Do you see an improvement?

only_me

only_me

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Do you think he has improved in condition and muscled up any since first photo?
hes been at a comp yard whilst ive been away and interested to hear your opinions
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Merlin in December, the 15th December
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Merlin January 15th
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feel free to cc, although i will say he isnt over at knee, he has good leg confo
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it might just be me or the angle of the photos but i don't think he has improved much in terms of muscle, topline or condition?

he looks neater and more tidy but i can't see a huge change in his condition.
 
I think he has improved, they couldnt do any hacking because of snow (here it is ice under the snow making everything impossible)

I think he has muscled up behind and on shoulder, and has tightened up tummy muscles, but no real build up of topline.
he is going great, too strong in his normal snaffle now for jumping its great
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very responsive.

Interested to hear more opinions, i doubt my judgement on condition increase/decrease, i can do weight judgement but need practice on muscle condition, so the more views i hear the more i absorb and start to understand where to look etc.
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Thanks to all who said he is lovely
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he has his moments
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Definite improvement - here's what I see (get ready for the waffle, I hope it makes sense!!):

- if you look, on the original photo, just in front of his shoulder and up to his neck, you can see he's filled out and developed muscle there, which is all part of leading up to building topline. There is more work to do but I'd be concerned if he'd piled a load of topline on in a month that this was all down to a feed - I've seen this before and if it's all feed related it disappears as soon as you take them off said feed so, in my opinion, isn't true topline

- The muscles at the top of his hindlegs look a lot stronger - slightly more defined and so will help with power and balance, and overall strength, helping him work through properly and use his 'engine' rather than pulling himself from his front end

- I can't see exactly, but if you look just behind his wither his trapezius muscle seems to have developed so there's not a hollow area just behind the wither where the front of the saddle sits. This shows he's been working through his back and neck correctly - again, this takes time to develop but I think I can see an improvement in only a month

- I agree his stomach has toned up - would be easier to see when he's being worked though as you'll be able to see the muscle more defined as he works

- overall his coat looks better and healthier which is great to see over winter!

- Again in terms of topline, you can see it's coming on - if you look at the first photo, you can see the top of his neck almost curves down in the middle, making an upside down arch, whereas in the last photo you can see it's starting to go the other way, certainly at the top of his neck, so he's obviously building strength suppleness right up through his poll, which is great to see.

I'm not great at conformation, I just know what I like and I think he's massively improved in only a month, so I think they've done a great job and given you a great base to continue to work on.

And I agree with the others, I think he's lovely!! ;o)
 
Thank you very much for writing all that out and explaining so well
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I think there is an improvment, and i can see what you mean about topline beginning to build up, they really did a good job at the yard
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i sending him there, they look after him really well
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it seems im not too far off in judging muscle condition, thank you
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