The brutally honest confo thread!

JulesRules said:
If I get my links working will someone do mine. I don't know much about confirmation but I have a few ideas about what her "faults" are. Interested to see if those who do know say the same things I " think ".



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This horse is built downhill and is slightly camped under in front. Behind she is sickle-hocked, and her neck is too short which ties into the shoulder low. She isn't standing square in any of the pics but her pasterns are short and a touch too upright and she has high-set knees which give her long cannons. Her back is a little long and she has a short croup.
 
Amye said:
I am rubbish with confo so sorry I can't give opinions on anyone elses horse (they all look lovely to me :)), anyone want to have a go with my boy?

He's my first horse so to me temperament was everything, but it'd be interesting to know what others think of him. I know he's not perfect (only in my eyes), so i won't get offended!

Photos aren't the best - but i haven't taken any proper conformation shots and this is as close as I could find (sorry!) Excuse the mucky legs too.








I've learnt a lot from this thread thankyou for starting it - still trying to make sense of some of the terms but it's been really informative putting peoples comments to photos :)
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How old is he, Amye?

This horse has front legs with a good length of forearm and nice short strong cannon bones. However he is very slightly back at the knee, but not so it would worry me greatly. His feet look strong, as do his pasterns. He has a slightly coarse head (in first pic but others look nicer) but a lovely neck which is well set on and nicely shaped. He has a nicely sloping shoulder and good depth of girth. He is a bit long in the back and it is also slightly dipped with a dropped belly (if he's older, I would have him checked for Cushings). He also looks to have a degree of muscle atrophy behind his shoulders and so I would want to check the fit of the saddle. Far too often saddlers fit horses with muscle wasting with a saddle that sits into the wither 'pockets'/wasting, rather than with a saddle with a tree that is wide enough for what they SHOULD be without the wasting and padding it out to allow the horse to recover. His hind legs have a nice length from hip to hock but none of the photographs show him standing in a way to adequately assess his hind leg conformation.
 
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ester said:
I asked that partly because both yours have Master Benedicts spotty lad do look to have bodies a bit big for their legs so I I was just pondering if there was some link for that, probably not! Although MB's definitely wins on the kardashian butt stakes :D.
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He has 9 1/2" bone.
We are working on building the butt 😂
 
AlexHyde said:
Ok he looks a little long through the back and a touch sway backed. His neck looks nicely set on and his limbs look to have good bone with nice compact cannons, though his pasterns are quite angled in front (not sure what the proper term for this is?) and he looks fairly straight through his hocks.

This is just my observations, I am not an expert by any stretch :o.
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Wagtail said:
How old is he, Amye?

This horse has front legs with a good length of forearm and nice short strong cannon bones. However he is very slightly back at the knee, but not so it would worry me greatly. His feet look strong, as do his pasterns. He has a slightly coarse head (in first pic but others look nicer) but a lovely neck which is well set on and nicely shaped. He has a nicely sloping shoulder and good depth of girth. He is a bit long in the back and it is also slightly dipped with a dropped belly (if he's older, I would have him checked for Cushings). He also looks to have a degree of muscle atrophy behind his shoulders and so I would want to check the fit of the saddle. Far too often saddlers fit horses with muscle wasting with a saddle that sits into the wither 'pockets'/wasting, rather than with a saddle with a tree that is wide enough for what they SHOULD be without the wasting and padding it out to allow the horse to recover. His hind legs have a nice length from hip to hock but none of the photographs show him standing in a way to adequately assess his hind leg conformation.
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Thank you so much for your thoughts, really interesting to hear and kind of what I have thought in my limited knowledge (i always liked his neck :D).

A few people have said he has a long back to me before so that was something i was expecting! He's 16 next month - so is at an age where a Cushing test would probably be appropriate. I have thought about it in the past, but he seems fine in every other sense. He's due his vaccinations soon so might be something to discuss then.

Yeah, I've noticed his shoulders too. Literally just had a saddler out last Friday and have a new saddle on trial which i'll probably end up purchasing as it seems much better for him than his old one :)
 
I'm rubbish at confo, but Henry looks lovely as a 6YO. Just my type, lovely neck, and short cannon bones, with a wonderful kind eye.

Package him up and send him to me please
 
iknowmyvalue said:
Bumping for Henry :)
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And one as a just backed 4yo I found on fb


Gorgeous horse. His hind end looked very weak as a four year old and it still looks weak now, but he has a lovely well set on neck which is set on the shoulder nicely. His neck is short and could be longer by an inch or two.

In the picture of a four year old he looks calf-kneed, although that looks exaggerated by the long toes he had back then. His feet look 10x better.

ETA - his pasterns are too short and a bit too upright.
 
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iknowmyvalue said:
Bumping for Henry :)
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Beautiful looking horse with very little to fault. What's his job? I would honestly be concerned that his front feet are very under run in pictures 1, 2 and 4. They look slightly better in the third pic, so if that's the most recent, then I wouldn't be so worried. If not, I would be taking his shoes off prompto.
 
ycbm said:
Over at the knee, worse on the right than the left. One of my pet hates. Sorry!

Something not right about how he is standing on his front feet either. If it's not conformational odd day he has sore heels and is loading his toes.
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Unfortunately you are right, he is not right in front at all! He has a blown tendon and was put in bar shoes to try and help which made him pretty awful. This was last summer though and after being barefoot and mainly retired he has improved loads. No point posting a recent picture though as he has grown super hairy leg warmers and you can't tell what's under there ��
 
LadyGascoyne said:
I adore Ben but he does have derrière that would put Ms Kardashian to shame.
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ester said:
I asked that partly because both yours have Master Benedicts spotty lad do look to have bodies a bit big for their legs so I I was just pondering if there was some link for that, probably not! Although MB's definitely wins on the kardashian butt stakes :D.
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Ben is very proud of his Kardashian-esqe derrière! He is 14.2 front, 15.1 behind and in a 6'6 rug haha. I thinking of starting a trend for dachshund horses...





