Dressage prospect critique (OTTB)

[NotGrandPrixYet]

Thank you.

[NotGrandPrixYet]

@polkadotedpony

I agree that people can be overly harsh when critiquing non-WBs but as someone who owns and rides a non-WB I honestly think you have to look at the horse in front of you (conformation and movement) because you don’t have the luxury of knowing they have confirmed dressage horses in their pedigree. It’s much easier to take a risk on a horse with less than ideal conformation when you know they have a parent or two siblings successfully doing what you want to do.
The horse I bought is also less than perfect, as are all horses, but you need to figure out what you can live with as a buyer. My horse had a great attitude, and moved better than his conformation said he should and I wanted a horse to develop for my bronze so a tad straight behind and narrow in the chest were not deal breakers for me. Other people might feel differently.

Developing an eye for ideal conformation is a valuable skill and helps with the decision process. Knowing your horse’s weak spots can also help you trouble shoot training issues and physical discomfort when they are just NQR which is going to happen at some point if you own a horse long enough. If everyone just responds with “she seems like a nice horse and fine for lower levels, or maybe you’ll get lucky and go further” OP will never learn to develop her own eye and opinions.

Thank you.

[DQ_Foxhunter]

I also like her, it is hard to tell a lot from that video, but I suspect she has a nice canter.
I also don’t think she is downhill, however horses can look different in person, but this girl is definitely worth a look.
i have seen plenty of tbs with white on their bodies, there are people it there breeding paint Tbs.

[beowulf]

@polkadotedpony

Developing an eye for ideal conformation is a valuable skill and helps with the decision process. Knowing your horse’s weak spots can also help you trouble shoot training issues and physical discomfort when they are just NQR which is going to happen at some point if you own a horse long enough. If everyone just responds with “she seems like a nice horse and fine for lower levels, or maybe you’ll get lucky and go further” OP will never learn to develop her own eye and opinions.

This is totally true – but the criticism that the mare is square, upright, wont be able to hold up the easy job of a LL career, has trauma marks on her belly… People are going to read things like that, that are not necessarily wholly true, and it’ll stop a good mare from getting a nice home. What always amazes me about these criticisms is that the poster[s] pick apart minutia while totally missing glaring things like – maybe a crooked leg, or a clubbed foot, or a leg that is clearly unsound . . .

My honest assessment after looking at thousands of TBs and retraining many of my own, is that this mare is worth a look and a ride. Does she have a millionaire trot? No… But she has all the pieces that I personally look for when I’m looking for a project. She’s game despite not knowing what’s being asked of her. Her canter is quitel balanced for a green race-horse lunging on a circle. She has a decent pedigree for sport. People who know racing pedigrees and how they translate to off-track careers would be able to see she has names in her pedigree that are proven for sport one way or another.

It makes it way less of a gamble. I think the video shows a different horse than the photo, and it may just be that we’re all quarterbacking here given how that photo doesn’t seem to totally paint the picture of this mare (as seen by video).

I disagree with the assessments her shoulder and pastern are too upright, and I disagree with the comment made that the mare has trauma marks on her belly – that is splashes of white and it is very common in TBs now, not at all rare.

It’s comments like this from people who I assume, maybe don’t pick up horses from the track often – and it makes me feel obligated to post my own “ugly shedrow” pictures of OTTBs then and now, because it does take experience and time to be able to look at a horse and see what they’re capable of a year or two down the road with good training and turnout; you would truly be surprised how they often do not even look or move like the same horse.

[eightpondfarm]

fo sho i don’t care if a horse is a WB/PRE/TB or MUSTANG :-). My critique of this mare’s conformation is 100% based upon her as an individual. As an equine. Has nothing at all to do with her breed *except comparing her neck to the avg OTTB…

(who have the necks bred out of them…because: necks ‘don’t do the running’ QH and TBs are kinda weird in that same small-neck way, and this mare has a good neck comparatively. My guess is if i were critiquing a PRE i’d find the neck too overdone, and ‘give’ it to the horse because of his breed…just like i gave her a passing neck because i was comparing her to her breed. In real-life, i’d have dinged the neck for low emergence. Necks are one of those things that don’t count as much anyway…you don’t ride the neck…and you can do all kinds of exercises with it to enhance musculature or at least manipulate mechanically with leverage to change it’s arch and make it appear comely.)

Other than the neck comment, which i kinda ‘gave’ her because of her breed, i took everything else at face value. Her squareness, her shoulder, her hip…all of that i looked at from the point of view as how she is fit-for-function as a generic equine.

[NotGrandPrixYet]

@beowulf

This is totally true – but the criticism that the mare is square, upright, wont be able to hold up the easy job of a LL career, has trauma marks on her belly… People are going to read things like that, that are not necessarily wholly true, and it’ll stop a good mare from getting a nice home. What always amazes me about these criticisms is that the poster[s] pick apart minutia while totally missing glaring things like – maybe a crooked leg, or a clubbed foot, or a leg that is clearly unsound . . .

My honest assessment after looking at thousands of TBs and retraining many of my own, is that this mare is worth a look and a ride. Does she have a millionaire trot? No… But she has all the pieces that I personally look for when I’m looking for a project. She’s game despite not knowing what’s being asked of her. Her canter is quitel balanced for a green race-horse lunging on a circle. She has a decent pedigree for sport. People who know racing pedigrees and how they translate to off-track careers would be able to see she has names in her pedigree that are proven for sport one way or another.

It makes it way less of a gamble. I think the video shows a different horse than the photo, and it may just be that we’re all quarterbacking here given how that photo doesn’t seem to totally paint the picture of this mare (as seen by video).

I disagree with the assessments her shoulder and pastern are too upright, and I disagree with the comment made that the mare has trauma marks on her belly – that is splashes of white and it is very common in TBs now, not at all rare.

It’s comments like this from people who I assume, maybe don’t pick up horses from the track often – and it makes me feel obligated to post my own “ugly shedrow” pictures of OTTBs then and now, because it does take experience and time to be able to look at a horse and see what they’re capable of a year or two down the road with good training and turnout; you would truly be surprised how they often do not even look or move like the same horse.

First of all, where were YOU during the whole month that the poster asked for comments and the time you decided to pick apart mine? I don’t see anyone step up, so brave soul you are, I guess.

Second of all, it’s not a critique. She asked for opinions, and I gave her mine BASED ON THE 20 YEARS I’ve had retarting and rehabbing OTTBs. I know how they’re trained, ridden, and cared for. That’s why I gave her suggestions on how she might proceed with this horse. These horses often come with SI strains, tendon strains, and contacted heels. All fixable with time, which is what I said.

Sorry if I’ve never come across a paint TB that has been raced. I said it was troublesome to me, then others more familiar with paint TB lines cleared that up. Great.

Regarding the pics of the warmbloods, look at them again. Some may not have the ideal slope to the shoulder, but the way that the angle of the natural neck carriage To the angle of the scapula is way more open than you find in a typical TB, offering more freedom of movement. These are the things that you look for in an upper level prospect. The OP never stated her desired level of dressage.

I said she would be fine for lower level dressage. Now I see why nobody wants to be the first to comment, other than “she looks nice”.

[lizathenag]

coming to the party late.
what I like about her is her attitude on the longe.
I got my current OTTB 18 years ago and chose him because they led him by a jack hammer and he just looked at it. I figured I could fix anything else. and he is a still a joy!