Miniature horse confo (hind legs!)

Sol

Sol

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Just a bit curious about this, as I've noticed that in a LOT of (most?) photos of mini's, that their hind legs are really bizarre!

Examples:
http://horsesbreeds.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Miniature_horse_stallion_in_show1.jpg
http://www.kiddsstables.com/Castlewellan Champ.JPG

The hocks are well out behind the horse, and quite often the hind legs look almost totally straight, stuck out at an odd angle from the stifle! :confused:
Even on the ones whose legs are actually perpendicular to the ground, their hocks still seem to be stuck out further behind them than would be classes as 'correct' on any normal horse.

So.... why? I would have thought they should have similar confo to 'normal horses' just smaller?! :p

Any ideas?
 
They do have similar conformation - that's just the way they are stood up to show. Look for photos posted by Stinkbomb of her mini, Inky. IIRC there's a marked difference to how he looks when he's just standing around and when he's stood up to show.
 
Inbreeding and breeding them for daintyness and size has ruined their conformation. I really am not a fan of mini horses due to their shocking conformation. I am aware that not all are like this but I have yet to see one that I would class as having good general conformation. I work with TB's and I have seen some shocking conformation faults over the years but some of these mini's take teh biscuit!
 
EKW said:
Inbreeding and breeding them for daintyness and size has ruined their conformation. I really am not a fan of mini horses due to their shocking conformation. I am aware that not all are like this but I have yet to see one that I would class as having good general conformation. I work with TB's and I have seen some shocking conformation faults over the years but some of these mini's take teh biscuit!
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Of course EKW - some have gone a bit too far! But anyway, they are made to stand like that.

Welsh show classes - all stand with extended hind legs - supposed to be attractive. I'm a huge fan of miniatures and don't see "normal" photos with mini's stood like that.

Also, draught classes and in ploughing comps, all are made to stretch forward for the photo & the judge. It flattens the back so no bum-high shots. I have to show my appaloosa like this as it is de rigeur nowadays - all comes from Arab Showing.

have you noticed the ponies at HOYS are all shaving manes half way down now?? THAT is also an Arab Showing influence... whatever next :rolleyes:
 
There are quite a few reasons for this....
Most are taught to stand with hind legs slightly behind them so the lean forward stretching their neck - so the neck looks long and thin. Many show breeders with put a sweat wrap around the neck to reduce the muscle (I don't agree with this), especially in the American Miniatures.

For some though it is inbreeding like EKW said and therefore is just plain bad conformation...
 
I can only see the send pic and the legs look fairly normal to me but I'm no conformation expert. I agree with jemima_too and loverly, he's trained to stand in that position for showing him off.

I've got three mini shetlands and one has cow hocks the other two have perfectly normal legs, back and front.

I do think the more extreme breeding is fashion and I do think some are breeding too far for certain characteristics in many breeds.
 
EKW said:
Inbreeding and breeding them for daintyness and size has ruined their conformation. I really am not a fan of mini horses due to their shocking conformation. I am aware that not all are like this but I have yet to see one that I would class as having good general conformation. I work with TB's and I have seen some shocking conformation faults over the years but some of these mini's take teh biscuit!
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Sorry i disagree. There are "some" minis just as there any breeds where there conformation is shocking. Breeding for daintyness and size can result in a "dwarf" foal i agree but they are far and few between. Your implying ALL minis have shocking conformation and i can assure you that is not the case. Inbreeding minis is done no more than inbreeding in any other breed, they are not unique in this and this is only conducted by those mindless "breeders" who have no clue about anything. "linebreeding" is also done, again as in any other breed.

I consider Inky to have good general conformation. He is not perfect and i know his faults but i dont think i have ever come across any horse that is perfect. His show results speak for themselves and i do not only complete against other miniatures but against all breeds of horses. Most miniature judges actually know very little about miniatures, they judge as they see, regardless of size.

Miniature horses are shown slightly more stretched than other breeds, that how it is. In the OP pictures admittedly the first horse is "stretched" to much. Stretching should come from the neck and not from the back legs. However to obtain the "perfect" show stance is very difficult and an art to master believe me!! Inky works very hard to please in the ring and i admit sometimes he stretches himself to much. Most good judges will let you know they are stretched and ask you to "shorten" them to make the stance more square. Under American judges you seen to get away with a more stretched look than you can under a british judge, they seem to like it differently!

Minis should have the same conformation standards as larger horses, but the way you stand your horse affects the way it looks!! As miniatures are shown more "stretched" i think youll find there is not much wrong with the conformation its just the handler hasnt mastered the stance as yet!

For example in this picture Inky is stretched Far to long at the back, makes him look stupid....:rolleyes:

mhcgbchamp2010009.jpg


However in these photos i consider his stance to be correct for the showring..

3.jpg

mhcgbchamp2010003.jpg
 
I didn't imply that ALL of them were like that, only the ones that I have seen and I know there are many that don't have such dodgy confo. I do however, love the colours you get them in! Technically my mother owned an American one once. She won it in a raffle - you can do such things in America - his father was called Robin Hood and he was a beautiful silver with a brilliantly white mane and tail so we called him Prince Of Theives. My mother only bought one raffle ticket because she felt she had to, people over there had bout $1000's of dollars worth - hence Prince Of Theieves. We left him out there, gave him to a charity that we know and he got gelded - much to half of America's disgust as his lines were irreplacable. But he is now a happy promotional pony for the charity and having been gelded as a weanling he most certainly never knew what he was missing.
 
EKW said:
I didn't imply that ALL of them were like that, only the ones that I have seen and I know there are many that don't have such dodgy confo. I do however, love the colours you get them in! Technically my mother owned an American one once. She won it in a raffle - you can do such things in America - his father was called Robin Hood and he was a beautiful silver with a brilliantly white mane and tail so we called him Prince Of Theives. My mother only bought one raffle ticket because she felt she had to, people over there had bout $1000's of dollars worth - hence Prince Of Theieves. We left him out there, gave him to a charity that we know and he got gelded - much to half of America's disgust as his lines were irreplacable. But he is now a happy promotional pony for the charity and having been gelded as a weanling he most certainly never knew what he was missing.
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Fair enough! WOW winning one in a raffle!!

amandap - plenty of spaces in Inkys fan club :D
 
It's purely for fashion and nothing else - alot of breeds do it now - it makes the top line look level even if the horse is croup high, it hides sickle hocks, can make an upright shoulder appear not so bad and as others have said makes them stretch their necks out to give the 'swan' effect so even if they have a poorly set on neck/ewe neck it can be disguised!! I think it looks awful, I see it in friesians all the time now the majority of which have bad sickle hocks yet still rank highly in the show ring!, if I see it it would make me instantly question what are they trying to hide!!:D
The only breed that used to be stood like this for a reason I think was the Tennessee walker - it was stood stretched out so ladies could mount it with all their skirts etc without it buggering off so easily!!:D
 
Stinkbomb said:
Breeding for daintyness and size can result in a "dwarf" foal i agree but they are far and few between.

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Im sorry but this is rubbish , a horse either carries a dwarf gene or it doesnt , true the americans did use several dwarfs in the past and too many of todays horses do carry a recessive gene but breeding two fine boned animals together doesnt make it any more likely that a dwarf will result
 
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