He is very like his sire, below, who was imported from America and quite high % quarter horse. Perhaps not the most desirable shape over here but blumming good attitudes :)

 
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MasterBenedict said:
Ben is very proud of his Kardashian-esqe derrière! He is 14.2 front, 15.1 behind and in a 6'6 rug haha. I thinking of starting a trend for dachshund horses...
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can I join the dachshund club? My 14.2 is in 6'3 rugs so perhaps we will be silver members rather than gold. Will there be badges? :D
 
SpringArising said:
Gorgeous horse. His hind end looked very weak as a four year old and it still looks weak now, but he has a lovely well set on neck which is set on the shoulder nicely. His neck is short and could be longer by an inch or two.

In the picture of a four year old he looks calf-kneed, although that looks exaggerated by the long toes he had back then. His feet look 10x better.

ETA - his pasterns are too short and a bit too upright.
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You're right, he is weak behind, although less so now than when these photos were taken (pic 3 is most recent, but still a few months old) We're working him carefully to build it up, and we're getting there slowly!

Wagtail said:
Beautiful looking horse with very little to fault. What's his job? I would honestly be concerned that his front feet are very under run in pictures 1, 2 and 4. They look slightly better in the third pic, so if that's the most recent, then I wouldn't be so worried. If not, I would be taking his shoes off prompto.
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Interesting that you both comment on his feet! Wagtail, yes the 3rd photo is the most recent (but still from November) and I think his feet look even better now. 4th photo (as a 4yo) he was fresh off the boat from Ireland, which may explain the slightly dodgy feet... I noticed them too when I found that photo! First 2 photos are from September, I had only had him a few weeks, so he'd only been shod once (if at all) by my farrier, so not much correction had taken place at that point. But interesting comments and will be keeping an eye on that!
 
iknowmyvalue said:
You're right, he is weak behind, although less so now than when these photos were taken (pic 3 is most recent, but still a few months old) We're working him carefully to build it up, and we're getting there slowly!



Interesting that you both comment on his feet! Wagtail, yes the 3rd photo is the most recent (but still from November) and I think his feet look even better now. 4th photo (as a 4yo) he was fresh off the boat from Ireland, which may explain the slightly dodgy feet... I noticed them too when I found that photo! First 2 photos are from September, I had only had him a few weeks, so he'd only been shod once (if at all) by my farrier, so not much correction had taken place at that point. But interesting comments and will be keeping an eye on that!
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Then your farrier has done a very good job so far!
 
amymay said:
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Not the best photo, but gives you some things to look at.
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Bumping for Thumper.
 
Wagtail said:
Then your farrier has done a very good job so far!
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I'm sure he'd love to hear that! He does do a good job though! Meant to add that Henry's job is a bit of everything! I hope to do a bit of eventing with him, but he hadn't really jumped before I got him so we're building up to that. He's spent the winter hacking, schooling, hunting and doing a few dressage/sj clinics, PC rallies and competitions. He's a little spooky and green, but moves nicely and has quite a jump on him when he wants! More shameless photos, because he is rather handsome :p

 
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amymay said:
Bumping for Thumper.
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There's not a lot wrong with him amymay. I would prefer a smaller prettier head but that's just personal preference. His neck looks a tad short and thin in the photo above (but not in the summer photo). I like his front legs although they are set a little forward on his frame giving him a slightly forward girth groove. I like his hind legs apart from his pasterns which are a little upright. Overall a very nice horse.

ETA: He is another with a bit of wasting behind his shoulder.
 
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iknowmyvalue said:
I'm sure he'd love to hear that! He does do a good job though! Meant to add that Henry's job is a bit of everything! I hope to do a bit of eventing with him, but he hadn't really jumped before I got him so we're building up to that. He's spent the winter hacking, schooling, hunting and doing a few dressage/sj clinics, PC rallies and competitions. He's a little spooky and green, but moves nicely and has quite a jump on him when he wants! More shameless photos, because he is rather handsome :p

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He looks very useful!
 
LaurenBay said:
I am no good at confirmation but there are some truly beautiful Horses on this thread.

Anyone want to do Ruby?

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Ruby has nice front legs, shoulder and neck. Her head looks a little big in that photo, but I think it's the camera angle. Her back looks nice but she has a very weak looking hind end with low croup and sickle hocks. She doesn't look comfortable in that stance behind. Her hind cannons are also very light of bone. I love her colour and markings.
 


Thoughts on Spook would be much appreciated. First horse, had him for two years now and I think I know most of his faults by now! I am finding this thread very useful as someone who knows very little about conformation! I would take Dave home in an instant, and Thumper looks pretty stunning in his summer photo (but then I'm a sucker for a gorgeous grey...)
 
Wagtail said:
Ruby has nice front legs, shoulder and neck. Her head looks a little big in that photo, but I think it's the camera angle. Her back looks nice but she has a very weak looking hind end with low croup and sickle hocks. She doesn't look comfortable in that stance behind. Her hind cannons are also very light of bone. I love her colour and markings.
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Thank you.

Ruby was diagnosed with hock arthritis and she was very reluctant to use her back end correctly. She is on the mend now and we are trying to build back up. She is having ongoing pysio to help and massage from me every day.
 
AdorableAlice said:
So far on this thread with all its lovely pictures, this is the only one I would go to see if they all were listed for sale based on conformation not performance.
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:eek3: Cannot believe you don't want Skylla :lol:, mind you must be glad I didn't go for that sway backed one :o...
 
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