What is this called?

For the life of me I can't remember what this conformation 'fault' is referred to as - ??! Where the abdomen is sunk in ...

Here is the 'fault':




(I had a remarkable amount of trouble finding pictures that accurately represent what I'm talking about)

Compared to a 'normal' gut:



I don't know if you could actually call it a fault, or if it's just a sign of a horse that's race fit? Like having a flat abdomen? I don't see it in every TB that's race fit, but I do see it primarily in TBs that just came off the track. What's it called? Thanks!

I think the term you're looking for is herring-gutted. But I don't think fitness is supposed to be the cause, I think it's just when a horse has a very narrow abdomen and in theory means they won't have the lung and other organ capacity for great athleticism.

Wasp waisted

I'd be hesitant to breed a mare with the conformation, if to the extreme.

Herring gutted sounds familiar. Never heard wasp waisted though. I'd agree with the athleticism part. I've seen a lot of OTTBs with this gut. They tend to be very downhill, too.

I've heard herring gutted, wasp-waisted and lady waisted as terms for this.

The grey shows the fault, but the second photo of the bay? May just be tucked up and racing fit.

The other thing to consider is age. I wouldn't make a definitive pronouncement about this as a fault until a TB is at least 5 years old. A 2 or 3 year old may appear wasp waisted when racing fit, but may continue to grow and develop.

The bay just has a bigger barrel, I think.

Weak loin :) I think is what your looking for. https://sites.google.com/site/apples...-loin-coupling

I use the term "wasp waisted" as a few others said. But this grey horse looks to be very trim and track -fit. I've seen that change when they come off the track and lead a non-track life. But it you ask me, that grey horse has a tremendous heartgirth which I love. She is also fairly short backed which I love. Someone posted something about "weak loined", I don't find her weak loined at all; she got a nice loin connection...any shorter this horse wouldn't have a back long enough to put a saddle on!

I've also heard "Fish Gutted" to describe it. Goes along with "Herring Gutted" I guess