Necks and Neck Sets

[jsites]

I want to add another stallion to my herd and I've been looking at alot of horses. I have trouble critiquing the neck set. I'd like to see good and bad examples of the way the neck should come out of the shoulders. I'd also like to see pics of horses that are at rest and not arching their necks to much. Also confused about some necks that seem to bulge in the front and does that seem to happen more as they age.

The front legs...am I correct that front legs can be to far apart or wide set...what is to wide?

Thanks

 

[disneyhorse]

Generally, in today's showring (ESPECIALLY AMHR) you can't have a neck set on too high.

This mare, yes a small Shetland mare, has what I would consider a very nice neck, long and set on high.

Here are some more minis I have had, with good neck sets, they carry their heads high naturally:

You want to see delineation between the chest and the neck, but not have the bottom of the neck bulge out the bottom when the horse picks its head up.

Andrea

 

[ClickMini]

I think Esprit has a really nice neck. Here he is as a geeky little 2yo:

and as a Sr. horse:

Here he is in an unrestricted driving frame:

here he is in a more relaxed frame:

Here is a mare of mine that I think has a really nice neck and neck carriage as well:

It seems that in halter people want to see the very long thin necks. These are not always the best neck for performance. Moderation in all things. It is very hard to straighten and collect a horse with a very long neck. If you are looking for a horse that can be an athletic performance horse, best to shoot for a shapely, well-set neck of moderate length, coming up out of a shoulder that is set well back and a long, somewhat upright humerus bone (point of shoulder to elbow). On the other hand, in one halter class this year my Esprit didn't place as well as I expected. I asked the judge afterward what he didn't like, and he said he thought Esprit's neck wasn't long enough. *shrug* To each their own I guess. I'll take a horse with Esprit's neck any day.

 

[ohmt]

The bulge in the front is referred to as a 'ewe neck'. This comes from a lack of balance--the top of the neck from poll to withers should be twice as long as the lower part of the neck, throatlatch to where it comes out of the shoulder. If the bottom portion gets a little long then the horse will have the ewe neck. It won't develop due to age, but may become more pronounced with age. You'll be able to see if a young colt will have the bulge in front if you look at the proportions.

 

[Erica]

I'm a neck person. It's the one thing (if I had to choose one) that I have to have in a miniature, I can deal with a plainer head as long as it's not an ugly head. I can deal with a touch more lenght in the back than I like if I have too.

But everyones got their thing, as I got to have a neck, for it to be a horse for me. Might as well breed and buy what I like to look at in the pastures so necks it is....

Here are a few pictures I had handy...I really like their neck sets

 

[~Lisa~]

LOL Erica I would say FOR SURE those babies are great examples of nice high set necks of course the rest of them are pretty nice to

 

[Minimor]

Actually it isn't so much that long necked horses are harder to straighten and collect--the problem is more in the way the neck is set on. Those horses that have the dip in front of the withers have a tendency to carry their heads higher--instead of going on the bit and collecting, they can just fold their necks upward & tuck their noses in--they make great showring driving horses for this very reason--you can get a perfect headset on them with very little effort. On the other hand, if you're trying to train the horse for dressage, it's much more work to get him to collect properly!

This same type of horse is inclined to have the bulge on the underside of the neck--it doesn't take an ewe neck to have that bulge!!

 

[Tenltraining]

Those are some good examples of nice necks Erica. I too am attracted to horses that come up out of the shoulder nicely and have nice hooky necks with good toplines. When showing your horses it makes it so much easier for the handler if the neck comes up and out naturally. This is one of my older broodmares, Christy, but very pretty shown here after several foals and just in the pasture. Shes still very pretty even unshaved.

 

[JWC sr.]

Here is a picture of a colt we own, that is an example of the neck and neck set we are looking for.

 

[~Lisa~]

I still have to say John that colt is simply breathtaking and shows much more then a nice neck set

 

[kayla221444]

He is beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[JWC sr.]

Thanks Lisa, we like him a lot. Just wish he would hurry up and get to breeding age. LOL

 

[ClickMini]

Erica, I believe you may be showing my ever-favorite lil' boy, TKO, in that group. God I love that colt.

Sure are some nice horses on this thread! A good sampling of both minis and Shetlands.

 

[jsites]

Wow those are some great necks. Thanks for all the pointers. I feel a little more comfortable now when I looking at these sale horses. I would still like to see pictures of neck faults.