Hello! I was wondering if I could get some outside opinions on my two horses' conformation, seeing as we all tend to look at our pets through rose tinted glasses :lol: The first two pictures are of Reggie who is about 2.5 in those pictures and in his full winter fluffies! His breeding is 1/2 TB, 1/4 Clydesdale and 1/4 Percheron and was bred for fox hunting, though I am planning on him being bit more of a general all round type horse. I've got one other question with him, how much have you found your draft crosses to grow after they hit 3? He's standing 15.2 at the moment and is 3 at the start of Novemeber and I'm wondering how much more height I could expect him to get. Most of his full siblings are 17hh+ and one brother is 16.1hh, but Reggie was reportedly much bigger than him as a yearling. I'm really hoping he'll make 16.2hh or bigger, but I'm starting to think I'll be lucky if he even gets to 16hh lol
Second horse is my Australian Warmblood mare, Cleo (16.1hh, 8 rising 9 yo). I've only had her a couple months but she's been fantastic so far! The guy that had her previously was suffering from drought and no feed, so she came not in the best condition and after she wouldn't put on weight we found she also had gastric ulcers which is why she is still ribby in these pics. I am very pleased to say that once we got the ulcers fixed up she gained weight like a champion and was back in the 'normal' range within a month or so, I just hadn't bothered to stand her up for conformation photos again lol
I'm not very good at critiquing younger horses, so please, forgive my errors.
He looks a bit "forward". However, this could just be becasue his neck is low. His legs look straight and strong, just as a draft's legs should be.
This could change as he grows and becomes more "draft".
Your mane's withers look to be a bit high. Her legs are long and straight.
I honestly don't have much to say about these horses. They are well proportioned and, overall, very nice.
I like both horses. Cleo 's main fault, JMO, is that she is a bit front end heavy, in comparison to her hind end
Nice up hill build, nice neck that ties in well, good low hocks
Reggie has good bone, and has some growing left to do. I would wait until he is five, to see how tall he will get
His neck ties in a bit low. His top picture definitely shows that his front end still has some catching up to do, so I would not be too concerned that he won't make your desired height
In regards to the question: how much more will Reggie grow...
My gelding is by a 15.1hh APHA stallion out of a 17.2hh Percheron mare. At 2, he was 15hh. At 3, he was about 15.3-16hh. Now, as a long 7yo, he's right about 17hh. His half sister (same sire, but out of a 17.1hh Percheron mare) was 16.1hh as a 2yo and hasn't grown much since, other than to level out.
Best thing to do is to string test him. Take a piece of string or a cloth tape measure and measure from the middle of the knee down to the coronet band, following the contour of the leg. Every quarter inch equals .1hh. So if, for example, the measurement is 16 3/4", that converts to 16.3hh. 16 1/2" would be 16.2hh. and so on.
Thank you guys! I agree with all the points listed here. Reggie's weakness is definitely in his front end, but he's showing to have a decent engine, so hopefully it is compensated a little bit and he has a lovely open hunter type carriage as his preferred way of going, which I think is better than hollowed and pulling. I'm not expecting him to go out and compete grand prix dressage lol Cleo is the opposite with her hind end being the weakness. She's very flexible and free in her gaits, so I'm hoping with some more work will help gain strength and put some more thrust into her movement. Its good to know their weaknesses so you can tailor the training to suit If anyone was interested, I could possibly post up some videos of them both moving loose in the arena.
I also string tested Reggie today after reading this! I'm hoping I did it right (from middle of knee not the gappy bit further up right?), but I got a reading of 15.3hh :O He wasn't wanting to stand super still and I didn't have a fabric measure with me, so its probably a little bit off but I wouldn't think it would go over 16hh. I also did the other one I read about, where you go elbow to ergot and flip which gave about 3 fingers (4cm) more to grow if you followed the curve of his tummy. He's unoffically (aka my measuring) 15.2 1/2 now, so the extra 4cm would put him at 15.3 3/4 I think, so both 'string' measurements match up. I've also noticed he's filled out a lot more in the last new months, whereas last spring he was still really lanky and gawky looking, so he might end up staying a small fry forever lol
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