I just bought a horse first and foremost for his temperament and brain. So naturally he doesn’t have the best conformation, because there’s always a catch right? So this horse is over at the knee, has very short canon bones and very long pasterns. He is totally sound and my vet has no concern about how he will hold up, but his proportions in his front legs are weird enough that at the walk, it looks like his legs zig zag. If you watch his feet he takes nice even strides but if you look higher, something seems not quite right. At the trot and canter, nothing looks unusual and at all 3 gaits he feels comfortable and sound. Am I likely to get rung out for riding an “unsound” horse if we compete at training to 1st or 2nd level depending on how his conformation affects his ability to collect?
Until you compete, once you have schooled him, you can’t know. If he is sound but has an odd gait, his movement may improve with correct training.
Do you have a video? Where does the structure of the leg start to make the zigs and zags? The elbow? The knee?
I think judges ring out horses for unsoundness based more on an irregularity (in terms of timing or asymmetry) rather than an unusual gait due to conformation.
But it is a judgment call, so you never know.
I got rung out once, and had it overturned by the vet on site, and got to reride the test (did not go well, this mare was a mare of routine and the routine got upset).
The mare had never been rung out before that moment, nor since. Probably 15 shows total?
I have video that I can upload later tonight. Standing square, the zig zag starts at the knee, but at the walk it appears to involve the elbow too.
Do you weaving or paddling?
Does she also have a conformational flaw?
And this gelding would have no problem going in and doing it again, but I’m just like your mare and would probably not be able to keep it together 
I’m only aware of weaving as a stable vice, so no? Also no paddling. All four legs travel in nice straight lines.
Then what do you mean by “zig zag”?
Like the side profile of his leg looks like a zig zag. It goes forward to the knee, way back to the fetlock and forward again to the hoof.
So he wings out?
That’s a flaw that will affect your centerline and maybe rein back scores but isn’t an unsoundness.
I still don’t understand. That zig zag (angles) from the side is common to all horses.
If the horse’s body is straight and he halts square, I don’t think a judge would score it down for winging out, which is a conformational issue.
I have never owned a horse that was over at the knees. But when I was trying to learn conformation decades ago the universal comment on being over at the knees was that it was basically fine, and possibly that the horse had been jumped or raced a lot.
These same books had calf-knees and knock-knees as SERIOUS conformational faults. They basically said that between calf-knees and over at the knees to go for the horse that was over at the knees because the horse probably would stay sound longer.
Please be kind, he’s only had a handful of rides post track.
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Yes, but this horse has angles a lot more dramatic than your average horse. The one leg almost looks like it should be broken.
I see what you’re talking about.
That right front is something, isn’t it.
He looks like a super kind guy. Over at the knee is not a concern in mild cases, but this makes me wonder if he had an injury - just for the question of “will he hold up?”
I don’t think you would get rung out for this, unless he’s uneven because of it (pain or mechanical the judge won’t know).
A real old timer horsemen that I know always used to tell me that horses who are over at the knee usually stay sound forever, and then my farrier says that horses who are over at the knee are easy to work with. So with all their combined experience, I’m not bothered by it, but I also can’t deny that its confusing to look at.
