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Please Critique Queenie's Conformation & Pedigree

6K views 49 replies 13 participants last post by  EmilyJoy 
#1 ·
Here is Queenie, she is a 2yr old Quarter horse mare, and I would guess about 14hh. I do realize she needs more weight and her hooves trimmed, any comments good or bad on her conformation? I would also like you to view her pedigree and tell me what you think she'd be good at, considering her confo.Heels Freckle Queen Quarter Horse

Thanks!
Also anybody want to weigh in how much weight she needs to put on? I realize growing horses shouldn't be fat, but she is underweight in my opinion (lowest of the pecking order, and was getting pushed out).

Horse Mammal Vertebrate Mare Sorrel


Horse Mammal Vertebrate Mare Sorrel


Horse Mammal Vertebrate Mane Mare


Horse Mammal Vertebrate Mane Mare


Horse Mammal Vertebrate Mane Stallion


Horse Mammal Vertebrate Pasture Grassland
 
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#4 ·
I really like this little girl, however to me she is the perfect example of a young horse that really needs wait till year 3 or 4 to really start working her and putting her under saddle. She is verY immature yet and resembles a yearlng... riding her now would be a darn shame, I think if you give her another year or two she will look like a different horse. JMO.
 
#5 ·
I know nothing about Pedigree but her confo will change as she matures. Right now she's very front-heavy but pretty nice shoulder and eventually we hope she'll be able to level out a little more. Pretty nice hip, not too long of a back. It will strengthen once she begins to really work her topline and track up more in the back (her trotting picture shows lack of thrust from behind)

But she's very cute and will be a nice mare when she's older.

What are your plans for her?

I think you need to aim to get some padding over her ribs and for her hips to be less defined. I can't put a # on how much, but you may want to bring her in to feed her so she can get enough to eat.
 
#6 ·
You can not believe how calm she is, I hope she'll make a good mount when she matures.

I don't plan on riding her this year as her knees REALLY are still "open" and so I'm hoping she will mature to 15 hh. Anyone else think she will? I do hope, though, to saddle her this year and just let her wear it in the pasture etc. so that won't be a problem when the time comes to ride her.

How are her legs? Hocks/canon bones/pasterns.

What disciplines do you think will be best for her? I do see her having an interest in herding animals and was curious if that was strong in her bloodlines.
 
#8 ·
In these pictures she looks to be a "short" two years old. As in Two off (or barely two.. or even coming 2). The reason I say this aside from her over all immature appearance is the length of her tail.. looks closer to 18 months old than 24 months old.

That being said there are some things that can be critiques at this young age. There is a saying "Tops may come but bottoms never." This means the legs are the legs and won't change much as the horse matures. In these photos this filly looks to have adequate bone but she is slightly tied in at the knee. Her hind leg looks to have correct angles although she might be slightly sickle hocked (hard to tell here). Her hocks are quite far off the ground and her knees are much lower than her hocks so even if the levels up, she may travel and work down hill.

As for her body.. and this may change.. she looks to be developing a p[igeon breast. I anticipate her point of shoulder will be placed a bit low and her shoulder will steepen with maturity. She looks a bit weak and long through the coupling and may be developing a steepish croup.

Her neck ties in nicely to adequate.. somewhat immature.. withers and does not currently appear to tie in too low to the chest.

Over all I like the look of this filly at this age. She has no overwhelming issues with conformation and she fits together well.

And then, to add to that, she has a lovely flaxen mane and tail with a deep sorrel color ("toasted sorrel" is the term I believe I have heard). I really like that color combination.

Nice filly. Post photos of her this time next year with these. It should be very interesting and you will see if I am right or way wrong (oh yeah.. I have been.. LOL) on what I think will happen as she matures.
 
#9 ·
Hmm, any reason why she looks so immature? Is it just because she is a slow growing one, or maybe needs more feeding of some sorts?

She was born May 20th 2011.

So what is a pigeon breast and what does it affect later on? In any of the conformation, is there any way to help it grow stronger? Maybe ponying over hills or something?

Oh and the tail thing, she was standing near the newly weaned bottle calf pen getting licked/sucked while some of the others were sucking/chewing her tail, and it wasn't just her, Red the other Quarter horse had the same thing happen. Flicka doesn't stand such foolishness and her tail is quite long yet!

