Conformation is a small part of the whole picture. I used to be a stickler for ideal conformation (and I have that book @tohorse mentioned, it was a good read), but then I spent a lot of time as a working student and groom, and worked with (event) horses at the top of the sport… and… there seems to be very little uniform conformation among them, and good/solid conformation is no guarantee the horse will be sound. There are tons of perfectly conformed horses who are never sound enough to ride - so while it’s ideal to have a horse with straight clean legs and a good fundament (hindquarter), the rest can sometimes be arbitrary when you want a “jack of all trades” to do lower levels…
Sorry, I know that is not super helpful… but most people don’t need a perfectly conformed horse to ride - they need a horse with the right temperament. Unless you are planning on breeding the horse, I would personally look for horses that have the temperament and aptitude for what you want, versus having all the right angles.
I mostly look for a specific specific type, and avoid specific jewelry, when I am shopping OTTBs. Because they are bred to race, conformational charts revolving around sport-bred WBs might not be very helpful. Different horses for different courses, as the saying goes. I look for specific pedigrees. TB sires are prolific, and usually very homogeneous in what they put out, so it’s easy to see similarities across offspring even with different dams. There are specific lines I look for in sport, and specific ones I avoid – and I put a lot more stock in the pedigree and movement, than conformation (exception being: crooked legs and/or crooked spine are always a no for me - everything else Depends On The Horse In Front Of Me)
I generally look at how the horse moves first, and then the conformation plus their race record. I want to see clean, straight legs with minimal blemishes – if they raced often, they can have more jewelry (lol) – but if they had sub-20 races, I usually pass on a horse with lots of fluid or too much jewelry – especially on their front legs. I prefer to see a horse who jogs openly and evenly - no rope-walking behind, no limp – but keep in mind most actively or fresh-retired horses are sore and will be bilaterally sore/lame, and that can make hearing or seeing a subtle lameness hard. I like to see good freedom of the shoulder at walk and trot, and an overtrack at the walk. You are unlikely to see a canter if the horse is at the track, but most TBs have great canters if they are comfortable/sound. Keep in mind many will move “tracky” – especially behind – with strange hock articulation and/or tightness over their spine and pelvis. I don’t mind a little trackiness especially if they raced recently, but ropewalking at the trot is always a red-flag, and I do keep an eye on the tail and neck; if both are super stiff and held to a specific side, or the horse moves crookedly especially at the walk, I might pass. How is their neck when they walk and jog? Is it braced/held stiff (is the handler influencing that?), or is it flexible? Most TBs move uphill, even if they’re structurally “downhill” in the neck – but you have to see them move first. Always take the time to run your hands down all their legs and look at their pelvis/hips from behind - avoid a horse with too much deviation/crookedness on one side.
How is the LS gap, where is the point of hip in relation to the stifle? I prefer these two be very close, with a generously sloping but short femur – the reason for that, is you are less likely to find SI trauma in horses with a good LS placement – and they tend to be very good jumpers and fundamentally better movers. It’s common for TBs that raced to have subtle muscling dissimilarities from side to side, but a dropped hip or pelvis is usually a sign of some trauma that might be hard to undo or manage. How are their hock-stifle-fetlock ratio? I am fine with an open hock - this is ideal for jumping – but I do not like super straight stifle-hock-pastern when it is combined with a goose rump (which also usually means poor LS placement). Speaking of, how does their spine look? Is there a hunter’s bump, or SI scarring? How does the horse stand? Is he standing over a lot of ground, or are his hind legs “tucked” under him and forward (past the stifle or to midline?) - this is a sign of back-soreness; sometimes this is treatable, but sometimes it means the horse has been in chronic pain over his back.
Most TBs have excellent feet growth-wise, but are shod for race track angles that encourage a long toe - this is to improve breakover during striding in races. While it allegedly gives them some speed advantage, it is damaging long-term to their soundness – makes their soles thin, their hooves unstable, and can cause soreness up and down their lower limbs until their feet are rectified. I avoid over-the-top bad angles and/or NPA with fever rings - while it is fixable, it takes time and the horses are usually very sore. How was their performance record? Any unusual gaps or breaks? How many races did they run? I am more likely to take a chance on a horse with 20+ races, than a horse with sub 20 - because a horse that can race three or four years consistently is sound and tough, and if they can race soundly for 20+ races, they can handle any low level discipline a rider points them at.
Finally - what do the trainer and exercise rider say about this horse? Most are very honest with the horse and their quirks/temperament.
I didn’t find the “Choosing an OTTB Blog” to be overly informative or correct at all, sorry @tohorse – there really is a dearth of good blogs out there for OTTB retraining, though, and I think a lot of what circulates is from people who maybe have experience with one or two OTTBs and it can be taken as gospel… I would take that writer’s assessments of those TBs with a big grain of salt.
You cannot look at a picture and know if a horse moves uphill or downhill until you watch them move. The blogger was incorrect about a few common “myths” about TBs and racing – TBs do see plenty of turnout in the off-season, and most of them grow up in some sort of herd environment. Their feet are rarely too small for their bodies, it is the way they are shod on the track (and they are awfully shod, they really are). I also disagree that most of the TBs come off the track “underweight” – they come off of the track fit if they are racing, but I have gotten plenty of plushy, fat Tbs off the track too. I rarely ever see a TB that is underweight here. YMMV.
Regarding an OTTB… is this your first one? The biggest hurdles IME, are you are always buying a horse that is sore and it takes time - anywhere from a week or months – to unravel that chronic soreness. They’re sore because it’s hard work – not because they were owned by bad people or abused. These horses are highly trained, but not in the discipline you are putting them into – it can take time to “reset” their training and condition them to their new jobs, since they are unlearning all that they learned at the track.
Do you have someone who is experienced with looking at TBs that has a good eye and can help you? A trainer or friend? If you post your location, you may be able to get some suggestions for good TB resellers here, or connections that might have what you are looking for.
Here are some horses that fit my type, that would be in my barn if I had the room. I buy for me, so I want a horse that can do LL eventing, hunt, hunterpace, hack on trails – just an all around horse partner for an amateur. I am not shopping for UL:
http://fingerlakesfinesttbs.com/gust…h-bay-gelding/
http://fingerlakesfinesttbs.com/fros…hestnut-filly/
http://fingerlakesfinesttbs.com/visi…3-bay-gelding/ *note – I really like this one
http://fingerlakesfinesttbs.com/mill…15-h-bay-mare/
The Big 3 in terms of functional conformation are there because the dictate how up/down hill a horse moves on his own. Horse A with a low neck emergence, and poor pillar of support will never move beyond level, and that will take work. You can see it time and time again with a horse whose withers are right on top of their front legs (terrible POS), who cannot move with any natural lightness up front, who constantly look like they’re travelling downhill, and who are one lump of grass away from falling on their face
Luckily her neck is also long, and is set on well.