let me look at her, too. She had the exact same bad leg, and, I learned when I asked, became a broodmare at 3 years old when she went lame. So I said no, and drove home with an empty trailer.

I still think about that yearling all the time, though - I wanted it SO badly! And of course there are many sound performance horses who are crooked – but I just couldn’t afford to take that risk.

[Mara]

@anon6003733

Oh gosh I’m with you on a lot of this but I do feel weak kneed around a Roman nose!! ~ (but not too Roman … see I have a theme ;)) - And especially on a big heavy head lol :lol:.

Funny how we’re all wired differently

It’s funny but I like a “plain-headed” horse as much as I like the ones with trim, refined heads!

@Denali - talking prospect only. If a horse does his job well with a good attitude and minimal maintenance, then it doesn’t matter so much if he looks like he was assembled by a committee of blind men!

I think we all agree that attitude is paramount to conformation. Horse could be textbook picture perfect, but a sulky, “I don’t wanna, why don’t you try and MAKE ME” attitude is walk-away.

[NoSuchPerson]

I’m going to make a distinction in magnitude here. There are mild conformation flaws that are probably not going to seriously affect performance and future soundness and more severe forms of the same conformation flaw that have a higher potential to impact performance and soundness. If it’s the former, then I’m with ohmyheck:

@anon6003733

Ultimately I’m more interested in how the ‘package’ looks. I can live with a few individual flaws if overall the horse appears strong and functional.

For me, there aren’t many minor flaws that on their own would be a deal breaker. I will admit, though, to a general aversion to ugly horses. :lol:

And I’m neutral on the roman nose.

[Hulk]

No deal breakers out there for me. One of the best dressage horses I ever seen had front legs like question marks. I have also seen high school horses with a bit of a club foot. DH’s most favorite horse he ever owned was a pigeon toed draft. Was that Ideal? No… but that dang horse did anything and everything ever asked of him. Rode English and western bare back, beginner to advanced, drove single, double, or multiple hitch, left or right, heavy or light harness, beginner to advanced. You name it he did it. So do I like flaws, not really, but they are not deal breakers for me.

[XXS]

I prefer a pretty face with big, trustful, interested eyes. A horse that makes me melt when it looks out of its stall.
For the rest it depends on ‘the bigger picture’ (except too long pasterns).

[RubyTuesday]

Over at the knees and tiny thin-walled hooves. No hoof, no horse…

[mpsbarnmanager]

Really long pasterns, toeing in, long backs, short stick necks, ugly heads. I see so many horses at the track people are selling and everyone goes nuts saying “oh, so gorgeous…” And. Looking at flat feet, super long pasterns, upright shoulders and thinking to myself “pass.”

[WildLittleWren]

@anon6003733

Oh gosh I’m with you on a lot of this but I do feel weak-kneed around a Roman nose!! ~ (but not too Roman … see I have a theme ;)) - And especially on a big heavy head lol :lol:.

Funny how we’re all wired differently

I LOVE a roman head!

Also, I too, will partially pick a horse on its eyes. I do NOT like the pig eyes, the most troublesome horses I have worked with have had pig eyes. I like a nice big, soft, kind eye. It really is indicative of their base personality.

[NoSuchPerson]

@WildLittleWren

I do NOT like the pig eyes, the most troublesome horses I have worked with have had pig eyes. I like a nice big, soft, kind eye. It really is indicative of their base personality.

OK, I’ve got to protest this gross generalization. Pig eyes, in and of themselves, are not “indicative of their base personality.” Pig eyes are just smaller, more inset eyes. The problem with small inset eyes is that the horse may have a reduced field of vision, which can make him spookier and more difficult to handle. But it has nothing to do with the horse’s “base personality.”

It’s just like the old saying that a horse with visible white around the eye is going to be flighty and spooky. And yet, we’ve got a breed (Appaloosa) for which readily visible white sclera is a breed characteristic. And all Appaloosas are not flighty and spooky (despite the stereotype).

