setting up horses

[Mr.T]

I was wondering what exactly is the proper way to set up a horse? I know the neck stretch outward and down and all feet square but what about the back legs? I've seen some horses at shows that have their back legs extended really far back but in rule books it shows to have the back legs in line with the butt. Imagine drawing an imaginary line from the butt all they way back down the back legs. At shows and online you see horses with their back legs really extended. So what is right? What do judges look for as far as back legs?

 

[JMS Miniatures]

A lot of your shetlands are going to be stretched out, but the correct technical way is squared or a little bit stretched.

 

[disneyhorse]

What are you showing? AMHA typically does not stretch as much as AMHR shows, and open (non breed) shows often show more like stock horses for some reason.

 

[Wings]

I'll start by what suits the horse, usually square or mild stretch but train so I can adjust if the judge leans towards one way or the other.

 

[supaspot]

I do the same as wings

 

[targetsmom]

If the judge thinks they are stretched too much they may ask you to "square them up".