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Originally Posted by smrobs Isn't that head and neck appearance pretty standard for SB horses? I know nothing about how they should ideally be conformed so I will offer no critique. I just wanted to say that she is gorgeous and I adore that first pic. I love her dapples contrasted by the green grass. |
yeah its pretty standard, though she is a little on the big headed side, but that comes from being new zealand bred. They breed big heavy STBs there, here they tend to be a little sleaker.
And thanks. That's pretty minimal dappling for her actually. She dapples out a lot better towards the summer. That pic was take in the spring.
Oh and as far as how fast and long she raced, she raced on a 1/2 mile sized track, but the distance is one mile. There are 8 furlongs in a mile. So say she were to go just 4 furlongs, she would have done it probably in about 58-59 seconds (because she was a leaver and front runner, but ill explain that later). Though when STBs race their mile, their faster quater is usually their last, and the most important. Unless you have a horse that is a leaver, which means they leave the gate faster to get a better position to race. Also she is a pacer. TBs have a faster gait than STBs when it comes to racing. Galloping is faster than pacing, and pacing is faster than trotting. Also galloping takes more muscle from the rear, hence why the TBs have such large stifles and hind quarters overall. When pacers pace fast, they use their whole body and rock side to side. So the muscle use is more evened out. Our trotters have larger chests and stifles than the pacers.
-just clearing things up there

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As far as for what we breed for, its not sprinting. Its more distance. Basically they have to be able to maintain speed, but then the last quarter of the mile, they really need to have a "kick". Or the first quater they have to have a kick to get in position, which is what this mare had. She could leave the gate like a scaulded rat. No one could outleave her, and when she got to the front she would swell with pride and no one was going to beat her. Her problem was she was a little wacky and wanted to race and leave so bad that she would get frusterated and try to run THROUGH the starting gate, under it, over it, etc. and sometimes make breaks because she couldnt go when she wanted. So she had to be specially timed to the gate so that she wasnt sitting behind it long.