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Conformation Pet Peeves

4K views 24 replies 17 participants last post by  lilruffian 
#1 ·
What conformation fault annoys you the most and why?

As a distance rider, I've been brought up to hate any type of leg fault, because they are detrimental to the soundness of the horse over the long run. I have a special dislike for weak pasterns and back at the knee/over the knee. Weak legs an endurance horse does not make.

However, I don't mind a mild cow hock (especially on a gaited horse). It doesn't seem to mess things up too much.
 
#4 ·
I really dislike horses built downhill.
It is one of the most common "faults," but it annoys the heck out of me. Sunny is in a growth spurt right now and her butt is inches higher than her withers; every time I see her I say, "Make your front end grow!" :lol:
Not only is it aesthetically displeasing, but it also makes it more difficult for a horse to get off its forehand.

Watch Sun finish out extremely downhill. :roll:
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#5 ·
i dont have any pet peevs on confo. i love all horses! any shape or form! :) im not picky!
 
#6 ·
I dislike horses built downhill too. Because I hate feeling like I am riding downhill, and it seems like when I ride a horse that is built downhill, I also feel like I am riding downhill. :evil:

Also, I dislike heavily built horses with fine bones and small feet. Small feet is probably my #1 pet peeve, especially on a big horse.

Now I love Arabians because they are well proportioned and sound and weight carrying for their size. But something like a halter QH with fine bones and small feet, that really annoys me, because the poor horse doesnt have the frame to carry his weight.

I love heavily muscled horses, so I should really like QH's, right? But the breed also has some of my biggest comformational pet peeves, so I like some of them but not a lot of them.

Basically I like a good, strong, sound using horse that can ride the trails for hours and hours and stay sound doing it!
 
#7 ·
I am with the others about faults that effect soundness or performance.

Long pasterns scare me very much, pretty much any leg fault.

To be vain I'd have to say a horse with an ugly head/neck or generally rugged build, but I wouldn't totally cross the horse out in my mind if he wasn't up to par in beauty ;)
 
#8 ·
Long pasterns and sickle hocks really get to me...because they really can effect a horse's long term performance. I also don't like downhill build, as that puts so much more strain on the front end, and a horse already carries a good deal of his weight on his forehand, let alone being 'built' to "have" to land that way.

As far as head type since it's been brought up, I really don't like a horse with a bulgy forehead; horses already have a limited frontal view and having a bulging forehead, vs. a straight profile can be a disadvantage in some instances.
 
#9 ·
I hate an upright pastern. Or a long pastern. A long, upright pastern is really bad...LOL.

As far as facially, I dislike horses that have wide set eyes. Its kind of hard to describe because I have only ever seen a few horses that their faces just look off to me...Pretty boy has nice pretty wide set eyes but a girl that boards at the barn, her horse...I don't like how his eyes are. Strange eh?
 
#10 ·
Though it's not that big a deal, I hate ewe necks. I just find them very ugly.

Dinky hooves are a bit odd too. Not really a pet peeve, just something I notice. The halter horses at my barn all have dinky hooves compared to Abby's monster ones that are round and just large.
 
#11 ·
Long backed horses(huge lack of balance and uncomfortable to ride), and horses that do not have sufficient muscling, unless that isn't part of the breed standards (IE: arabians)
 
#12 ·
Large hooves are usually healthy hooves! Give me large hooves over dinky hooves any day. :lol:

I don't much care for ewe necks either, although for my purpose (trail riding) I doubt it would be a huge deal.

I like I nice facial expression and attractive eyes on a horse, even though you really don't ride the head.

Pasterns, well, I really don't get excited about them one way or another unless they are too upright. I don't want a horse to ride like a jackhammer! Bad for their legs, not to mention my back. My mare probably has pasterns that slope a little too much, but I would rather have too much slope than too little. Ideally they would be somewhere in between. :)

It's funny this subject came up, because I was just talking about this to a friend the other day. About how beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and how often times what one person values in a horse isn't what another person values in a horse. For the most part, everyone can agree we want a sound, healthy horse, but what a person wants for showing may not be what we want for trails, and what a person wants for one discipline isn't desired in another. A horse can be practically perfect for one person's ideals, and another person wouldn't even consider it. Interesting to think about!
 
