how much can he really change???

No the bay is not the ideal stock horse! His legs are thin and fine boned, his conformation is not conducive to a using horse, which is what an ideal stock horse is. If you honestly beleive that halter horses are the be all and end all of stock horse conformation...

The bay is not built for soundness. His legs are twigs compared to his body, his joints are all very steep and will take impact very poorly. Riding him must be like riding a jackhammer.
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As long as you don't want to actually work stock or anything, maybe to look "pretty" in front of stock (depending on your definition of pretty that is)

I picture working stock (reining, cutting, ranch) differently. Just like I picture a hunter differently. Each have the same bone build, different muscling.
I like my reiners sorter necked, much less bulk muscle, and "big boned". I guess that's how we could put it bonewise!
I like all of mine to have substantial bone, which the bay does lack- look I'm going back on myself!

Have you ever heard the phrase "No leg, no horse"? That means that a horse is only as good as the legs they are standing on. So, I can take a horse with other faults and they are acceptable to me (maybe not for breeding, but for using) so long as they've got good legs.

As I said, the chestnut isn't perfect (his name is Gunner), but he is one of the top reining sires in the country...
McQuay Stables: Colonels Smoking Gun (Gunner)

Whereas, the bay that you liked, who's name is PRL My Te Cheerful, I can't find anything that he did beyond halter.

IMHO, pretty is as pretty does. If you want a horse that isn't good for anything beyond plodding around in an arena, then that's fine, but some of us want horses who are physically capable of doing a reining pattern, or cutting a cow, or being roped off of, or even being an effective trail partner...things that your typical "halter horse" just can't do.

Anyone that says Gunner is undesirable needs to look at his accomplishments and that of his offspring.
Now if you want a stud to fix the flaws your mare has {your other thread}. I would pick Gunner if you wanted a reining prospect. Shalom

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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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.

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?...

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.