Would like some opinions of my Paint Gelding

Oh my goodness. He seems wonky the way he connects through all his parts, and his hind legs are so long that his stride is tiny, BUT he is absolutely adorable. My goodness, I have never seen a more adorable horse in my life.

Excuse my useless confo critique, I am just here to drool.

As for discipline, depending on what his gates look like, I honestly don't see him excelling in much other than HUS. He is pretty base narrow and long-legged, though pretty well balanced. Work on getting that hiney built up and he could extend his strides a bit easier, and he would make a cute HUS.

Drool :)

Does being base-narrow affect their ability to do western pleasure? I always thought the horses I saw excelling in wp were pretty narrow and long-legged... I hope this isn't a silly question...

As for WP, nope. He just "looks" more HUS to me. I am not a fan of either in their current "fads" as it were, but HUS horses seem more conformationally correct to me. Still have a very low set axis of rotation for the shoulders and hips, making the stride shorter than seems healthy, and the whole peanut rolling fad is a bunch of bull dooky in my opinion. However, as I said, HUS seems more conformationally correct to me.

Did that answer your question?

ETA it is worth noting that any horse on long, spindly, narrow-based legs is going to have a hard time balancing; something I notice a lot in WP and HUS horses. This is evident in the elevated movements made to transition in gates or change leads, etc. Paired with (in WP) the practise riding the horse with its face tipped into the rail to keep it slow, and you have a pretty unbalanced beefcake on toothpick legs ;)

That being said, I think this boy is just marvellous and can become quite well balanced and forward. :)

Thank you.

Like I said my main plan is to get him into a 60 day program that can help him build up (be it slowly and carefully) what he is noticeably lacking.

Weather permitting my instructor and trainer likes to get horses OUT and does a ton of trail riding, which is great for a horse like this.

Another cool fact, its been pretty much decided through trial and error and then by a 'vet check' that Vinny is deaf. Or pretty darn close to it. But, he doesn't seem to be bothered by it too much.

I'm just not sure I'm sold on his name... Vinny.... so that might have to go. His original name was Otto I think. I don't care for that either.

Finn? ;) Ollie? Interesting that he is deaf or nearly deaf. He seems to cope fine?

Glad to hear you have a solid plan for him.

Yep. He seems fine.
The only issue is that once in a while when he passes the doors in the indoor he will be startled by whats outside (usually a person that just appears out of no where even though they yell "DOOR").

When we approach him, such as in the pasture, we just loop around so he can see you coming. If you walk up behind him its clear that he had no idea you were 'sneaking' up on him. But it does not appear to scare him.
We are more careful though then with the others obviously.

Its funny because I always kiss for the lope/canter. He just doesn't pick up on that. Also you can snap a lunge whip and he doesn't even acknowledge it. I should try a cap gun some time.

In pic 2 and 3 he looks a little sickle hocked, but then in pic 4 -5 not.
He is not butt high. That wither is going to make saddle fitting difficult.
He needs top line work, and he could probably do hunter flat work, and western pleasure if you can get him to relax and round his back. He is a tad cow hocked but since you are doing halter classes and not doing cutting reining he should be okay. Love his color and his shiny healthly coat. Hope he works well for you . I would put a tad more weight on him , not whole lot , but a little more.

Thank you.

I agree that he needs more muscle, then I think he will look a lot better, I should wait now and post pictures 30, then 60 days into training so we can all see what the difference is.
Where he is now he gets turnout, but that was all, and the pasture is mid-sized and flat.

Whatever he works out to be, I like him.
His personality is enough for me!

Oh, and I don't think my pictures did him any favors. Pics two and three I 'backed' him into standing, pic 4 and 5 I backed him, then pulled him front. What a difference! I could see it right away but I already had the other photos so I just moved on.

He has not been shown in a showmanship or halter class for years (me either) so I forgot what a difference pushing and pulling can do to the over all squareness. Just more things we both need to work on!