Lots of pictures, please critique Chief !

I know he wasn't squared up very well, it was our first time trying to get good pics of him. Any suggestions on what he looks like he would be good at?

Oh, and he is four years old. He will be five in February.

Don't know much about confo, but what a pretty boy! Love his markings & what a sweet face!

Thank you (:

Pictures will sometimes distort, but it looks like his back/loin are long. He will need conditioning along his topline. What do you plan on using him for?

He has sturdy legs and his pastern angles appear correct. I like his head and shoulder.

I'm not an expert by any definition but those are my first reactions.

He's a good looking guy.

Shoulder is a bit steep, angle at point of shoulder is a bit closed and the humerus lays a bit flat. He is a bit downhill and weak in the loin/coupling. Croup is a bit steep and a bit short setting him up for a hind leg that is camped under due to sickle hocks. His gaskin is a bit short too.

Nice low knees and hocks, adequate bone, good neck set, nice withers, may be a bit back at the knee. Nice head and nice markings.

Over all, he is put together nicely in that all the parts fit together.. one part does not look like it is from a different horse.

I like him.

In the first couple pictures he was kind of stretched out because he was trying to figure out what we were trying to get him to do by squaring him up. I'm not sure what I plan on doing with him yet, I want to try out a few things and see if he gets into any of it. As of now, I am just getting rid of his grass belly he had when he came to me, but haven't started building his muscles up yet. What exercises could I do to help improve some ofthe flaws he has?

I'm not there on confo yet, but I love his face, he has kind eyes.

One thing you can always do with a horse is long trots up hills on a long rein. This gets the horse to lengthen his topline and use his abdominal muscles to drive himself up the hill. You can also trot him over cavaletti in the ring and it does the same thing.

Working him on circles, spirals in and out, serpentines, and transitions both in a gait and between gaits.. pushing him forward so you ride him back to front.. all help to build a solid foundation and a horse that is physically able to do as much as he can (physically and mentally).

I wish I could work him on hills but there's only flat ground where I live. I haven't been riding him much lately either to get his muscles built up.