JUMP!!! and more

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^T-bird89^

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hey everybody, i've been really busy but today i managed to give my boy a bath. We took some pics afterward, and i would like people to critique him a little...he's only a yearling and hes a stud, so his stances aren't perfect but i want an idea of his conformation. i need opinions. also, here are some pics of him jumping!!! he loves doing it- though we don't do it very often at all because hes no mature- and we stick to the low ones.

oh yeh, sorry about the size of the pics. they're really big...i tried to resize them but i guess it didn't work. oh, and in the last one he's playing with our puppy. Thanks!! also, i trim myself and didn't have time to do his back feet yesterday, as the sun was going down. His head is held up pretty high in one of the pictures because that was the only way i could get him to stop him from coming to me, which also made his front legs look funny and made it look like he has an ewe neck (he doesn't). I haven't taught him to stand square yet. I need help with that. So any tips would be appreciated. And any pictures you have of minis in the show ring would be appreciated so i can see what the ideal look is. Any tips on how to disguise bad points and accent good points would be appreciated as well.

LEFTCLEAN.jpg


RIGHTCLEAN.jpg


JUMP.jpg


FLY.jpg


PLAYINKEYUS.jpg


Thanks Again
 
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Not going to critique just now as the pics aren't what I would like for ideal.

I would like to warn you against jumping your yearling, though.

He needs time to grow and be healthy, not be doing things he's not mature enough to do.

Yeah, a low jump here or there at liberty is not going to hurt him, but when you are asking him to repeatedly jump objects while you are asking him to, it will likely negatively impact his growing bones and joints.

I hope you are not offended by this suggestion. He has his whole life to learn these things after he's grown. Give him a break for at least another year or two and then start S-L-OW-L-Y and build up to it. It may take as long as 6 months to get him fully conditioned (once he's grown) to jump the taller jumps.

I can now see the better picture for critique and overall, I would say he's fairly pleasing for a yearling. Many times they are all out of whack at this stage.

Your guy appears to be a bit rump high, but I'm betting he will grow past that.

I see right off that his hind hooves are very long especially the toes.

I may be wrong in what I'm seeing in the front legs, but his knee joints appear a bit over, or maybe tied in behind at the back of the joint? (I will defer to other, more informed people on this one, it may be the way he's standing/his markings).

His hip is a bit shallow and his tailset low.

His neck come out of his chest at a good point on the underside, but on the topside, in front of his withers, it seems low. Also there is that bulge on the underside of the neck that makes what I think of as a ewe neck, but again, I may be wrong. It is also making it worse to have his neck and head stretched out and up. (something I do to my own horses, accidentally, or out of nerves in the show ring, so don't feel too bad!)

His throatlatch is thick and ill-defined, and his head has a somewhat plain and straight appearance which is exacerbated by a small eye.

He has a decent length of leg and neck, also a nice, short back.

Overall, he has a lot of the same conformational faults that many of our minis do, but he does look as though he will be a very good performance horse provided you give him time to grow and mature.

There is a great article in the current Miniature Horse World on conformation and its relationship to soundness and performance. There are other, more in-depth reading materials available and I would advise that you look at them.

There is a thread where people have critiqued their own horses, and one of mine is on there, though I intended to do all mine, I just haven't had time to do so.

I hope I have not offended you by telling you what I see. I in no way am an expert, and others may come and correct me! The two standing pics you provided are pretty good for conformational critique, I would say, though he is young, most of these things I don't see him outgrowing.

Enjoy your little guy!

Liz M.
 

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