Confo critique - 3 year old Half Arab

First post here :) Hi guys!

This is my mare, Sophie. She's a registered Half-Arabian (high percentage Arab, actually, although she doesn't look like it) and is somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 1/2 years. She's a rescue from a 91-year old man who loved her, but couldn't physically care for her. She's started lightly under saddle and has pretty extensive showmanship training. She's probably going to end up a western pleasure or reining horse on the local circuit.

Without further ado, the mare. Please pick her apart!

Looks a tad herring gutted ( I personally favor herring gutted horses). She looks slightly cow hocked as well. Nice short back and pretty sweet face. I like her!

She has a great heartgirth, but at 3 1/2, she's still butt high, but maybe she'll grow out it or into it, her confo looks confused at this point. Could be the angle of the shot, but she looks to have a thick throatlatch, something I really don't like to see on arabs but again could be just the pic. I am sure she's be a great little horse with proper care & some exercise to firm up her saggy back. I like her eye, she's a sweetie.

She also seems kind of upright on all her pasterns and a bit toed out in front. Nice big hooves, pretty neck and face. Kind of a mixed bag there, but arent' we all?

I agree with the above, except for the throat latch as it's difficult to see. I also think she is just ever so slightly a very small tad knee over in front. Not a huge flaw.

Very very sweet looking mare. She has that "I want to please you, tell me how" look in her eyes, and I always just fall over for those kind of horses.

I agree with the posts above but I see maybe something a little of in the pastern/hoof angles. Likely the footing/pictures add to it. Also the underside of her neck looks over developed IMO. But I really like her overall. Really sweet looking, and she has a really pretty blaze:) I think you will have fun with her!

Thanks, guys!

She is definitely butt high, but in my (very hopeful) opinion she is just hitting a growth spurt. She's the same height right now as her half siblings, who are both a year younger.

Her neck and throatlatch are the bane of my existence ;) She ran around with her head in the air for the first two years of her life, and it's hard to break that habit now - especially when she doesn't have the muscle to carry herself where she needs to be. She's gotten a lot better with sidereins set loose, just to remind her "hey, stargazing is not okay."

She was not very cooperative to take the pictures AT ALL. I've trained her to move away from me almost too well and could barely get the side-on pictures without her moving her hip away. I didn't even try to correct her looking at me with the "what are you doing...?" look.

Thanks for the input! It really makes my day to see that I picked a horse who (one) is willing to work for me and (two) is able to work for me.

Make sure you give her a LOT of time with this, from my experience it's a process of "patience." This is something that can take over a year to correct when done the right way. Loose side reins are a good way to start, but be careful she does't become dependent on them. Be careful of other gadgets people tell you to use for a fix, some of them are only a quick fix and can end up causing her neck to muscle in the wrong places.

Time, patience, deep breath and then repeat......

She does have reasonably upright pasterns, which makes her more prone than normal for joint problems. If you are going to use her for more than casual riding, for her long term health I would suggest prophylactic use of a joint supplement...