Pictures Conformation thoughts?

Hormonal Filly

Hormonal Filly

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Hi all, would appreciate your thoughts.

3yo unraced gelding as he didn’t make the height. He’s not in work, very low money.

My main concerns are if he’ll be downhill once finishing growing (his sire was very downhill, dam wasn’t) and his forelimbs potentially but I don’t know much!

I’ve had several horses break due to conformation 😓 so want something not badly put together to give me a good starting point.

Thank you 🩵
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I think he's got a lot of potential for a very cheap horse. I think he has a sore heel area in the right fore that's causing him to stand over at the knee. Quite likely just thrush at that age and easily sorted. The weakness of his back is a concern, particular as he has what looks like a heave line that might be from holding that weak back up. Long pasterns, could be weak but they give a lovely smooth ride so I like them. Cannons could be shorter especially on the back legs but nothing desperate I think he'll scrub up well with slow strengthening work but I also think he looks likely to stay a bit downhill, especially given his parentage. "Didn't make the height" is a strange excuse for selling, how small is he? I'd buy him at the right price.
 
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His neck is what would put me off- it’s short, thick and he carries it quite braced.
I also don’t buy the ‘too small’ story- he’s out of a good mare and isnt that small. I know they have a good reputation, but he doesn’t have the right credentials for what I would buy out of racing
 
ycbm said:
I think he's got a lot of potential for a very cheap horse. I think he has a sore heel area in the right fore that's causing him to stand over at the knee. Quite likely just thrush at that age and easily sorted. The weakness of his back is a concern, particles as he has what looks like a heave line that might be from holding that weak back up. Long pasterns, could be weak but they give a lovely smooth ride so I like them. Cannons could be shorter especially on the back legs but nothing Desperate I think he'll scrub up well with slow strengthening work but I also think he looks likely to stay a bit downhill, especially given his parentage. "Didn't make the height" is a strange excuse for selling, how small is he? I'd buy him at the right price.
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Thank you for your thoughts!

He’s 15.2.. he was suppose to be a jumper but needed the height to make the distance (I’m told)
 
I like him. I think he's a bit straight through the stifles but it could just be a bad couple of shots. Lord knows they're easy enough to get on any horse. Depending on your size, you might struggle to get a saddle to fit you both as he's very short coupled and I doubt he's ever going to be particularly level. But none of that would put me off. Where is he being advertised if you don't mind me asking? (feel free to PM if you'd prefer)
 
Hormonal Filly said:
Thanks all.


Possibly, I don’t know.. He hasn’t been in full training either, had a year in the field since he was backed.
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If he was backed at two then he wasn't a jumping store and was probably
expected to race on the flat. "Too small" becomes a strange excuse for a perfectly normal size for a flat racer ..... don't spend a lot of money on him!
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ycbm said:
If he was backed at two then he wasn't a jumping store and was probably
expected to race on the flat. "Too small" becomes a strange excuse for a perfectly normal size for a flat racer ..... don't spend a lot of money on him!
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Thanks YCBM. Going to wait for something else to come along I think.

I’ve viewed 6 horses now, all ex racers and all but 1 has been noticeably lame. One was 2.5 hours away.. I didn’t get a video before because the owner was elderly and unable to video, plus only raced 2 weeks ago so assumed she wouldn’t be lame. 😓

Seems difficult to get a sound ex racer!
 
H filly

It's very very young horse in my book, he is very deep through the heart and short coupled, 2 things I like very much, as I feel it will help him balance under a rider

He will change so much in the next few years that I could not condemn any horse that young anyway unless something glaringly obvious

And he looks tense ears pricked sharply in the photos

I always think with any horse so much depends on how carefully he is used especially under 8 years old, and the school of training undertaken

If he's been out for a year there may be a reason. Apart from not big enough, but they sold northern dancer cos they thought he was not big enough, ha , so you are really looking at him In the rough, perhaps he was turned away to grow and failed

But that kind of compact small tb should be constitutionally tougher and a good doer

It would only be fair to see him In The flesh and walked and trotted out or loose lunged to pass judgement to be honest
 
PoppyAnderson said:
Shoulder is too upright. Also, don't buy a bred to race tb if you, "don't know much".
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I don’t know as much as some forum members about conformation (although sounds like I wasn’t far off on his forelimbs and him being downhill) but am experienced enough to have a ‘bred to race TB’ thank you for your rude comment.
 
