Horse's conformation.....?

Question

I am leasing a Thoroughbred (Dilly) and I would like to know how his conformation looks to you. He is about 16hh and 15 years old. He also was an ex race horse.

Front:

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff311/rachelromano16/dillyconfo2.jpg

Full:

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff311/rachelromano16/dillyconfo3.jpg

Hock:

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff311/rachelromano16/dillyconfo1.jpg

Tacked:

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff311/rachelromano16/dilly3.jpg

P.S. Sorry about him being dirty but I'm sure most of you know how hard it is to keep a grey horse clean.

P.P.S. I couldn't get him to stand perfectly straight....Is there a trick to doing so?

Answer 1

He's a very beautiful horse. From the look of the picture I could only pick apart a few things.

~ He's slightly cow hocked

~ He's slightly sickled hocked- which is something that needs to be watched extremely carefully as it can cause abnormal hoof wear. And from the looks of the pictures, the horse appears to be leaning slightly forward and it could be a result of this flaw.

~ I would have liked to seen a cleaner throat latch on him. He may have more problems flexing but it should only effect his riding minorly.

The major flaw I saw in him though is something I would have checked out by a vet to make sure this horse is sound, is that he is sickle hocked.

EDIT: YES! his hocks are most likely the problem of him not being able to collect. When a horse collects properly they are suppose to bring their rear legs up under them and push off this way. With his hock conformation and him being so sickle hocked, his reach is not going to be as forward as it should be because of the hocks.

My advise is find a new, more sound lease. With this guy already having to have hock injections it is just a wreck waiting to happen. I'd hate for you to have to go through his break down. Plus, I don't see this horse furthering your training and riding.

Answer 2

Poor shoulder, sickle hocked, and over at the knee.  Not the worst I've ever seen but nothing spectacular either.  He's only as good as he rides, right?  :)

Answer 3

You're just leasing him, you're not buying him, and you didn't state what you were going to do with him.

As your first respondent stated, he does appear to be sickle hocked, and that would tend to increase the wear in his hocks... arthritis as he ages.  He's straight in front, however.  I'm sure he'd be fine on the flat.  I wouldn't be jumping a 15 year old horse... just my quirk.  8-12 is my limit.  At 15, he is a 45 year old man, minimum, since as you said, he was on the track... and they get used up really fast on the track.  Nice horse.  If you're going to show him, think he'd look best if you wore a black or grey coat, and stayed with black or grey colors.  Dark green or dark red in a coat is also nice.  Stay away from brown.

Answer 4

The trick to getting him to stand straight is like so many other things with horses... Practice!  

Overall, the horse has nice balance, good shoulder and hip angles, a nicely set neck, and appears to have a good disposition, especially for an ottb.

His legs have good bone, but his cannons should be shorter and his forearms/gaskins longer.  This is contributing to a less than ideal hock configuration, where his hind leg is too far out behind him.  When standing straight, if you draw an imaginary line from the point of the buttock straight down to the ground, his rear cannon should line up just in front but touching it.  His rear cannon lines up well behind where it should.

The video was difficult to assess movement on.  I did like his head set - relaxed and low.  A little contact with the reins would bring it into a good position; a little more leg added to the contact would bring him into a rounded frame and then we could more easily assess.

He looks like he has a very good personality and a willing temperament, and those are usually more important than the niceties of confirmation.

Edit:  To get a calm, collected canter you have to be able to get a calm collected trot...  he's calm, but you weren't collecting him in that trot.  You need more contact with his mouth and more leg to bring his hind end under him.  Practice trotting with him, asking him to bring his head in to you so the front of his face his almost perpendicular to the ground, and asking him with your legs to bring his hind end more under him.  This will be difficult for him due to his hock conformation, but he can do it.  It may take time and conditioning before he can maintain it well.

When you ask for the canter, he'll probably be all strungout because of the hock conformation.  You're going to have to work with him on this.  Again, collection from the rear with your leg, containing gently, giving and taking the bit, from the front.

Good luck!

Answer 5

i don't really like his neck and throatlatch, and his back seems pretty short. but the thing that sticks out most to me are his back legs and hocks.