Critique - sport pony

This is my nearly 3 year old Welsh X Hanovarian sport pony filly. She will be 3 in August, but is starting to fill out nicely now. We are working on her little winter hay belly. What do you think?

Hard to get good confo shots of a wiggly 3 year old...

Side View

Front View - almost standing square

Rear view - starting to step away with left right


Overall view

Overall, I think she's a nicely balanced, well- conformed horse. Her pasterns look like a good length, her cannons are nice and short, her front legs are straight, her back legs look a little off.... not quite sure if she's sickle hocked, but it's nothing bad. I like her body width/ width of chest, her back looks like a good length, and her shoulder looks to have a nice slope. She looks a little pigeon- breasted, and her girth isn't too deep, but really, she's a very nicely balanced 3 year old. She'll be lovely when she's all grown up! Do you have any pictures of her moving?

I don't know a huge amount about conformation but she looks very nicely put together. Agree with soenjer that something looks a little off with her hind legs but it's nothing that I'd kick her out of the barn for... Very pretty head and I like the tie-in of her neck, and her front legs. She looks lovely. I'm a big fan of Welshies...

She is post-legged behind, that's the opposite of sickle hocked. (Sickle hocked = too much angle in the stifle and hock; post legged = too straight, not enough angle)

Not a terrrible flaw, usually managed by keeping a baseline level of fitness.

I don't see pigeon breasted?


Agree with the other posters about the rest; overall impression of balance and quite mature looking for a three year old.

Then it's probably not there, lol... I'm still learning to be a good conformation judge. Her chest just looks like it sticks out a little more than average, in front of her legs.

Thank you for the replies! I think she is a little pigeon breasted and unless asked to square up, she tends tends to stand under herself a bit in the front. It seems she is growing out of this a bit though as she seemed worse when we first got her. Does that make sense?

Now that you mention it, I see the post-leggedness in the back. I couldn't pinpoint what it was about her back legs and thought she had a weak and under-muscled hind end. Again, as she starts working more in earnest, it will be interesting to see how some muscling shapes her. I know it won't correct the fault, but it may minimize it a bit? Also, Maura, good to know about keeping her fit.

I don't have any pictures of her moving, but I do have some video somewhere. I'll post when I find it. For the most part, she moves like a horse rather than a pony. She seems to have nice suspension and leg action, especially when she gets going. She also seems to round herself quite naturally. There are times however, when she is being silly, that you can see the pony movement as well, but not very often.

She is a project pony that we are hoping will turn out to be a nice little evener for a smaller woman (like me) or child. Right now, she stands right around 13'3", but still has some growing to do. According to the string test (if it is at all accurate), she should mature around 14' to 14'1". She is out of a 16'1" mare and a Welsh stud.

No, I do see pigeon breasted in the bottom photo, my bad. Not noticable in the first three, but there in the fourth. Not pronounced enough to be a flaw, I think.

Koolio, if she was all Welsh or a combo of other breeds, I might be concerned that her shoulder was a tad straighter than ideal. However, a lot of European WBs have what I would consider a straighter than ideal shoulder and still move freely from the shoulder with little or no knee action and use their shoulder well over fences.

A true confo expert once explained to me why that was; why shoulder angle affected movement differently in WBs and hotbloods, but I forget.

So I would love to see a photo or video of this pony moving, I'm hoping she has the big, WB-y, airy trot.

I also think she's a very good prospect for your stated purpose.

I think everyone else has just about summed her up, but I thought I'd just pop in and say that she's absolutely adorable! If only my mare looked that nice as a three year old... xD

Here are some updated pictures of our pony. She is now truly 3 and has done quite a bit of growing. What do you think?


From the other side. She's still a bit bum high.


And another. She's a wiggly little girl.


And working in the round pen. She is only asked to canter for a ver few minutes in the pen (once or twice around).

Her back is a bit long and her LS is set a bit far to the rear (contributes to her being post legged behind). I would like to see her Point of Shoulder a little higher and her shoulder lay back a bit more (it is a tad steep). This is what makes her stand over herself in front.

Her neck ties nicely to her shoulder and she appears to have withers (lots of ponies do not!). She has good bone and a very very nice expression.

She also is improving on the hay belly situation from "before" to "after" and appears to be gaining some muscle in her butt.

She woud benefit hugely from trotting up hills on a long rein and trotting over cavelletti (help her abdominal muscles to strengthen and lift her back).

Nice pony.