#13 ·
I definitely don't like any sort of conformational fault that affects the soundness or abilities of the horse. Too small of feet or too long of feet bug me. I hate seeing the halter horses with massive bodies and tiny tea cup feet, and I hate seeing the saddlebreds, or park pleasure Arabians with long feet, purposely shod that way to accentuate the movement of the horse. I don't like downhill horses, though my Arab is definitely a bit downhill, though you would never be able to tell while on her. She definitely doesn't move like she's build downhill, but most that are downhill do. There's a Shire at the barn, who's got pig eyes, and its totally unattractive. Definitely more cosmetic than anything, but he's just got the ginormous head, and tiny eyes. One is definitely a bit smaller than the other too. Definitely not something I'd want.
 
#15 ·
The conformation fault that bothers me the most is that "no butt" look that a lot of BYB Arabians have. I just hate it. I think it adds to the stereotype that Arabians aren't good for anything except for looking nice since it removes "the engine" from the horse. I LOVE Arabs with junk in their trunk, like Lacey. But butt-less "wonders" make me want to go slap someone. :lol:
And, I suppose it's not only Arabs that have that fault, I've just seen it the most regularly in Arabs.

I also hate ewe necks and necks that are set on too high, but I can get over them. I also dislike weak loin connections that make a short-backed horse look long/sway backed (Lacey is like this and it drives me nuts).

I also really dislike "jugheads". I feel that they just ruin a horse's appearance, even if the horse is perfectly conformed otherwise.

/rant

:lol:
 
#20 ·
The conformation fault that bothers me the most is that "no butt" look that a lot of BYB Arabians have. I just hate it. I think it adds to the stereotype that Arabians aren't good for anything except for looking nice since it removes "the engine" from the horse. I LOVE Arabs with junk in their trunk, like Lacey. But butt-less "wonders" make me want to go slap someone. :lol:
And, I suppose it's not only Arabs that have that fault, I've just seen it the most regularly in Arabs.
My old BOs BYB their Arabians to look like that. I never said anything of course, but they were fugly little things. Their behinds looked like triangles. Their stud had nothing in terms of "horse butts". I love horse butts. In fact, Abby's fat behind was the background on my phone for a while. Haha. Lacey has the best Arabian booty.
 
#16 ·
Oh, I hate pig eyes. Koda has every facial flaw that I don't like in a horse; big ears, pig eyes, and a moose nose all on a ginormous head. LOL

I just thought of another one. An extremely high tail set. I grew up with good quality stock horses with those low set tails and when I see a horse that has a tail set nearly up on top of their rump, it just looks wrong. I know it's a lot more common in certain breeds like Arabs, but I still don't like it.
 
#17 ·
I just thought of another one. An extremely high tail set. I grew up with good quality stock horses with those low set tails and when I see a horse that has a tail set nearly up on top of their rump, it just looks wrong. I know it's a lot more common in certain breeds like Arabs, but I still don't like it.
Lacey totally has one of those. However, I like to think she works it, it somehow completes her "junk in the trunk" look. Is it weird that I think of Lacey being like an African American lady who religiously wears AppleBottom jeans to make her booteh look good (in a totally non-offensive way, of course)? LOL!

However, buttless Arabs with super high tailsets? OMG. You just added another one to my list. Or, stock breeds with high tail sets. That also drives me crazy.
 
#21 ·
I love Saphira's booty. An endurance rider/competitor who is also a farrier was out a couple weeks ago, and she took one look at my horse, said she'd be awesome for endurance, and that she loved the almost quarter horse looking hip Saphira has. Big hip, big butt, round barrel, and decent bone all in a 14.1ish hand Arabian mare. I love it. But the whole tail thing added another thing to my list. I don't mind lower set tails, but I hate it when it looks like someone hacked off the top half of a horse's butt, set the tail half way down the horses butt cheeks, it give the horse a constant "butt tucked cause I'm in pain" kind of appearance. I also hate the completely flat butt you see on a lot of Arabians and Saddlebreds. The kind you could have dinner on.
 
#24 ·
I don't like sway backs or ewe necks. I also dont like a horse that is horribly stretched out in the back or horribly sickle hocked.
Pigeon toes & cowhocks i dont mind but it depends on the severity.

I also dont like to see a horse with a big body, really long, thin neck with a giant roman head on the end lol.
 
#25 ·
****! didn't even see your above post smrobs!
Ya, that's kind of what i meant but full grown. He does look sweet, though..
 
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