[horseshorseshorseshorses]

Mine are dropped pasterns, conformation traits that won’t do well in my sport (eventing), and clear asymmetry. Long backs, legs that aren’t 100% straight, and other conformational blemishes aren’t a bit deal to me. Most of the time you can work around them and build a horse that can do what you want to do or you can train them up into an animal that someone will love. I do agree with @PNWjumper sometimes trying to correct those flaws can cause way more issues. I had horse that paddled so spectacularly on both front feet it looked like he was trying to swim away with ever step. When we tried to lessen it with his feet he went dead lame. Went back to a typical shoeing the next cycle and he was sound.

I will say buying a horse off the track a big thing for me was mostly clean feeling legs. A barnmate picked up a mare who raced 70+ times at 6 yo and her poor legs are beat to hell. Way more than the other war horses I looked at a year ago. Something like that makes me worried for a horse’s future soundess.

[TMares]

I love this guy’s build. I’d be interested to hear your pros and cons of his build, and also, guess the breed while you’re at it

https://flic.kr/p/81aa1g

[Standard_Bread]

Long and/or upright pasterns. Low set necks, especially when they tie in straight to the shoulder. Front and hind ends in different counties. Particularly shallow girth’s. And really waspy waists.

And call me vain, but I’m not to keen on horses with piggy eyes either.

[WildLittleWren]

@NoSuchPerson

OK, I’ve got to protest this gross generalization. Pig eyes, in and of themselves, are not “indicative of their base personality.” Pig eyes are just smaller, more inset eyes. The problem with small inset eyes is that the horse may have a reduced field of vision, which can make him spookier and more difficult to handle. But it has nothing to do with the horse’s “base personality.”

It’s just like the old saying that a horse with visible white around the eye is going to be flighty and spooky. And yet, we’ve got a breed (Appaloosa) for which readily visible white sclera is a breed characteristic. And all Appaloosas are not flighty and spooky (despite the stereotype).

Thus, if you want to steer away from spooky, harder to handle horses, pig eyes would be an indicator for those sorts of issues, in most cases.

ETA: Okay if you don’t want to call it part of their personality, I agree, but it does affect the way they react…if they have not as good vision, they tend to be spookier or harder to handle. They react differently than horses that have different shapes/size of eye.

[NoSuchPerson]

@WildLittleWren

Thus, if you want to steer away from spooky, harder to handle horses, pig eyes would be an indicator for those sorts of issues, in most cases.

ETA: Okay if you don’t want to call it part of their personality, I agree, but it does affect the way they react…if they have not as good vision, they tend to be spookier or harder to handle. They react differently than horses that have different shapes/size of eye.

I was not disputing that pig eyes, depending on how extreme they are, might indicate a potential vision problem. Nor was I suggesting that there is anything wrong with you making a personal decision to avoid horses with pig eyes.

My objection was simply to your claim that pig eyes are indicative of a difficult base personality because that’s not true. There are lots of horses out there with pig eyes that have perfectly pleasant base personalities. I rode some of them when I was a kid.

[SonnysMom]

Very low back or sway back is a hard no for me. I have one. Two fully custom very expensive saddles. I had one that I loved and worked for him but lost 100 pounds so needed a newer smaller one made. He now has been diagnosed with kissing spine and about 2 years ago told me that the treatment/maintenance was no longer working so he is retired. Only used that 2nd saddle 2 years. I also took a bath on the first one when I sold it since it was so custom.

Basically anything that looks like it will be a nightmare to find a saddle that fits. BTDT.

[BigMama1]

Based on my last horse I wouldn’t ignore super upright pasterns again

[NO-CTRL]

Long backs, low tied in necks, cow hocks are all straight in the nope pile for me.

[hoopoe]

along with some of the others mentions , for a dressage horse a difficult shoulder /wither /back that makes saddle fitting and rider centering a monumental chore.

[sophie]

It really depends on the horse’s purpose, but generally, things I would pass a horse over:

-upright pasterns
-very downhill built
-back at the knee
-sickle hocks
-weak hind end / disproportionate built
-low set neck
-withers that are too big

My Ottb has long pasterns, is over the knee on one leg, has a longish back, a somewhat low-set neck, and is built a bit downhill…but she’s a FUN ride lol

[Beck]

Post legs.
Back at knee.
Sickle hocks.
Sway back.
Roach back.
Shallow girth.
Extreme downhill build (the majority of horses are at least somewhat downhill: it is not about topline).