so do you see anything I'm not seeing?

Monty is a great horse, but he sure doesn't lack his faults. Just wondering what people see regarding his confo from these couple of photos? The first is kind of old, not sure exactly HOW old but it was a winter photo from before I got him, and the second is from about 4 or 5 days after I got him.




I have stood back and had a good look at him myself and I know what I have seen, just wondering what everybody else sees? This is a learning exercise for me and also for the purpose of knowing his faults so I know what to look out for in future. He is 16 years old, 100% sound, and has been an eventer all his life.

EDIT; the swollen knee/leg (his right foreleg) in the second photo was an injury he inflicted on himself on the truck on the way down. He no longer has any swellings at all... and these are the best photos I have of him, but I will get some better ones if they're needed :)

Nobody?

He's a little bit stiff through the hindquarter today after a lot of hard work yesterday so I'm thinking about injecting him with Pentosan (anti-arthritic drug if non-aussies aren't familiar with it). Should probably have started arthritis management earlier due to his age, work history and conformation?

I was going to say he was over at the knee, but swelling explains it, I guess.
He has a very steep thigh bone and overly open stifle angle. Hind legs are a bit camped out behind, but it's minimal. Actually, I really like the way he's put togehter. Great shoulder angle, nice neck, good pastern angle and appears to have good bone for his size.

He does have a lovely neck. One of the few horses I know that can really pull off a hogged mane (I hogged it a few weeks ago) and look great doing it.

He has a lot of great and a lot of not-so-great - I don't like his cannons, they are too long IMO. For a lark I measured him from centre of knee to coronet and the measurement is 16 inches, meaning that for his cannons to be in proportion he should be 16hh. He's not, he's only 15.1 1/2.

I like how level he is stifle to elbow and with more muscle in the hindquarter he would be overall a very nice horse. He has really dodgy hooves but they're getting better - he was neglected when previous owner took him on and then neglected again by a subsequent lessee.