Im entertaining the purchase of an AQHA filly who checks off all the boxes in disposition, amenability, bloodlines and soundness. I have a concern however, with her dam. It appears that she is roachbacked. Since her conformation and bloodlines are impeccable, Im going to assume that is why she wasnt ever shown, though her siblings have show records. My question: If this filly is going to be roach backed, when will the condition present itself? She is currently 12 months old with normal spinal curvature. Thank you in advance!
Well, a roach back can be congenital or functional. It doesn’t sound like you know which one the dam has. She could have had an injury that limited her ability to be ridden but her genetics might still have been excellent and thus they used her for breeding.
Typically, if you’re going to see it show up as a congenital defect, it’s going to show up in a period of rapid growth between weaning and 9ish months of age. If the filly you’re looking at is already a year old, chances are her spinal curvature won’t change short of some kind of injury.
2 Likes
A picture would really help. Like Abbie said, is it actually a roach? Is if conformation? Is it postural? My big WB would develop a roach when his hind end was uncomfortable, and I could easily get it to go away with with some body work and a different set of exercises. True roaches aren’t all that common, and IME most are posture/stance, not conformation.
Has the dam had any other offspring and are there pictures of said offspring?
Back when I was horse shopping I ran into the issue of one of the broodmares from the breeder throwing out a weird roach back. I spent time looking at all the offspring out of her and compared them to the offspring out of same stallion/different mare.