Here are some pictures I found that her breeder took of her, I wish I could have seen her sire&dam's confo. shots...Oh well.

Horse Mammal Vertebrate Colt Foal


Horse Mammal Vertebrate Colt Foal


Horse Mammal Vertebrate Colt Foal


Horse Mammal Vertebrate Pasture Przewalski's horse


Horse Mammal Vertebrate Mane Sorrel


Mammal Vertebrate Horse Terrestrial animal Pasture


Queenie's sire,

Horse Mammal Vertebrate Mane Pasture


Queenie last year,

Horse Mammal Vertebrate Pasture Mare
 
#10 ·
She just needs to be fed and grow. A conformation critique is just that... takes the flaws and the good parts. There is no perfect horse.

Her knees and hocks aren't closed and really she is a short two year old being slightly 2 months past her 2 year old birthday. Just feed her good hay, good clean water, free choice mineral block, keep her worming up to date and vaccinations and find a ration balancer (grain). Let her grow.. do some ground work with her and next spring I expect you will see a different horse far more ready to take on saddling and training to be ridden.

Meanwhile you can do things like ground driving, long lining, getting her used to a saddle and a bridle.. all the "stuff" that leads to riding. Take a bit of time now and next spring it will smoothly go forward when you start backing her.
 
#12 ·
I wouldn't worry about her looking immature.

Yeah, perhaps a higher protein diet (I would e looking to adjust grain types and amounts if she gets a lot of grass and hay already) but really she looks to me to be more gangly and awkward than serverly under weight. :wink: I would however be looking into getting grain upped.

What type of grain is she getting? I find pellet feed seems to work better for me than sweet feeds. I personally like Purina Ultium or Purina Strategy myself... But those are easy for me to get in my area.

I think more than anything she's just a slow growing gal that needs a little more time to fill in and grow up.

Every year while apprenticing with a local trainer we got at least one two year old (sometimes a three year old) that we would break enough to sit on and walk around the she would send them home till next year telling the owners to give the horse another year.
 
#13 ·
She's just getting good quality hay (I think she just needs to have her amount upped, with no conflict with the other horses) , no grain, and I will be putting her back on beet pulp.

The reason behind no grain is that I was told by several people, that know what they are about, that grain shouldn't be fed to horses.... Messes with their hoofs etc. To also stay clear of sweet feeds.

I hope I can take pictures of her next year at this time, if I remember!
 
#14 ·
Oct. pictures

Here are two more pictures of Queenie... The one makes her back look weird and awkward. Does she have a sway/long back?? I'm sorry the pictures aren't as good as the others... Had a different photo taker and it was getting dark.

Anyway tell me if she's changed any.

Horse Vertebrate Mammal Mane Mare

Horse Mammal Horse supplies Mare Mane
 
#17 ·
I've got a guy who's looking to buy her as a WP horse, do you think she'd be good for that? She does have a nice slow lope to her, what do you all think?

Also those above pictures are awful of her.
 
#19 ·
NO. To keep it simple she will not make a Western Pleasure horse.

She would make a fine trail horse, she's a bit too fine boned for me to market as a gamer and keep a good conscience.

To me selling this horse as any of the above would be waist of a really nice talented little horse. She should be marketed as a prospect for Ranch Versatility, Sorting, team Penning, Reining, or Reined Cowhorse. I think those avenues suit her best. She might not be a top dollar horse, but I'd take her any day with those goals in mind.

I'll take her if you can get her to PA for a good price. :lol:
 
#20 ·
Haha^^ Thanks, but shipping costs a ton. Could you enlighten me as to why she wouldn't make a good WP?

The guy has seen photos of her so obviously he would know what she looked like as far as WP prospect, but really it's up to him. I was just curious as to why she would or wouldn't make a good WP horse.
 
#22 ·
She is not bred for it. She will not have the right movement or head set to be competitive. I suspect her lope is much more "pretty" than her trot based on conformation. Typical of a using/cowy horse. She looks real 'quick' on her feet. Not typical or needed in WP.


