Could this be a dressage horse?

[htobago]

OK, it's an Arab.

And I do know that they are not generally regarded as ideal dressage horses.

But a few proper dressage people have told me this young stallion has the right sort of 'uphill' conformation...

One of them took this photo (see below), and said "Look, if you cover up his ridiculous dishy face and silly tail - er, well actually you can still tell he's an Arab, but to me that conformation says 'dressage'!"

Could some proper dressagey people on here please try this exercise and tell me if you agree?

Photo taken last year as a 2yo. For what it's worth, he's an international in-hand champion, known on the Arab show circuit for his spectacular movement...but that may mean little or nothing from a dressage point of view!

 

[Dotilas]

No idea about conformation, but this link might interest you

http://www.ahsa.asn.au/dressage.htm

 

[Partoow]

Any horse can 'do' dressage so long it has a working leg in each corner and a head on the end of the pole!!!!
The level and what you expect from that level ie winning tests and gaining champiomship qualification is where some times our ambition outstrips the 'purpose' of dressage.
Your horse is lovely and with correct training paying specific attension to the development of RELAXATION over the back will be your fisrst objective. Getting your horse to lower its croup will be difficult; but slowly slowly catchie monkey .... and this can be achieved. Being someone who has worked with Spanish horses i understand the difficulties but there is no such thing as the 'perfect horse' its understanding the strengths and weaknesses, capitalise on the strengths and not punish his weaknesses and you will get to your goals.
Good luck

 

[not_with_it]

There was a post in competition riders a while back about arabs doing dressage. It made interesting reading.
I personally would never choose an arab for dressage. My reasons being they tend to have tails that are set on too high. This makes it difficult for them to lower their croup, tuck their bums and take weight onto their hind legs. They also tend to be tight over their backs.
This isnt to say they cant do it, they tend to have nice paces but they arent built for dressage.

 

[Harlequin_Ro]

I dont think he's got that much uphill confirmation as if you look at the angle of the photo its taken to be in his favour. Any horse can do dressage, look at the heavy weight cob that is competing proffesionaly.

 

[4WhiteLegs]

I think a lot of people have preconceived ideas about the pro's and con's of arabs in dressage i.e. the theory that they tend to be tight in their backs, difficulty in dropping the croup etc BUT I think the thing to remember with Arabs is that there as SOOOOO many different 'types' of Arabs (Egyptian, Crabbat, English, Polish etc etc) and each is put together really quite differently...

I think Tobago could very well turn his hand to anything, from seeing other photos of him he looks like he will be a very versitile sort....