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how much can he really change???

7K views 48 replies 18 participants last post by  smguidotti 
#1 ·
To keep it short . . .

some girl posted a picture of her family's horse, here:


I commented on the small feet, very upright pasterns and his downhill build

she told me that that he was a yearling in this photo and that with corrective shoeing he grew more hoof and now his 'angles line up'


so, can you really correct upright pasterns as sever as his?
 
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#3 ·
He's obviously halter bred. They're all like that these days. His hind hooves are very upright, so maaaybe his hind Pasterns are angled the tiniest bit more. But other than that, it shouldn't have changed much, even on a growing horse.
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#5 ·
The answer to your question is no. Corrective trimming can help, but will never make his pasterns "normal", because genetically they are normal for him. He will always have upright pasterns, small feet, and will be slightly sickle hocked. He may level out with growth, though, although will likely always be a bit butt high...
 
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#11 ·
Since he's still young, you can't bash his downhill build to much since he's still growing. And from their website, his pasterns aren't too bad! I've seen worse. And yes he is big for a now 2 year old, but I've seen yearlings at quarter horse congress bigger than this pretty boy! Some don't like him, but I'm a head hunter ;) Pretty head gets me every time!

In the end he should level out since he's only 2! And then he should be a well balanced individual, wether he is the most appealing for some to look at or not. Conformation is the basis, and he is built very nicely! Hopefully his hip pops up! Then I'd take him in a heartbeat, he'd be the most balanced horse in my barn!
 
#12 ·
Conformation is the basis, and he is built very nicely! Hopefully his hip pops up! Then I'd take him in a heartbeat, he'd be the most balanced horse in my barn!
I would take exception to that. A post legged horse with upright pasterns and tiny feet is NOT "built nicely". He may conform to an artificial and man made whimsical halter standard, but his conformation is unnatural and not conducive to soundness and athletic ability...
 
#23 ·
Just like in any discipline, there are extremes. Heck, I took Henny to a halter class when he was 5 months old. He got last in every class, but that's fine with me. The other horses were long yearlings and they were huge. I was just there to get Henny some show experience. Boy did he get some LOL. I'll definitely be taking him back this year(secretly it's mostly for the costume contest :wink:)

There is definitely something wrong though when a halter horse is advertised as "He/She can ride!" The fact that that's on the ad shows what the norm is nowadays.
 
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#26 ·
I was given a mare with very small feet. In hopes that she would improve with care since her owner could not afford to have it done. She kept having soundness issues and was in pain. I sent this mare to a vet that specializes in hoof issues. He suggested that the mare be put down. she was. the mare was only 7 years old and was lame because she was broke to ride and ridden .that horse will have limited use outside the show ring. By the age of 10 will probably have been passed as each owner when they are ready for a more advanced horse.
Breeding for unsoundness just for a pretty horse is unethical. Shalom
 
#37 ·
No horse, regardless of intended use (whether it be halter, reining, hunters, or just dinking around on trails on the weekend), should be light on bone. Halter horses, as a general rule, are bred light on bone.
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#39 ·
No horse, regardless of intended use (whether it be halter, reining, hunters, or just dinking around on trails on the weekend), should be light on bone. Halter horses, as a general rule, are bred light on bone.
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Correctamundo, with the exception of Arabs, that have denser bone than other breeds and generally have finer (although not "lighter") bone.

It's sort of funny - back in the days when horses were actually used for work, the first things people looked at when evaluating a horse were the legs - hooves, joints, and bone. Today it's necks, "tail set", shoulders, and (shudder) color....and ironically we have horses all over the place today hobbling around, rehabbing from injuries, and being put down from bad hooves, legs, and joints. Must be a coincidence, huh?...:rofl:
 
#38 ·
Ya'll, this argument could go on for ages. The AQHA Convention is March 8-11 in Houston if you want to be a part of the open forum on halter horses.

But, give me a break with this. Let people who do halter, do halter. If you don't want a horse that looks like that, than don't breed one, and don't buy one. If you want to make a difference in the halter world, go find a horse that floats your conformational boat, fit it yourself, show it, and hope it catches on.

Personally, I don't really care for halter horses at all. I also don't care for thoroughbreds and warmbloods and whatever other bloods and breds you have, because I don't like a horse with a high neck, thin as a rail, and lots of knee action. Those types of horses are about as ugly and goofy to me as halter horses are to you. But I don't plan on owning, showing, or breeding those types of horses, so me saying that I think they are ugly and useless is redundant and not getting anything accomplished, haha. I could probably go to a OTTB sale and pick out more horses with long backs, uphill butts, and long pasterns than anywhere else.
 
#40 ·
I also don't care for thoroughbreds and warmbloods and whatever other bloods and breds you have, because I don't like a horse with a high neck, thin as a rail, and lots of knee action. Those types of horses are about as ugly and goofy to me as halter horses are to you. But I don't plan on owning, showing, or breeding those types of horses, so me saying that I think they are ugly and useless is redundant and not getting anything accomplished, haha. I could probably go to a OTTB sale and pick out more horses with long backs, uphill butts, and long pasterns than anywhere else.
LOL, not my idea of a warm blood!

Thing is, you may not care for them, and that is fine, we all like different things, but those sorts of breeds are at least bred to be used, those who aren't pretty enough or talented enough for the ring can go on and lead great useful lives for Mrs Average rider, like me.

A horse bred solely to look pretty and not to stay sound or be ridden has no back up career, and that is very very sad.
 
#41 ·
Shropshirerosie wanders in, reads the thread :shock:, and walks out again shaking her head at more crazy breeding.


:think:

Actually, no, I'll come back in to say this.

I'd read the phrase 'halter classes' but didn't actually know what it was until I read this thread. I just did not know that there is another discipline out there that encourages looks at the detriment of welfare. It's reminds me of the scandal within the British Kennel club a couple of years ago when a television exposé of unhealthy 'award winning' dogs led to radical overhaul of some breeds standards.

Yes, there have been many many examples of breeding to produce one characteristic at the expense of overall health - heavy draught horses are a good example of this where the ability to pull a plough well came at the expense of ground-covering limbs and lean athleticism - but to discover that there's a whole other world out there that promotes horses not bred to perform astonishes me.

But clearly this debate is one that has gone around HF and back again and I'm just joining very late in the day, so I'll back out now and leave it with those more informed than me.
 
#42 ·
OVO, I know this is one of the biggest things that we disagree on.

Just because I don't show in halter or raise halter horses doesn't negate my opinion on their more than questionable breeding practices. When people are breeding horses who are prone to unsoundness for the sake of "pretty", then that is something important to everyone who cares about horses and is worth speaking out against.

IMHO, it's no different than speaking out against every backyard krazy kolor breeder in the country who are breeding horses that are completely useless for anything practical.
 
#48 ·
if you ask Arabs (the horses themselves, not their owners), they aren't horses, they're gods
mine is more down to earth, she's the Queen.:lol:

I agree with all those who are opposed to breeding at the detriment of the animal. When the animals are in crazy amounts of pain, incapable of even leading a comfortable life as a pasture puff, never mind being useful, all because people have made them that way, something is very wrong.

and I'm sorry, but choosing a horse with a draft sized body, but the legs and head size of a small arabian over a money winning reining stud, who can actually WORK??? They have bred these halter horses to the point they look like Frankensteins monster for goodness sake.

"If we just chop the head and legs off this pony and attach them to the body of this Percheron, we have the ideal stock horse!!"
 
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