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For Romance x Franziskus stallion in Verden

Lots of hock action without ever really coming under himself. Also looks a little like he doesn’t step up completely because he can’t get his front legs out of the way in time. Technically the trot is pure but I’m not sold on the canter.

OP, positive or negative attention?

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Pure in the fact that the feet land when they should, but not even close in terms of even engagement front to back.

It’s weird, I thought they wanted extravagant front ends, this guy is wild behind!

He kind of looks like he’s scrambling or rolling forward. Like if the hind leg slowed even a little he’d fall right on his face.

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lol that’s why I like the Irish horses

It could be part conformation. He is straighter behind with a steeper croup.

I don’t believe his trot is correct. I don’t want to see that level of tension in a sport horse. You occasionally see this movement on the track, which is why it’s called “being tracky” - where the hind end is snappy and horse moves like a pogo stick with a locked back. Usually caused by combination of factors - SI soreness, management, and sometimes undiagnosed injuries brewing.

But his back is stiff with very little movement to it. These horses are hard to ride.

The difference in range of motion from left to right, stiffness in his back, inconsistency, tension, lack of tracking up, and the way he’s holding his tail would make me, as a potential breeder, want to see him in a well-proven sport career before I considered him for any mare. These are overlapping symptoms of several myopathies and neurological disorders, so I would want to see him with an established career first.

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As Mander said, it kind of makes more sense to do follow that format. However, I give credit to the Swedish WB registry because it recognizes the mares and has basically done so from the beginning. When you search for a horse’s name in the registry, it will list the horse’s Name, Gender, Born year, Studbook Number, Sire, and Dam. They have an entire website page dedicated to listing all of the mare lines (over 90 of them) and you can click on each one to read more about the lineage and successful horses from each dam line. In fact, I’m told that if one visits Flyinge and owns a SWB, there is a possibility that one will be asked which mare line their horse is from. Mine happens to be from mare line #1, Zaida, which I’ve always thought was pretty cool.

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Don’t get me wrong, registries and horses that registries approve as stallion prospects based on bloodlines care a great deal about the damline. Most of the experts that the registries employ to teach seminars on breeding (etc) will acknowledge the importance of the damline. A good damline produces and produces. When evaluating a horse as a stallion prospect, registries will look at the predicates of the damline and like to see predicates at least 4 generations back for stallion prospects. But in this case where a stallion is being showcased, they will rely on the traditional format (sire x dam’s sire x dam’s dam sire) because this is standard format and the most immediately recognizable way of identifying a bloodline. Pedigrees showing damline are then listed on websites for approved stallions so breeders can track dam lines.

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Sadly, yes. I am one of the despised grammar Nazis. :frowning:

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As to this horse, I think a lot of the issues we are seeing will improve with maturity (he’s what, 2?), growth, and training. I also think he looks very out of balance. That may be a problem when he’s backed, or it may improve, hard to say.

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I wish we would see that too. Dam lines are important!

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I seem to remember reading somewhere (I can never remember where I read things ) that this is called a “hover trot” and is undesirable"…the extra suspension almost seems to disrupt the rhythm of a normal trot and looks artificial…I hope this isn’t an indi action of a breeding trend or the concept of pure gaits may be in danger

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I think the concept of pure gaits has already been endangered. Every time I see a horse with “astounding uphill canter!” while its hind feet are on the ground and the fores are not I roll my eyes. Way to advertise that your horse has a four beat canter.

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It depends on the movement at hand. Most collected horses will exhibit more of a 4 beat gait even if they naturally have a 3 beat canter. A pirouette and the extended canter for example are quite frequently 4 beat due to the nature of the movements.

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DAP and the negative connotation of a 4-beat canter where the foreleg of the diagonal pair lands before the hind leg because the horse is on the forehand are not equivalent.

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For what it’s worth (from one who is not an experienced Warmblood person), his trot reminds me of an American Saddlebred trot.