Critique my new weanling... please? =]

So my weanling finally arrived! I have been waiting for him to get here for a month. He traveled from Oregon to Southern California, and arrived at his new home on 10/10/09 at approx 10:30pm. He wasn't too happy when he got here, but settled nicely, and has already learned some manners. =] Please critique his confo... I am hoping to show him in open halter classes... I'm really not into halter, so I wasn't really looking for a big, bulked out weanling. I just want to do something with him while he grows up. He is a little banged up right now, and underweight... (Any suggestions on what to feed a weanling to bulk up in addition to exercise?), but he is cute and smart, a pretty calm for all the stress he has had in the past couple weeks... getting weaned, taught to lead, bathed, etc plus hauled from OR to CA...


He is a 6 month old cremello APHA colt. His name is Quick Zip N Ghost aka Mudd. =] I don't really like how he looks in these confo pictures cause he has his neck all up and stuff, he didn't want to stand still, not to mention get squared up... but hopefully you can look past that.. lol. And the rest are just because I like them. Especially the one where I hugged him and he hugged me back..


Thanks... =]

Stunning he looks really good and now you have him I bet he will get even better good luck

Other than having a bit of a skinny neck (which I am sure will fill out with age and good food) I think he is rather nice. :) He looks a bit toed out but that too might be fixed with some corrective farrier work and good food. :)

He's very pretty!

My foals always did great on the same thing I fed mommy, Purina Equine Senior OR Triple Crown Senior/Complete feed and beet pulp. (Make sure to ad oats with beet pulp if you choose to feed that so he gets the right Calcium:Phosphorus Ratio)
That and free choice hay would get him fattened up.

He looks nice! The only things that stood out to me were his neck appears a bit long and thin, his rear end/legs look (for lack of better words) "post-y" not bad - however critiquing a growing horse is always a toss up as to what they mature into with age and muscle :) Enjoy him!!!

Nice long neck

Thanks everyone!

Does anyone have any advice on how to get him nicely muscled up in all the right places for halter? Especially in his neck?

He looks good I would have to agree with everyone else that it is hard to critque a foal I also had the forum critique my 2 foals and a 3 year old filly. I am going to get some better pics of them and have them redo it so I get a better feel of them. I just weaned my 5 month old stud colt Caddo today.

Be careful on "bulking up" babies - they are actually healthiest when you can barely see their ribs/easily feel their ribs. More than that can cause growth problems - OCD, bones growing faster than ligaments so horse starts "standing" on it's toes, etc.

I generally feed Purina Strategy to ALL my horses - from weanlings to old (20+) horses/ponies. It's high fat, low sugar, 14% protein.

To muscle him up the healthiest way is to pony him (western saddle from a "bullet proof" horse). That way you're not doing too much circling (OVER lunging - circles - can cause problems) and he can become accustomed to "strange" things with a bullet proof buddy showing him things aren't scarey - makes for another bullet proof horse.

Oh he is cute!

What are you doing to do with her?