Is it just me, or is this horse over muscled and has bad conformation?

Question

he has a really muscled butt andlooks like he has had a rope wrapped around his doing doing doing and tightened until he has sucked it in. is this normal? what breed?http://www.exclusiveequine.com/images/00_bay_overo_big.jpg

Answer 1

I think this horse is undermuscled and underweight and looks like it may be a paint thoroughbred. The rider is riding English but the horse is holding itsself in a western head position. It probably just needs more work and feed. It is traking well. Thoroughbreds can cost a bit to keep fat.

Answer 2

i think (since i'm still learing different things about conformation) that for me it's a horrible conformation shot, maybe someone who has a better eye then me could say more then that. but i do think it's a great picture of how a horse should "round" itself when riding/working.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_(horse...

"A complex interplay of bone and muscle, supported by powerful tendons and ligaments allows a horse to "round" under the saddle and best support the weight of a rider"

bout half way down is a pic that reminds me of what i'm seeing in this picture (thanks for the pic, i never really could say i see exactly what they're talking bout before now.)

as for the over all look of the horse, unless i saw him standing for a comformation shot i cant really pic out any more points.

Answer 3

It looks weird.

Overreaching =-too low and underweight.

Answer 4

He looks well proportioned except for that leg

My Opinion Anyway

Answer 5

He's very pretty! He looks like a QH or a Paint. He looks okay, but it's really hard to tell cuz he's moving. It's normal for a horse to look sucked up when they're working. I'd buy him!

Answer 6

This looks like a Hunter Under Saddle class. The horse is gorgeous! He's show fit, well-defined, and moving like he should. Long strides, as he is obviously not being asked to "collect". Nothing wrong here!!

Answer 7

He looks like a young paint horse.

I don't see anything particularly wrong in that photo.

He looks to be working fairly low (which is fine to see in a young horse.) The rider does look like a bit of a passenger though. I would rather see a still picture for conformation or watch a video to say more.

Answer 8

I can't really point out anything bad about his conformation in that picture, and his muscles look evened out, but he does look odd- Just can't pinpoint it.

Answer 9

I think he looks alright but i get what you mean byt eh front leg with the muscle, that is the muscle stretching with the leg.

Answer 10

As to breed, I would guess a Paint.(APHA) It's hard to really tell conformation from a moving shot but I don't particularly like the looks of his front end. Looks to be tied-in below the knee and I believe standing square he'd have a pretty steep shoulder. Again hard to tell from the shot, but he seems to have really straight angles in back, verging on post legged, but does have a nice length of hip and croup. Of course that is just my opinion. Different people like different horses.

On the plus side he's very "pretty",  seems overall balanced and has a long-ish flat kneed stride. At a guess I'd say he's probably pretty successful as a HUS horse.

Regarding the muscling he's not over muscled so much as just not carrying any body fat. They want those HUS horses to look very "lean and trim" Some are much leaner than that and look, IMO, terrible. Check this QH out...

http://bp1.blogger.com/_uT-i4wrm9Ec/R7NY...

Regarding him having himself all "sucked up" that's pretty normal for a working horse showing. I'm sure if he was in a relaxed environment he'd be more ...well "relaxed" :-)

Answer 11

I agree with Gallop!! Plus it is a very bad photo for conformation. He doesn't look all that muscled up to me...... I have seen tooo many halter quarters. He looks stiff & straight in the shoulder. But I see much in the photo.

Answer 12

Aww..  I Fink He Looks F9 It's Just He's Moving And It's Hard 2 Tell In Motion.. He Looks F9 And A Really Fit And Healthy Looking Horse .. X

Answer 13

It's called "tucked up" and it reflects athletic fitness...thoroughbred-type quarter horses look like this, and I'm guessing this paint is out of that type of lineage.  I don't think the horse is weak in the loin...just the contrast with his well developed hindquarter makes it look that way.

Quarter horses don't all have the stocky build.  Many look like this, with more thoroughbred in them, like the Three Bars progeny of the past.  He has very refined bones and could also have Arabian bloodlines. I think what looks strange is the out of balance rider perched on top of him.

