Conformation Crit please :) Welsh B

M

MagicMelon

Well-Known Member
Joined
6 November 2004
Messages
16,391
Location
North East Scotland
Visit site
Would be super grateful for any good & bad of this pony please. And if he's a good example of a Welsh B. He's not 4 until very end of April so still looks terribly lanky! Apologies for the shadows, his crazy mane and all the fuzz on him...! Thanks in advance
laugh.gif


Conformation-Left.jpg

ConformationRight.jpg
 
As a 4 year old is he is going to need to have a more round shape - his whole topline needs a lot of work.

I am not talking fat, but muscle. Last year I did increase Chancer's condition and muscle over a 2 month period and then after 2 months of shows let him down again. Luckily he is naturally chunky so quickly gets the round shape required.

Feed instant linseed for condition and coat gloss and build up work on vienna reins - you work on the lunge using the school so the youngster is not working on a constant circle and risking damage to the joints. At the end Chancer was doing 3 x 20 mins a week - this year as a 4 year old he will do 4 sessions of 25 - 30 mins.

If you are doing early shows, full clip now so you get a nice early summer coat - I will be doing Chancer in the next two weeks full out apart from top half of his head and below the knees (he is feathered) and by end March he should look good. I am also starting to increase his work and feeding with the plan to do his first show early April and hopefully have him qualified by mid May, keep him on tick over and then July build him up again for the champs at the end of August.

What I did with Chancer was to take him to a top show producer last year to have him assessed on his conformation and movement and was also given advice on how to produce him - best thing I did that year and I came first reserve champ in one section and beat several youngsters that were professionally produced in my classes and overall had an amazing first championship show at the BSPA.
 
I like him. He is well put together & although as you say he has a got a lot of making up to do I think everything is basically in the right place. How big is he & does he move nicely?
If I had to critique him I would say that he is perhaps a little bit back at the knee & also a bit straight in the hind leg but that's it really (feel free to disagree!) It's always cool to have these 'before' photos - bet when you take another one of him in show condition he'll look like a different pony!

I've had part bred Welsh B's for years (both in my sig are) & my first show pony was a B - although only 11:2hh!!! So I've always liked them. But I'm not a judge or a native's expert so can't really say what is a typical example. I think a 'B' won Olympia in 2006 - so maybe look up a picture of that & compare?!
 
Thanks peeps.

Theresa_F - Yeah, I only bought him on Saturday and he'd been wintering out unrugged most of the time in chilly Inverness! So I am in the process of introducing the idea of hard feed to him! He's going onto Alfa A Oil, Baileys Conditioning Cubes (what my other horse is on so easy) with added soya oil and a high spec vit & min supp. So hopefully with all the oil and conditioning cubes he should start to put on some weight. I am definately planning to lunge, probably in my Pessoa to help build topline. What are Vienna reins?! Problem with clipping (which I really want to do!) is that he has his very first in-hand show at the end of February (purely for experience)! And then another 2 in March. So I assume its frowned upon to have a Welsh B to be seen clipped?

em1 - He's probably 13hh just now, should make 13.2hh. He does move nice and straight. And does a stunning extended trot when he's feeling spritely! Ok, back at the knee and straight in the hind leg... is that particularily bad for showing? Yeah, I always take "on arrival" photo's to compare
wink.gif


I cant decide if, once he's going under saddle, I should show him as a M&M or plaited for WH / ridden. What ridden class would he go in if plaited up?
 
[ QUOTE ]

em1 - He's probably 13hh just now, should make 13.2hh. He does move nice and straight. And does a stunning extended trot when he's feeling spritely! Ok, back at the knee and straight in the hind leg... is that particularily bad for showing? Yeah, I always take "on arrival" photo's to compare
wink.gif


I cant decide if, once he's going under saddle, I should show him as a M&M or plaited for WH / ridden. What ridden class would he go in if plaited up?

[/ QUOTE ]

Remember I'm definitely not an expert - but personally I would put the overall picture/way of going/general conformation/manners ahead of something like a slightly straight hind leg (& others might well disagree with my opinion anyway). I'm sure even the top class ponies must have faults???

Re plaited ridden classes - I think the range has expanded vastly since I did it, but if his height is going to be 13:2 (i.e. bigger than 13hh) then I guess he will go in the 138cm show pony or 143cm show hunter pony classes depending how much he makes up & how much bone he has, though he might look a little small in the latter. If he jumps well then 143cm Working hunter pony would be an option. I believe they also have performance pony classes now so that might be worth a look as well. But the range of available mountain & moorland classes seems to be huge nowadays so you may well find you have plenty to do just with those.
 
Woo, a B!

I'm not much good at confo. critique, but I would say he looks pretty sweet. I would think he would do best in SHP or WHP, followed by native, then SP, just my guess. At the larger shows you can always do breed classes. There are so many types of B's, so it is often abit down to the judges preference. Sowing with us this year in the native class(ie what we recon is our most typy B is Rory)

team051.jpg


I should think he will do well for you, if not he can always join Bob in the lanky crew(although your boy will fill out much more, so i shouldn't think it will be a problem) with Bob

team058.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top