Conformation Terms

I read alot of 'your gelding/mare is built downhill/uphill' in these critique posts. Could somebody explain to me what these terms mean?

Thankyou and I apologise for such a simple and widely known question!

Down hill is where the withers are lower than the butt when standing the horse on flat ground. Up hill is where the horses withers are higher than the butt. Hope that helps

Heres a pic of a horse whos built downhill. Notice how his butts higher then his withers.

Don't apologize for asking a question that you don't know the answer to. That is what we are here for. No matter what level of experience you have, everyone still has questions. And Twilight Arabians hit it right on the head.

Actually, just because a horse withers are higher than his butt doesn't mean that the horses build is uphill. A lot of TB who are built downhill will have huge withers, which will make up for the difference, but they still wouldn't be considered uphill horses.

http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum...d.php?t=159479
^^Here is an interesting discussion on it

Exactly.
What you want to look at is the line between the stifle of the horse and the elbow. A downhill horse will have his stifle higher than his elbows (sometimes a bit, sometimes dramatically) an uphill horse will have their elbows higher than their stifles.
Downhill horses tend to have a tendency to fall flat on the forehand and have a bit more trouble sitting back on their hind end, which is why dressage people look for mounts that are at the very least level if not uphill

But what should be most important is how the horse moves. Some downhill horses can still move in an uphill way :) so just gbecause your horse is downhill doesn't necessarily mean he won't move well!