Thoughts on this eventing prospect?

[jcc813]

Thanks for sharing these! He definitely inherited his dad’s big withers.

[beowulf]

@jcc813

@beowulf can you point out where in the videos you saw the inconsistent steps? I’m trying to train my eyes to be better so it’s always helpful when people can show me things they’re seeing that I’ve missed!

Sure.

The first video, the first few seconds at a walk you can see there is a difference in the range of motion (ROM) of both hinds. He is slightly hock wringing; where their foot rotates in place as the limb loads and unloads. When he comes across the diagonal you can see he is tracking up most of the time, but a few times that non-sock hind comes down quicker.

At the trot you see the hind with a sock deviate to the inside very slightly.

The most glaring thing to me was the difference in separation of hinds at the canter, going from right to left.

Now, it’s perfectly normal for a horse to have one stronger and weaker side. It’s perfectly normal for a green horse to not have clean canter departs or transitions. From my four minute impression of the videos he looks stronger going to the left than right. He seems to prefer landing on the left lead over fences too and did not want to swap to the right lead on a few turns.

I still like him. He seems very quiet and honest, looks like he enjoys jumping too.

[jcc813]

@beowulf

The first video, the first few seconds at a walk you can see there is a difference in the range of motion (ROM) of both hinds. He is slightly hock wringing; where their foot rotates in place as the limb loads and unloads. When he comes across the diagonal you can see he is tracking up most of the time, but a few times that non-sock hind comes down quicker.

At the trot you see the hind with a sock deviate to the inside very slightly.

The most glaring thing to me was the difference in separation of hinds at the canter, going from right to left.

Now, it’s perfectly normal for a horse to have one stronger and weaker side. It’s perfectly normal for a green horse to not have clean canter departs or transitions. From my four minute impression of the videos he looks stronger going to the left than right. He seems to prefer landing on the left lead over fences too and did not want to swap to the right lead on a few turns.

I still like him. He seems very quiet and honest, looks like he enjoys jumping too.

Thanks for the details!

That’s interesting what you picked up on the right hind b/c yesterday at the PPE she mentioned there was some fluid in that leg. She couldn’t say what might be causing it (mentioned possibly arthritis?) without further digging but didn’t seem overly concerned.

She also pointed out the left lead being better than the right. Getting him going off the right in the saddle was also a little harder.

[chestnutmarebeware]

I know it’s both petty and unwise to covet a horse purely based on looks, but this fellow brought out my childhood Black Stallion fantasies and made my heart go pitter-patter!

[AnastasiaBeaverhousen]

One thing to consider with a horse with high/low shoulder is saddle fit.
Horses with high/low tend to have asymmetry in the wither shoulder area.
You’ll want a good saddle fitter who can re flock the saddle or get a saddle pad with pockets for shims.

This isn’t a deal breaker and I wouldn’t be put off by it, but is something to take into consideration if you are seriously interested in this horse.

Good luck.