[Native Winds]

She is still very young and still growing structuraly. There are some real issues with her that even growth wont change. Conformation is from birth (except for manual manipulation of some flexure deformities, deviations esp carpal and hock, and other issues that can be changed when very young by trained experts. These are not what I call "straight birth conformation".) Straight birth conformation is when the foal is born with a certain conformation and no manual manipulations to change any "problems" have been done. Every animal even us humans go through a gangly awkward stage as the horse matures and grows but keeps the conformation born with. Its the normal pattern of growth based on the conformation the animal was born with. I can show a youngster with excelant confromation at 15 hours old as a weanling still great in conformation, yearling still the same. Some conformational issues can be resolved naturaly via growth to a point. I cared for a couple of weanlings that one was over at the knee rather seriously. I warned about this being a problem as adult hood grew in. Even as a weanling such a matter would have to be "fixed" very carefully and each month that passes by closes that door of oportunity to try and thwart a conformational flaw. The owners kept saying he will grow out of it. If that was going to happen is would have begun back when he was just a month old and onward. He was just as over at the knee at day one as he was at month 5. I saw this colt as a 3 year old and he was still very much over at the knees with one being worse than the other. This is a conformational flaw that could have been corrected as a foal. (or at least minimalized). Many conformational flaws are hereditary. Then you have your aquired conformational flaws that are more blemishes than conformational. ie: popped splints, bone and bog spavins, thoroughpins, wind puffs and etc. Most of these are usualy caused by a conformational flaw thus getting your predisposition of such.

Well I have yammered on......I will post a analysis for you.

[Native Winds]

Analysis: Angles in red. The shoulder is at a nice slope attaching to the humerus bone (point of shoulder to the point of elbow) at nice angle with the humerus sitting also at a good angle. Not to flat and not to upright. The angles from the point of hip to the pelvic joint sits slightly more vertical than desired but nothing I sould be of concern about. The femur sits at a decent angle (Pelvic joint to the stifle.) creating a rather symjetrical triangular shape. This is a common thing esp on QH wich is a good thing. The gaskin (stifle to the hock) is lacking in size and is a tad short and lacks depth. The muscles will lack the ability to attatch to the fibula and the tibia. The gaskin blands into the hock rather flatly and the hock is rather small in comparison to the rest of the body. This yearling would have greatly benefited from much more bone mass in the lower limbs. From the elbow up and from the hocks up this yearling is very nice granted the neck was turned over. The hocks are set pretty much were they should be incomparison to the knees. The cannon bones in both front and back lack depth and substance and are thin compared to the body mass. The pasterns are long and upright thus prediposing this horse to fetlock joint injuries and navicular bone problems. Concussion to the fetlocks is increased because the anticoncussion mechanism of a normal sloping pastern is not there. The same goes with short upright pasterns. The cannon bones are more rounded and lack substance in the rear also. The knees are relatively small and are slightly "over at the knee". They seem to be a little puffy in the front. The cannon bone in front is nice and short but again lacks substance. The horse is divided up into thirds with each third being of same lenght as the other. This shows that the chest is lacking in depth and in thickness. Perhaps down the road with proper training and muscle building this can be "beefed" up some. The green line on the rear shows the pelvic tilt and is of average for this breed.
Straightness: blue lines. The lines show that the horse is near perfect in straightness in front. The forearm is also missing some substance but sits at an average site. The hind quarters of this horse is put together rather nicely and is well muscled. The line from the point of buttocks to the ground shows that the hind limb is also nice and straight. Cant complain on the straightness of the limbs. This is a plus towards the horse.

The neck........well its ewed. However it is of average length. It is as long as the girth depth is wide. No problems on length. To bad we can flip the neck over. It attatches to the withers Low and swings low all the way to the poll where it again attatches rather low. This gives the head an impression of being large thought it is well in its proper size for the horse. When the horse is mature and going into training this can change the neck to a point. With proper muscles being developed like the trapezius, Brachialcephalic muscle, Splenius muscle, Sternocephalic muscles and the Seratus ventralis muscle. Building up these muscles with proper exercizes can aid in putting more depth to the neck. However the neck will revert back to its original shape if not kept up. How much depth that can be added varies according to the severity of the flaw. A little is better than nothing.
Feet are rather small even for a yearling. I would not allow this horse to keep alot of excess weight as an adult either..

The purple dot in the middle of the horse its the approximate center of gravity. The grey line from the bottom of the 7th cervical vertebrea to the point of hip shows the horse is built down hill. Not that steep though, about average for that breed type.


So there you have it the good the not so good and the bad.

I want to add that I love the markings and the buttery cream colour. I wouldnt allow any more weightloss. You dont want them fat but you dont want them to thin either.

Hope that helps.

[Native Winds]

I wanted to add......very nice conformation picture.

[CitrusMelody]

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
From what I've deduced, she (Of course) doesn't have ideal conformation. I also think from what you've said, she'll stay sound long enough to prove herself in the show ring.
I'm probably NOT going to be using her as a barrel prospect, and am now considerng Western Pleasure. With her headset being so poor, maybe it would be easier for her to carry it lower?
Hopefully we'll still be communicating when I start her under saddle, and you can help with some of those "beefing up" neck and muscle strategies.
It really means a lot to me that you took your time to assess her conformation; I know it's really time-consuming. I'll take everything you said to heart and once again, thank you.

[Native Winds]

When I look at a WP prospect I look at horses with a naturaly lower set neck and head.....that way nothing will have to be done to encourage a lower set or carriage. All that will need to be done is bitting work and all of that good stuff. I say she will do better in the low impact type of dicipline granted her mind is on that level also. Just because there is a predisposition to a problem does not nessesarily mean that will be her down fall. It all depends on what what you do with her and what she is capable to do physicaly. Speed events will probably not be the thing for her physicaly. I think you get the picture.

[LegendLuvahh]

she is a beautiful horse,i dont think you hae much to worry about with her (:

[Roleysnewmom]

she's so young still it would be hard for me to totally tun down a baby. They change SO much in those first couple years. Do you know anything about her sire and dam? With such young horses I look alot at parents, then take into account personality. She is gorgeous colored AND a sweetheart it's worth a shot if she's pretty cheap. If anything maybe you could work her to dead broke and sell her later on as a trail or first horse to someone looking to start out but isn't looking for flawless confo, that is, given that her current flaws dont improve with age etc. Good luck!