Hormonal Filly said:
Thank you for your thoughts!

He’s 15.2.. he was suppose to be a jumper but needed the height to make the distance (I’m told)
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I'd guess they bred (homebred?) him to ultimately go chasing, started him with the others and decided he was too backward to carry on with at that stage, so turned him away and now he has come back in and is still too small to send over jumps. Might have gone hurdling, but not big enough for a chaser and they didn't want to pursue it. It costs a lot to have a horse in training, and maybe the owners wanted what they didn't have in that horse and decided to sell him on. He's a bit later to start a flat career now.

The five year old I mentioned, was bred to go hurdling, but he was never even started. Nothing wrong with him at all. Well, his temperament on the ground was pretty negative 🤣 Physically and ridden, he was fine.

My 'bred to race' and has raced TB, is far more sensible and easy than both my elderly cob and native pony. A person could quite easily muddle along with her, as long as they were competent enough to own any horse.
 
I agree with most of everything else said, but one point not yet made is that to me, he looks to have a very low grade club foot LF. More noticeable in the first photo, but worth being aware of as a potential thing.

Like most foot things, it's more a concern that it's only one foot rather than the pair, which is why I mentioned it.

However, I'm going off two photos, it's not so noticeable in the second and it could be an optical illusion, so a real-life assessment would be the way to go for me.
 
ycbm said:
I think you might be looking at the dark shadow/damp line at the top of the shoulder. Following the line up from the bottom and ignoring the shadow, there's nothing terribly wrong with his shoulder angle, imo.
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I disagree, I also think he is upright through the shoulder. I guess most of these things are all degrees of what we're comfortable with as individuals but I would discount him on his neck and shoulder placement.
 
millitiger said:
I disagree, I also think he is upright through the shoulder. I guess most of these things are all degrees of what we're comfortable with as individuals but I would discount him on his neck and shoulder placement.
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I understand what you're saying but I suspect it's a result of the fact that he isn't comfortable in the back of his front feet. When he stands properly on those, I think his pasterns will drop a bit and the shoulder angle will go with it.

I also think his neck will get longer, it's the last part of the skeleton to seal.
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ycbm said:
I think you might be looking at the dark shadow/damp line at the top of the shoulder. Following the line up from the bottom and ignoring the shadow, there's nothing terribly wrong with his shoulder angle, imo.
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Yeah, you're probably right on reflection. I did spot the darker line and looked through it but on a more careful look, yes, it's not that upright actually.
 
ycbm said:
I understand what you're saying but I suspect it's a result of the fact that he isn't comfortable in the back of his front feet. When he stands properly on those, I think his pasterns will drop a bit and the shoulder angle will go with it.

I also think his neck will get longer, it's the last part of the skeleton to seal.
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Unfortunately if that were to happen, and his pasterns did drop, it would make his front leg conformation even worse and I already think they're poor from the photos as they are now. It could be the photo angle but the near fore is particularly weak.
 
Young horses look hugely different to adults. They grow in fits and starts and often become rather odd shapes before they finish at 8 or thereabouts. There is no guarantee that even a ‘perfect’ 3yo will end up a perfect 8yo and a truly fugly one can turn into swan. Backs lengthen, level horses become bum high, movement changes as their skeleton matures and they muscle up.

You need a horse that is currently sound, completely so. A horse that isn’t highly strung so won’t be an idiot in the field and hurt itself. Then you need to train that horse correctly and help them to develop good, straight, correct movement.

I bought the weirdest shaped 5yo a couple of years ago. She looks absolutely nothing like that now. She was hugely bum high, had a back so short I was seriously concerned I’d never get a saddle on it, her head was too big for her neck…she was just a really odd shape! She moved behind weirdly too - swung each hoof in and twisted it on the ground. That gave her the hoof shape from hell. She’s now a solid, level, in proportion with a decent length of back, straight moving 7yo. She looks absolutely stunning (and wears her hooves correctly too).

(Would I buy this horse? No, because I don’t like the look on their face/in their eye. I look for a happy, open face and a soft eye.)
 
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