Conformation. Trying to learn.

[Lady La La]

I just wrote a massively long post, and then HHO ruined it for me...
So here goes.

I know what a horses conformation is, and why its important, and, I can look at my horse and see that she is very close behind, but what I dont know is why this would affect her, other than needing boots?

Please could the more experienced posters tell me what to look for in a horse and more importantly WHY to look for it.

Someone in a previous post comented about a horse saying it had a 'good shoulder' what does this mean, and why is it good? good for what?!
can you look at certain builds and say, for example, 'a shoulder sloping this/that way means she will make a good jumper?' or is that rediculous?

A more experienced friend of mine says that as well as being close, my horse is quite weak behind but because she moves well despite this, its no problem for what i do with her...

If I post a picture of my horse up, please can people point out the things I should be looking at IN ANY HORSE when looking at conformation. Please dont rip her apart, she is NO show horse, I know this and Its more your opinions on what makes a good horse that I am interested in, rather than how badly put together my girl is.

Sorry if this made no sense, Im not very good with words, but conformation is something that I would REALLY like to know more about so that I can look at a horse myself, and see its faults etc!

 

[Lady La La]

No one?

 

[Farma]

I personally think conformation is a personal thing to look at if you want a pleasure horse. There are loads of things that arent 'ideal' but who cares if your doing low level comps and pleasure riding?
Only from having lots of horses and finding restictions in their training in the past has made me look a little more closely at horses confo ie I have one that is very long in the back - he almost looks like a cut and shut horse until he warms up because it take him ages to get together - so i'd rather not have that again but its not the be all and end all.
Also particularly long necks arent my cup of tea either. Also if they are built downhill that can be a pain in the backside.
FWIW i think your horse has lovely confo & has exactly what i would look in a horse. Not so much from the 2nd ridden pic more the 1st and the one in your sig.

 

[abina]

Conformation is a HUGE subject and can't be answered in a few sentances but generally remember the perfect horse hasn't been born ! Some are damn close though! Good conformation in any horse is important as the horse spends most of it's time on it's legs so good leg and feet conformation will enable the horse to be able to cope with life in general.

A really good book to read is 'A photographic guide to Conformation' by Robert Oliver and Bob Langrish - published by Allen books - has lots of good and bad photos and gives the reader points to look for and why some horses are classed as better than others - personally, for the most of us - temperment is more important than conformation as we don't work our horses hard in any way ( they don't work for a living any more) so hopefully if they have a few faults then it's not going to matter too much !

 

[dominobrown]

As abina said you could go on for days.
With the shoulder there should be a 45 degree angle. I would say your horse is pretty good. If the shoulder is upright then often the horse will have a shorter more uncomfortable stride.
The length between the point of hock and point of hip affect stride length- the longer the the length/longer stride. This is desirable in racehorses as a longer stride will mean a faster horse.
The elbow shouldn't be to close to the body, if it is your horse will find extending difficult.
If your horse has a thick gullet is will struggle to bring its head down on the veritcal.
etc etc etc
haven't even started on leg confo!