On a local level I think she would be ok for WP I guess. But why do that when she would make a better reined cowhorse?

So much relies on movement and temperament though.

I know a woman that has a reining bred horse she purchased for 25k and she decided to do dressage because the fast pace reining maneuvers scared her. The horse does it, but man it's a waist of a real nice reining horse imho.
 
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#24 ·
I'm feeding her free choice grass/alfalfa hay with about a 1# (guess) of beet pulp. It was recommended by our feed guy and some others not to do grain as it's not healthy for their hoofs/health. What do you recommend?

You all really think she'll have some speed on her? I originally bought her to eventually replace my older mare, who could really run I mean book it(!), but Queenie is SO calm. Do you think the speed attitude will come later? That's what she was advertized as as a yearling, but when her temperament seems like a 20yr old I am beginning to get doubts. Take for example, dinner time, all the horses come running up...Guess who's poking on behind? You got it, Queenie. When I pony her off of my bigger horse, she always is quite content to lag behind like a poky puppy.

Could it be with training she'll love to run? I know with my other horses they can get quite competitive when running neck to neck.

As far as ranching/cows, I'll have to do a little research, and watch some videos on how to start horses on that kind of stuff. We do raise calves/steers so that could be an option down the road.

Ha, maybe I should just wait it out until she turns 3 before worrying about how much spunk she'll have. Could be she's just immature?
 
#25 ·
I've known a lot of laid back speed horses. My two year old is really lazy mostly, but she can really move when she wants. She outruns my three year old I got off the track lol
I feed nothing but total equine to my girls. It's a grass based feed, no grain, so it's harder for them to colic off it, plus its way more natural. Great stuff. I have a few pictures of my two year old on my profile, and I'll post a picture of her at 8 months old when I got her. She has really really filled out and grown well on this stuff. She's 15 hands and about 950 pounds. Theres a website that has all the feed info here. Check it out Total Equine Performance Horse Feed
I could write a novel on why I love this stuff lol
 
#26 ·
Lopin N Paint, what type, in particular, do you think she'd excel at? As in, cutting, reining, roping...etc.
Anything I would do with her wouldn't be hard core, but I could advertize her as being a more _ blank_ type horse, if I still want to sell her.

Can't wait until she's three!
 
#27 ·
If you advertise/sell her now I would just sell her as a prospect for reining, reined cowhorse, team penning.


If You had cows and wanted to get her under saddle (better price tags, easier to find good homes) I would just get her w/j/l circles and get her pushing cows around. Then I would market her for reined cowhorse and penning.

With reined cowhorse and penning you can get away with an all around pedigree like hers.

Anyone looking to be real competitive in reining and cutting would look at her breeding and move on. However on a local level I think she would hold her own with the right training.

You could try her on barrels and speed events but her lack of bone would be a concern for me when looking at a long term career.

If your area has a 4h that is good you could easily market her for that and I think she would make a good all around 4h horse for a kid that wants to do ALL the western events. (I can't picture her jumping real well) . Again given the right attitude and training.

That being said, if you get her broke, you can always fall back on the good ole trail horse advertising. Since I think that has the largest clientele.
 
#28 ·
Ah thanks for the info/advice. It gives me food for thought anyway.

I think I'll have her up for sale until I break her in to saddle, then it's just a matter of whether I like her or not, if I still want to sell her. I doubt she'll sell this year though as usually most people don't buy horses going into winter...
 
#29 · (Edited)
EmilyJoy - Just wanted to say I have a 10-yr old mare by the same stud (Harlon's Big Mac), different dam, as Queenie. She's the palomino in my "Barn" (Lotsa Freckled Flax). Bought her from the same breeder at 11 months. She is a super horse, more heart and try than most, and is wicked smart! I mainly trail ride, but always felt she would have made an awesome performance horse had I wanted to go that direction. She was super quiet as a youngster, but she is now actually more sensitive and responsive than any of my others. So, my long-winded point is...get some weight on Queenie and let her mature...she may work out just to your liking! :D

Just for fun to show how time can improve...

Fugly pic the breeder sent me a week before I picked up "Tawny". Mr. KSAQHA was like "You're buying THAT??"


As a 3 yr-old...looking a bit better.


and last October...
 
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