Conformation is perhaps the most important aspect to consider when you’re purchasing a horse. If a horse has bad conformation, he is usually going to have some sort of lameness issues or other physical conditions later on down the road that will inhibit its performance. However, there are those poorly conformed horses that do make it through life without taking a bad step. But, that aside, you can really tell a true horseman by the way he looks at a horse he is considering buying. A novice horse buyer looks for the pretty horses and the cute faces. The experienced horse buyer begins with the horse’s feet and legs and then looks at each part of the horse in order of importance.
A true horseman knows that if the horse’s feet and legs are poorly constructed, then there is no point at looking any further. A pretty horse with bad legs is bound to be a lame, but pretty horse later on. There is a simple formula to looking at a horse and visualizing the ideal shape of a horse.
First, begin by looking at the horse from the front. Draw an imaginary line from the point of the shoulders to the ground. This line should almost bisect the front legs and feet.
Looking at the horse form the side you should be able to draw a vertical line from the point of the breastbone to the front of the forefoot and you should be able to draw an imaginary vertical line from the stifle through the point of the hind toe.
From the rear, the back feet should be placed closer together than the front feet. The point of the hock and the thighs should be on the same vertical line.
Next, you will look at the topline of the horse. You should have a fairly straight line from the poll of the head to the dock of the tail.
You should also see a fairly horizontal underline on a well-built horse.
The horse’s head should be in proportion to the neck and should not be too heavy or too light. The neck should be long and muscular as well as flexible. The neck should appear slender and graceful from the side with a straight underline. The neck should also be thick and firm when looking at it from behind. The length of the horse’s neck is very important as it influences the horse’s balance and stride. A horse with a short and thick neck will usually have a short and chopping stride. A long necked horse will usually have a nice and smooth stride, but if the neck is too long it will be too weak for the weight of the horse’s head and the horse will tire easily. There are two main faults found in a horse’s neck – the ewe neck and the swan neck. The ewe neck is a concave neck that looks as though it was put on upside down. Many believe this neck can be adjusted with proper training. A horse with a swan neck will appear overly arched and pliable. Again, this type of neck can be improved with training as well. Typically, however, these necks should be avoided as neither is desirable.
The withers of the horse should be well-defined. They should be prominent but not exaggerated and not too fatty as well. If the withers are too high, you will have problems with a slipping saddle backwards. If they are too low, you will have problems with the saddle slipping forwards onto the neck. If the withers are suitably high, but not exaggerated, the horse will have a more elastic movement without strain.
The back should not be too long or too short. The back should also dip slightly towards the quarters. There are differences in opinion as to the best length of a back in a horse. A short back is a strong back, but a long back is considered more comfortable. Your preference will depend upon the type of activity you will be performing with your horse.
The loins are the space between the last rib and the point of the hip. The loins should be short and strong, as very long loins are usually a sign of weakness. The hindquarters should appear round, level, wide and muscular. They should be symmetrical when seen from behind. You usually want to stay away from a sloping rump; however, some believe this is a good sign of jumping ability. The high point just before the slope is often referred to as a “jumping bump” or “jumper’s hump.” Many young horses will have a sloping rump but grow out of it later as well.
The most detailed examination of a horse should be in his legs and feet. On the forehand of the horse, you might first want to glance at the horse’s withers. The horse’s withers float in muscle that is suspended on the forelegs. The horse does not have a collarbone so the bones are not joined to the skeleton of the horse. The shoulder blades should be long and slope at an angel of about 45 degrees. The greater the slope of the shoulders, the more efficient the shock absorption of the horse will be. Oblique shoulders provide working freedom to the forehand muscles and a tendon, which means the horse will have greater balance. This allows the horse to have a nice, flowing stride. The straighter the shoulders are, the choppier the horse’s stride will be.
The forearms and thighs of the horse should be well-muscled with large and flat knee joints. The cannon bone should be relatively short and thick from the front to the back. Behind the cannon bone are the tendons that should form a straight line from the back of the knee to the fetlock joint and be well separated from the back of the cannon bone. If the tendons are not separated, this is known as being “tied in.”
The forearm and the cannon bone should form a straight line when you look at them from side to side. However, some horses may appear to be a little bent forward or backwards. This is known as “over at the knees” or “back at the knees” respectively.
The hocks should be identical, large, low and free from thickness. The inside angle of the hocks should be wide. Straight hocks are common and many famous Thoroughbred families have been noted for them. Some horses are “cow hocked” and have hocks that turn in when viewed from the rear and turned out. The opposite extreme is a bowlegged and this is commonly seen in Quarter Horses.
Moving further down, you will see the fetlock and the pastern. These are vital for shock absorption. Upright pasterns are common in draft horses and give them excellent leverage for pulling; however, it also gives them a choppy stride. Long pasterns have greater shock absorption but there may be more strain the ligaments and tendons. You would rather have a long pastern rather than short pasterns.
The horse’s feet should slope gently forward as a continuation of the pastern. The hoof should be hard, smooth and free from dryness or ridges. The forefeet soles should be round and flat while the hind soles should be slightly elliptical. The frog should be soft and rubbery. When the horse is standing still all four feet should be planted squarely beneath the horse’s body. The toes should not turn in or turn out very much at all. Horses who have turned out toes tend to brush their front feet. A horse that has too small of feet like a donkey’s may have lameness issues or chronic stumbling.
Additionally, you want the horse to have a deep broad chest and well sprung ribs. Also, the deeper the barrel, the better as the horse will have plenty of room for their heart and lungs.
Finally, you will look at the horse’s head. The profile may vary depending on the breed of the horse, but the eyes should be wide and well-set. They should not be too close together nor should they be too far apart. The horse should have a wide forehead, delicate ears of moderate size as well as large, round nostrils. The jaws should be wide and strong and the teeth and mouth should not be damaged in any way. Also a mare horse should have a feminine head and a stallion should have masculine qualities. A gelding may fall somewhere in between, but will have masculine qualities as well.
This is a lot of information to absorb, but if you work through a section at a time, the overall horse should be one of excellent conformation. It is also useful to study the parts of the horse so that you can completely understand each section of the horse’s body.
