Silver City Heritage Farmstead
Can't stop now (formerly Dragons Wish Farm)
I've been reading with interest Carly Rae's recent post. In her "When do colts mature" thread, she asks about conformation. During my approximately 4 years on this forum, this topic has been discussed, often with line drawings.
I've started this thread with pictures of my own horses as an educational thread. My hope is that folks with paint programs on their computers will be able to draw in lines that explain our critiques.
First I'll post Spanky. Seven year old 32.5" gelding who was gelded in March of this year.
When I look at him, just an overall impression is a balanced, powerful draft-type gelding. He is in pasture condition. His body appears more as a square....he's about as long from shoulder point to buttock as he is from top of wither to ground. The angle from top of shoulder (scapula) to point of shoulder, and from there to elbow is about the same angle as from point of hip to point of buttock and then to point of stifle.
He has an adequate shape to neck. Length is the minimum acceptable to keep him in balance with his body. His throat latch is thick with just enough shape to allow him to break at the poll and carry a bridle comfortably while working. In this picture, if you look at the underline of his neck you will see a downward bulge. Normally this would be a ewe neck. However, if you look at the shape of his crest, you see an appropriate hook for a draft type horse.
His shoulder, like his hindquarters, is powerful. It is long but just a bit straight. He has a nice length from point of shoulder to elbow, almost equal in length to his scapula.
If you look carefully at his front legs, you will see he is just a bit back at the knees (calf-kneed). The cannon bone tilts back just the tiniest bit from knee to pastern. What will keep him sound during work is his density of bone along with strong straight tendons. He has clean joints. I'd like to see them a bit more flt and less round. He has straight, short pasterns. I think that if they were a bit longer you'd see nice angles. However, as a draft type they are appropriate. If you look at him from the front, you'll also see that his cannons are offset just a bit to the inside. Well developed muscular forearms.
His ribs are well sprung and he has a smooth deep body, again conveying power. He has both a short back and loin, with depth and muscularity. Moderately round hindquarters with a lot of depth from top of croup to stifle. His tail is as low set as I personally will accept. In his hind shot, you can see he has wide square hips with his hind legs well set. If you look carefully at his hind cannons, you will see the are mildly offse to the inside, causing a cow-hock stance. Some Sport horse people look for just a bit of this hindquarter shape, as they feel this prevents interference and allows a horse to really sit back on his haunches.
Last, his head. He has very large, soft eyes and small upright ears. Again, he has adequate hook to poll, ehich is saved from tightness by a very large wide-spaced jowl. He has a pleasant shape to his head. A shallow mouth means I need to keep awareness of bridle fit to prevent misplacing the bit. He was a curious, easy-going but not to be bullied personality.
To close, again a balanced, pleasing pasture condition draft type gelding.
That's what I see what I see when I look at Spanky. What do YOU see?
I've started this thread with pictures of my own horses as an educational thread. My hope is that folks with paint programs on their computers will be able to draw in lines that explain our critiques.
First I'll post Spanky. Seven year old 32.5" gelding who was gelded in March of this year.
When I look at him, just an overall impression is a balanced, powerful draft-type gelding. He is in pasture condition. His body appears more as a square....he's about as long from shoulder point to buttock as he is from top of wither to ground. The angle from top of shoulder (scapula) to point of shoulder, and from there to elbow is about the same angle as from point of hip to point of buttock and then to point of stifle.
He has an adequate shape to neck. Length is the minimum acceptable to keep him in balance with his body. His throat latch is thick with just enough shape to allow him to break at the poll and carry a bridle comfortably while working. In this picture, if you look at the underline of his neck you will see a downward bulge. Normally this would be a ewe neck. However, if you look at the shape of his crest, you see an appropriate hook for a draft type horse.
His shoulder, like his hindquarters, is powerful. It is long but just a bit straight. He has a nice length from point of shoulder to elbow, almost equal in length to his scapula.
If you look carefully at his front legs, you will see he is just a bit back at the knees (calf-kneed). The cannon bone tilts back just the tiniest bit from knee to pastern. What will keep him sound during work is his density of bone along with strong straight tendons. He has clean joints. I'd like to see them a bit more flt and less round. He has straight, short pasterns. I think that if they were a bit longer you'd see nice angles. However, as a draft type they are appropriate. If you look at him from the front, you'll also see that his cannons are offset just a bit to the inside. Well developed muscular forearms.
His ribs are well sprung and he has a smooth deep body, again conveying power. He has both a short back and loin, with depth and muscularity. Moderately round hindquarters with a lot of depth from top of croup to stifle. His tail is as low set as I personally will accept. In his hind shot, you can see he has wide square hips with his hind legs well set. If you look carefully at his hind cannons, you will see the are mildly offse to the inside, causing a cow-hock stance. Some Sport horse people look for just a bit of this hindquarter shape, as they feel this prevents interference and allows a horse to really sit back on his haunches.
Last, his head. He has very large, soft eyes and small upright ears. Again, he has adequate hook to poll, ehich is saved from tightness by a very large wide-spaced jowl. He has a pleasant shape to his head. A shallow mouth means I need to keep awareness of bridle fit to prevent misplacing the bit. He was a curious, easy-going but not to be bullied personality.
To close, again a balanced, pleasing pasture condition draft type gelding.
That's what I see what I see when I look at Spanky. What do YOU see?
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