EDIT...the horse doesn't have hunter's bump, which is a tearing of the sacroiliac joint ligaments causing an enlargement at the top of the croup.  He has a long steep croup and can easily round up and reach under himself.

His shoulder is long enough and has enough angle, but is not angled to balance perfectly with his steeper croup.

He doesn't appear tied in below the knee...but he has small diameter cannons and is slight of tendons....however, his hooves look substantial and he may have denser, sturdier bones if he has Arabian influence in his breeding.

Answer 14

I agree with 4 about the shoulder.  If the horse were stopped it would probably be too upright.  Not sure about the tied in.  He has what is called a hunters rump which I find displeasing but is not a conformation flaw.  My biggest issue with him is his leg bones.  A horse with that much muscling should not have fine leg bones.  That is considered a huge conformation defect for many breeds.  It is a flaw in all breeds that do any serious work putting strain on the front end, but particularly trail horses and cattle horses.  Start working this horse hard and it could snap its front legs.

Its simple, big muscles need a good solid frame.  A lighter horse could get by with the finer frame but not that guy.

4 is also correct on how he is carrying himself.  This is a trained horse doing what he was trained to do.  

As far as him being to low in weight...this horse is a pampered show horse who is given lots of alfalfa and grain to prevent the grass belly everyone is used to seeing.  That is not a problem.  He is in fact in top working weight as shown by the muscling.

Answer 15

he is not over muscled and he looks fine and i cant find anything wrong with his conformation in this picture. yes it is normal . He is a Paint

Answer 16

i think he's a reasonably well put together paint. i hate the headset though. gotta love how the rider's posting off of her toes. geeze...

Answer 17

He looks like he could be quite young, maybe 5 years, and his limbs aren't quite in proportion yet and his withers and bum aren't the same height.

I don't personally like his head carriage, he could be resting in the bit but its very difficult to make a judgment just from  picture, it tells you so much more from seeing the horse move.

x*x

Answer 18

I think he looks fine.  He looks fairly rounded in the back and relaxed.

Its hard to judge conformation in a photo like this though.  He looks to have long pastens and a straight shoulder.  He is leggy and has a short looking back, but all of that could just be because of the particular photo here.  He looks nicely muscled and fit to me.

He is reaching way forward with his back legs, I'd like to actually see him in motion, but it looks like he may need bell-boots to protect him from interference.  Again, hard to tell  from a photo.

Horse looks like QH/paint.

Tummy looks tucked because he is thin/fit and reaching up/using his hind end, and pushing his back up into the rider's seat.  Looks like he is trying to be a good boy.

I like him.

I wouldn't breed him, but I think he's make a nice gelding if he isn't one already.

Answer 19

he looks fine, hes probably a paint mix

Answer 20

He is either a paint or a pinto quarterhorse. His conformation is fine.  

He looks "weird" because he's being ridden English quarterhorse style - which is a whole different thing than true English.  He's in a very Western frame, with the rider sitting straight upright and the reins long and without much contact.  He's got that long low neck set Western riders strive for, but is over the bit a bit (his face is past the vertical).

He's a well balanced horse. Muscling is excellent.   His pasterns look fine to me.  The only place I'd fault him is in the front legs - looks tied in below the knee.

His doing doing is just fine.  No one's done anything to it.  The tucked up look is normal to the style of riding.

The rider also looks fine (discounting the upright QH posture).  Her heel is up because she's asking for more stretch; he's responding by moving too far onto the bit and getting his hind end moving - which causes him to look like he was over reaching, but I don't think he did

Answer 21

id say it's a thoroughbredXpaint...

as for it's musculature it looks fine... it's just typical english pleasure looking to me... he's got a nice butt tho

i cant pinpoint it but yes there is something wierd about that horse...

Answer 22

Not using any part of his body correctly - hocks are stiff, shoulder is restricted... too hard to judge conformation without the horse standing square, but I expect there's something up with front end and back end.

With proper riding it might look a bit better. Can't say conclusively without seeing them move, but I expect that rider is not a rider, merely a passenger.