Horse conformation discussion

[mountain_waif]

....

 

[Jill]

I don't breed anymore and haven't for several years. The reason is pure and simple ~ There are too many mini's. That being said I'm always amazed at people that say they've sold horses to make room for babies or because their changing their breeding program. If the horse you had to begin with wasn't conformationally correct at your house then why do you think it's OK to pass that same horse on to another person that more than likely will breed it? If your really committed to improving the breed then geld or spay before you pass your horse on. Do it before the horse leaves your place or believe it or not your contributing to the problem that is debated on this forum several times a year.

The thing is, what may not be right for my herd any longer may be perfect for someone else's. The reality is that a lot of us have limited space and limited time. Just because I purchased a horse, took good care of it, and loved it -- why should I be expected to ALWAYS own that horse until he or she passes away? That isn't realistic and for me to enjoy my horses the way I want to (which like it or not, is a big factor), some changes need to be made. Additionally, I can tell you that ever single horse I owned and then sold is better off for having known me as I grew them up well, put $$$ into training them, etc. I have done right by them all.

 

[Buckskin gal]

:aktion033: :

Unfortunately the term "professional breeder" does not necessarily that breeder is breeding quality foals. Look at all of the "professional trainers" out there that are not GOOD trainers. I just love the assumption that just because someone is big name, big money, big numbers that they are better than the little guy that is raising one foal a year in the back yard....not "professional". I've seen horses I really like from little-known farms, and I've seen high prices horses with big name prefixes off of of fancy pedigrees, from a farm that is as "professional" as you can get, and you couldn't PAY me to take the horse; you surely couldn't pay me to use it for what it was sold for--a breeding animal.

:

I still can't figure out how the term "professional" or even "big name" means a breeder should continue to breed large numbers of horses. Many of those could benefit from some serious downsizing & culling too!

 

[joylee123]

Well, I think the fact is if a person is not willing to open their eyes regarding their own horses, this thread and all the others will make no difference. We will still get tons of requests for critiques from people who will have hurt feelings if they hear what you, me or Sue Equestrian thinks. I really do not know the solution. However, when giving someone a critique, I feel better about doing it when I can also point out the things I DO like about the horse. Just as I have not ever seen a perfect horse (and I'm harder on my OWN than on anyone's), I have also yet to see one where there were not a couple things I did like. This isn't sugar coating at all in my opinion.

ADDITIONALLY, some people think you cannot go far with a QH type halter horse. I own one, Tibbs Sundowner, who is a 9x National / Reserve National champion in halter and model classes. Judges have preferences in type, to be sure, however, a GOOD horse is a GOOD horse and a QH type can go far... Anyone who doubts can check Sunny out on his page: http://www.whinny4me.com/sunny-page.html If you look, I don't know how you can think anything but he's a "quarter horse in miniature". And I sure do love him!

[SIZE=12pt]I remember when he was being offered for sale..... Boy you're lucky I wasn't set up to have another horse

: I just love him

: and sure did think about him a bunch!!!

: [/SIZE]

 

[nootka]

conformation

*lol* Cathy you picked up on one of my peeves too.

Anyway, the sad thing about some of these "want to be professional" breeders is that they are breeding tons and tons of "lesser" quality as far as conformation goes in the pursuit of smaller and smaller or brighter and brighter. Not to say that a percentage of them aren't beautifully colored, small, etc. etc. BUT if they chose the BEST conformationally and culled the rest that were just too out of shape (I mean use a scoring criteria such as certain things would be a dealbreaker, but say, a steep shoulder might be a keeper if all else was good/reasonable, and provided you had a horse that you could use on them to improve that).

A professional breeder is constantly upgrading, making choices and sometimes, yes, those choices go backwards on you, but they admit it and move on.

Like Jill touched on, if everyone stopped breeding then this process would halt. We would go no further, we would stay in the same place overall. There are leaps being made in good programs all over the country.

I like to think that most of what I have born is very good quality and should stay reasonably sound. They have good minds, too. Of course I only have one or two and at max three per year. Of those that I haven't thought suitable for breeding, I have gelded and sold as pet only. In the case of a mare, I can only hope the new owners follow my wishes as they understand them.

The people that need to look and change/grow are not going to because they are feeding their own desire for having a certain product and then they can sell the ones they can't keep or don't want for a decent enough price to keep them doing it. When I see a GOOD quality mare going for under $1200 though, I have to wonder what they could be making on the less than good and bad quality.

It's not about type but often I see the "QH or draft" type used to describe a horse that may have hallmarks of being a dwarf and/or has some undesirable traits. No, a big head is not an unsoundess per se, but in these guys it can signal something else going wrong inside when you couple it with very short legs and a long body etc. or the low tail set thing. USUALLY a lower tailset goes with a very weak hip and that is something that should NOT be bred.

I agree though, conformation and correctness is similar in every type of horse with few exceptions. I used to love the conformation clinic was it in Equus? Anyway, I learned a lot there and still have a LOT to learn.

Liz M.

 

[Jill]

Well, I think the fact is if a person is not willing to open their eyes regarding their own horses, this thread and all the others will make no difference. We will still get tons of requests for critiques from people who will have hurt feelings if they hear what you, me or Sue Equestrian thinks. I really do not know the solution. However, when giving someone a critique, I feel better about doing it when I can also point out the things I DO like about the horse. Just as I have not ever seen a perfect horse (and I'm harder on my OWN than on anyone's), I have also yet to see one where there were not a couple things I did like. This isn't sugar coating at all in my opinion.

ADDITIONALLY, some people think you cannot go far with a QH type halter horse. I own one, Tibbs Sundowner, who is a 9x National / Reserve National champion in halter and model classes. Judges have preferences in type, to be sure, however, a GOOD horse is a GOOD horse and a QH type can go far... Anyone who doubts can check Sunny out on his page: http://www.whinny4me.com/sunny-page.html If you look, I don't know how you can think anything but he's a "quarter horse in miniature". And I sure do love him!

[SIZE=12pt]I remember when he was being offered for sale..... Boy you're lucky I wasn't set up to have another horse

: I just love him

: and sure did think about him a bunch!!!

: [/SIZE]

Oh, thanks!

: I do have to say with Sunny, he's one horse where he's even more beautiful on the inside than the outside. I've never known one like him but I got a sense of "who" he was from the pictures Erica sent before I bought him / got him home. His eyes say so much about him.