Critique my 3 year old paint horse

Here is my three year old APHA gelding, his father and mother were both world champion halter horses. He is heavily Impressive bred, and is N\N. I have always enjoyed the disposition of Impressive bred horses and this guy is showing potential for HUS.

Dream markings! Ah, would love to have an Arabian with these markings. Beautiful horse! WOW. What is his registered name? Would love to see his pedigree!

Very nice. However I'd like to see more conformation pics (front and rear). Other than that he looks like a dream!

I'm not a conformation expert here, but he does appear to be built VERY well. I can't pick out anything that stands out to me in the blink of an eye. He may just vanish though. ;)

He's got pretty good conformation but definitely has a few flaws. Keep in mind this is coming from a hunter/jumper perspective. His neck is a bit short and skinny for my liking, and his back is a long. He looks pretty even in the withers and croup (not downhill or uphill). His croup is a good length with a nice slope to it. In the first picture it looks like he has long/weak gaskins and is sickle hocked, but I don't see it as much in the third picture. He also looks like he could be just a little back at the knee. His pasterns look strong, and I like his shoulder angle.

I think you might think sickly hocked from the first photo only because he is rocked back slightly. Looking at the third photo, he is not at all sickle hocked.
I think he's a great example of his breed . HIs neck is a bit narrow, and made more so looking by the very large jowls. If you cut his mane in a hunter under saddle look, it will make his neck look larger.

Don't let him learn to carry his head peanut rolling style, tho.

What I like is that he is not overly bodied being so Impressive bred. That being said, he is very upright in angles everywhere and will use a lot of knee. That won't get you far in HUS. The problem with halter breds....is that they are bred with a different conformation that does not lend itself to performance under saddle. If anything, I see him as a western horse and not HUS at all. I happen to like his neck, it ties in a little lower than most halter breds which helps with under saddle performance. I'd like to see a little more bone upfront and he ties in a little under the knee. And ya....he's not sickled hocked at Tiny said. There's a little halter showing trick where you set up the back legs, then rock the horse back (meaning pushing the horse back so the weight is over the hind end) and this is what is shown in the pic.

Ohh okay, that would explain why I didn't see it in the third picture then! This english girl learned something new today :)

Nice gelding,agree he looks like more like a western horse than HUS.Depends on his movement but looks like a candidate to try him as an all rounder.I know at our shows we have majority of youth & ammy riders,so that is the type horses you see.Halter & showmanship,trail,wp,hus,horsemanship & EQ all same horse......types of horses I like to see

[QUOTE=GotaDunQH;1904733]What I like is that he is not overly bodied being so Impressive bred. That being said, he is very upright in angles everywhere and will use a lot of knee. That won't get you far in HUS. The problem with halter breds....is that they are bred with a different conformation that does not lend itself to performance under saddle. If anything, I see him as a western horse and not HUS at all. I happen to like his neck, it ties in a little lower than most halter breds which helps with under saddle performance. I'd like to see a little more bone upfront and he ties in a little under the knee. And ya....he's not sickled hocked at Tiny said. There's a little halter showing trick where you set up the back legs, then rock the horse back (meaning pushing the horse back so the weight is over the hind end) and this is what is shown in the pic.[/QUOTE]



Why do they do that?