Critique 10yr old Arab Gelding,Especially "Arab People"!

This is my pride and joy, Zepher. He is a 10 year old gelding,and is super sweet. He's been with me for 2 years. A lady at my barn asked if he is a QH, because he is so quiet....
When I bought him as an 8 year old, he had completed a few endurance rides. He was started under saddle at 5 or 6 to be an endurance mount.
Right now he is a pleasure mount, as I am learning to ride better. We are starting excercises to get him collected and using his hind end, and to build his hindquarter muscling.
Here is what I think with my limited knowledge: His shoulder is on the straight side with front pasterns to indicate it, hind end could use more muscle, his stifle joint is nice and low. His trot is a bit rough, but once I collect him, it is noticeably smooth.Maybe because I haven't ridden a lot of other horses?!
I hope to do some sort of working western discipline with him. Reining is interesting to me, and that is what my riding instructor competes in. I've only been consistently riding him 2-3 hours, 3-4 times a week for the past 8 months. It is only within the last 4-5 months, that I feel I'm beginning to be a better rider. It shows by how he is performing for me.

This is his pedigree, for anyone interested:

Wa Zepher Arabian

His pedigree seems to be decent for performance.

I'd really love to hear any good and bad about him,especially from people who know Arabian conformation. Please don't suger-coat it! I know he's fine for a pleasure mount, but if I wanted to do any reining, or barrel racing, and possibly lower level dressage someday, would he be suitable enough?

The first 2 pics are recent (last month).The rest are almost a year old,when he wasn't ridden a lot. A few movement photos are thrown in as well.
Here goes...

















Thanks everyone, for taking the time! I appreciate it.

It would be better if you could get pics of him standing up square, and a pic from the front- more straight on than the one you have as well.
I don't have any conformation stuff to add but I do have to say I don't think that thick black bridle suits him :( it looks odd on his delicate little arab face!

His shoulder is rather upright
Could have more depth through his girth/chest
Nice neck set
His back isn't too long, though it appears that way because he has a rather flat croup
Long cannons in his front legs but otherwise they look alright
Big feet!! (not a bad thing though lol)
Big hindquarters for his body (looking at him as an Arab now, not a QH) but they look good
It's hard to really say about his hind legs without him standing square. In the photos it gives the impression that he would be a little camped out.

Love, love, LOVE that bridle! It looks so good on him! I wish I had one like that!

Man, it's hard to get good photos by myself!
Thank you for the responses so far.

Lilruffian,I have one of his front legs, but the lead rope was in the way,of course.
Here are 2 more shots of him from the side, that are hopefully a bit better (more square),even if he has his head down. I am thinking his hocks may be a tad out behind. I LOVE his big feet! He has never worn shoes,and has awesome hooves! My farrier can't believe how evenly they grow out. It was one of the major things I looked for when buying a horse.

As for the bridle, I love it too, but it is at least 50 years old.Quit using it until I can get the bit keepers replaced.They're a little too cracked for my comfort level. I like the old stuff.
Goosey, I did include a photo of him wearing the bridle we're using now.It's a little more refined, and about 20 years younger! Makes him look more like an Arab than a pony.









Thanks again!---Oh, and I don't know who the red-headed stranger is in the bottom photo! He sort of just snuck in there!

I'm not going to critique as I'm not that good at conformation judging. I am going to say that I see nothing about him that would stop me from using him for speed events or even reining. In other words, yes, I think he would be suitable enough for anything you wanted to use him for. Don't know anything about dressage so can't help you on that one tho. The most important thing I see is that you trust him and get along with him. Since you say you are learning, that's the best kind to start any new discipline on. Try it with him and see how he does.

Aside from serious conformation flaws and chronic illnesses (ie arthritis or anything else affected by exercise), most horses should be able to do most disciplines to some extent. Whether you two will be competitive in any discipline(s) will also be greatly influenced by which job he likes. My horse is not a fan of WP, but he bore with me at the beginning of the season so I could get him used to the show ring while he's still learning the basics for reining, which he loves! Good luck in finding your niche!

I agree entirely. Although I have seen horses with serious conformation flaws do things you wouldn't expect them to. A friend has a horse who's hind fetlocks touch the ground and he was a cutting horse til this last year (he's 12 now) We're working on correcting that with proper shoeing but know that he's not going to ever be "cured". He's a fantastic kids horse tho! My daughters arthritic 19 yr old TB gelding (stud until last year....someone else cut him) gets used for ALL Western Show events. He shows no sign of pain as of yet and loves to be out there with the kids. There are things we have to compromise on and/or compensate for with him, but he does a fantastic job for an old horse learning something his breed isn't really meant to do.

I DID notice one thing on your arab for conformation. He is very straight from his hoof to his fetlock joint. Watch for any sign of lameness that might indicate Navicular Disease. You can corrective shoe for this problem to some extent, but as straight as he is, there's not much they can do. I've been there with a horse with that problem before. Standing or riding in a trailer for long periods of time can accelarate the issue, so if you're going to be doing a lot of trailering to shows....just be aware and look for symptoms.

His pasterns have a little too much angle but that is fairly common to the breed. He is slightly sickle hocked, somewhat of a weaker loin area and has quite the hay belly. Its more noticeable on him because he is so refined, so it's not as though he's obese but to look more balanced he needs to lose some poundage. If he's anything like my 1/2 arab, he can live on air so it's not an easy task. Very handsome boy and certainly suitable for any athletic endeavor you choose to pursue.

I am not an expert. Maybe I am used to looking at my longer bodied arabian or something. How "squished" together his body looks bothers me. He doesn't look long enough. Lol. His butt and his neck are too close together. Theres no midsection. Maybe its the camera or the way the computer loaded the pics? I don't know. It just bothers me. But then again this is what I am used to looking at:



Sorry only pic I could find right now.