Help! conformation newbie

[OfficiallyOlivia]

hi everyone! i’m a long time lurker and first time poster. i’ve noticed the community on here seems so nice and helpful.

a little about me:
i’m a teen who has been riding for 8+ years. i have experience riding in all english disciplines, and currently riding H/J.

i have NEVER been able to wrap my head around conformation. i know the basics, but could someone maybe explain it in detail? like maybe post pics of ideal horses for say, eventing? tell me what you see in legs, neck, topline, that would make you purchase that horse.

thank you all so so much for helping a beginner like me! <3

[Training_Cupid]

I’m not an expert, but I’ve always enjoyed Practical Horseman’s Conformation Clinic. I’ll link a sample but if you google it should be able to get other editions.
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10159672480394162&id=100064917423039

[Scribbler]

You could try Deb Bennet’s book

Remember that there’s such a thing as functional conformation. Depending on the discipline you want different ways of going and different body types.

It can also be hard to seperate basic conformation from pathology like hunters bumps, under developed necks, swollen joints, pot bellies, lordosis. Lots of older horses or lesson horses look funky because their bodies are breaking down

My suggestion would be to choose your discipline then look for old school magazines or picture books on that discipline.

You can also look up high end sales ads for horses in your discipline, or top studs. These will include side on conformation shots of high quality horses for that breed and discipline.

[JB]

JW Equine

There’s a LOT of confo info out there that predates Judy’s research on how all the angles and lengths translate to actual athletic performance (aka “functional conformation”)

The conformation “experts” at Practical Horseman mostly operate under all the old way of looking at conformation.

For eample the horse in the link above has a perfectly fine shoulder angle and his pasterns are being judged as “too steep” despite the fact that he’s standing on a downhill slope and leaning forward, which straighten pasterns quite a lot. Judging the shoulder angle - angle between scapula and humerus - as 83* when the horse is leaning forward and standing downhill, is a disservice. That angle needs to be at least 90* for good function, and I pretty much guarantee it is if you stood this horse up properly

And “His hind legs are sturdy columns” doesn’t tell you anything about anything (not to mention it’s difficult to impossible to judge the angles of anything there due to the stance)

[sigrid.sijtsma]

Evenwichtsmodel2.pdf

https://easpstamboek.nl/artikelen/

and then go to : evenwichtsmodel", you can translate the text from dutch to english,. very good explanation abour conformation of a horse to move in balance, build in harmony and does the collection natural and all the higher level dressage movements.

[pony_grandma]

Me I prefer to see the horse move. Then I can really tell how the parts are working. Pretty is as pretty does.

[JB]

@pony_grandma

I prefer to see the horse move. Then I can really tell how the parts are working. Pretty is as pretty does.

That’s what JW Equine is all about. Not everyone can see a horse move, but knowing how the parts relate to how the horse moves, gives you an excellent idea of how the horse will move if ridden correctly and he’s fit enough

Yes, there’s still a range of movement based on what the confo says, but a horse with a 60* shoulder slope and an 80* shoulder angle and an LS gap that’s behind the point of the hips, isn’t going to win an over fences Hunter class

[Jackie_Cochran]

My favorite horse conformation book is “Points of the Horse” by M. Horace Hayes.

Many decades ago I bought a modern reprint of this book and the photographic plates were truly horrible.

I finally found an older and much more expensive edition and I learned a lot from it, for one the photographs were much, much clearer. There are other books that are good, this is just my favorite because he covers the subject very well. The author was English so there is not much on the American or more modern European breeds.

A more modern book is “Equine Photos and Drawings for Conformation and Anatomy” written by research staff of Equine Research, Inc… This is a pretty good book with good discussions of how the individual horse’s anatomy affects its conformation. This book also discusses the conformation of American and European breeds that the other books I recommend just don’t cover.

For Arabian fans there is “Anatomy and Conformation of the Horse” by Gladys Brown Edwards. Good conformation is good conformation but Arabian horses have their own unique peculiarities.

Another good book is “An Eye for a Horse” by Michael Schafer. In this book I learned that many great sires of many breeds do not have perfect conformation, but those imperfect stallions still improved the breed. He is European so he does go into various Warmblood breeds.

[JB]

@Jackie_Cochran

For Arabian fans there is “Anatomy and Conformation of the Horse” by Gladys Brown Edwards. Good conformation is good conformation but Arabian horses have their own unique peculiarities.

Most breeds have their specifics, which have nothing to do with Horse Functional Conformation.

Edit - yikes, that isn’t what I meant to say at all, I was making lots of edits and totally biffed this one. Breed specifics MAY have to do with functional conformation, but some do not. IME, breeds who have breeding approvals, are very functionally oriented. Not having breed approvals doesn’t mean they aren’t, many still have standards that fit well within the parameters of function

I think my original intent on that comnent was aimed at the show ring, where function is not at all a requirement in many breeds - think the stereotypical Halter QH for example . Some areas of the Arabian world are there, so are ASBs and TWHs and some others.

Look to the BREED standards, not what’s winning in a show ring

Every area of conformation has a range of correctness, and that’s where horses differ based on breed (ie a TWH vs an Arabian) and discipline (upper level Dressage vs WP)

Arabians aren’t any more peculiar than QHs or WBs or Cleveland Bays, outside of what tends to easily identify them as an Arabian. But you can say the same about a TWH or Lippizan head, or a Hackney’s upright neck set, for example

@Jackie_Cochran

Another good book is “An Eye for a Horse” by Michael Schafer. In this book I learned that many great sires of many breeds do not have perfect conformation, but those imperfect stallions still improved the breed. He is European so he does go into various Warmblood breeds.

I like him, and didn’t realize he wrote a confo book, nice! I’ll have to look into it.

He’s right, there is no perfect horse, mostly because “perfect” really can’t be defined. There are too many variations within functional conformation to say that a 47* shoulder slope is perfect for a 51* isn’t.

[clanter]

Most breeds have their specifics, which have nothing to do with Horse Functional Conformation

at least in the Morgans this is the Standard of Perfection

https://www.morganhorse.com/upload/photos/236Anatomical_Chart.pdf

[JB]

@clanter, that comment was from my comment and when I realized what I wrote, I went back to edit my comment…

[OfficiallyOlivia]

thank you all for the replies! super helpful - i will be looking into these books