critique arabian

Alright so these are not the best pictures but they are okey I guess haha. I was wondering if anyone could give me some critique on her like muscling,weight,topline and such. She will be used for trail, gymkhana,possibly a bit of english and bareback riding.
She is a 10-11yr old arabian mare and hasn't been used really for about a year or so.



I will have to get front a rear shots later so if these shots aren't good enough for any crit. I will try for better ones tomorrow

One more pic

She doesn't look like she has her front legs set back enough....or maybe not enough slope in her shoulder? I'm can't put my finger on it

She needs muscling up in the abdomen & loin (light-waisted), which often comes with gymnasticizing a horse. She looks loved, in the pic with the two of you, which matters more than anything.

Northern-thank yu I do love her very much

I have to agree with Northern that she could use some more muscling in her loins and butt. Her shoulder is pretty upright and her withers extend a long way into her back. Also, there is something about her LF pastern that is bugging me. It is really short and upright and kinda makes me wonder if maybe she is a bit club-footed on that foot or if it is just that picture that makes it look that way.

Her shoulder is extremely upright, and I think (as others have mentioned) that she could definitely use more muscling in her topline. As it is now I really dislike her neck because most of the muscle is on the bottom, which is opposite of how it should be.

Smrobs-she isn't club footed it is the picture.
Strange-i have only had her for about 3 -4 wks now so I am working on muscling her up in the right places as she hadn't been before

How does she move in the trot? Is she short and choppy to start, head in the air? I'm only asking because I have a half arab mare and her shoulder is very similar to your mares. She very tense and upright through the shoulder, and it's hard for her not to lock her legs too straight. The last picture you uploaded it looks as if she is stepping really heavy on the inside leg, and maybe she would benefit from having the her front hooves trimmed in such a way where the toe was a bit shorter and the heel balanced so the the weight and shock are distributed more favorably. It's a work in progress for me to get her to extend her trot and round her hind and lift her back, and moving in a better way is actually quite exhausting for her. Have you tried side reins or any suppling exercises? I'm interested in what methods you are employing as I am going through the same thing. I think it's built into the Arabs physiology, it's kind of our achilles heel to get her to loosen up. I had a chiro out to evaluate and work on this problem too, and it helped a great deal in getting things jump-started.

Seahorseys-She actually has a very nice trot she can get into a really nice slow jog or she can really extend...her feet are in need of a trim(the farrier is coming first week of june so I haven't been riding her till then). Right now I am doing alot of round pen work with voice commands just because I am really working on refreshing her memory before we start heavey work. She can really get up under herself. She is currently being ridden in just a d-ring snaffle but i'm switching her to a hackamore because she works better in them I believe. I am still figuring out what works best with her though since she has only been with me about 5 wks now