Hi can you critique my appendix?

Hi this is Freddy he is 13 and is 17.1 hh. He was really skinny in may when we got him but now we are trying to put muscle and weight back on. Tell me what ya think. Please critique him.

First I would like to say what a beautiful horse you have. He looks great, could maybe use a little more muscle and weight. I would like to see some conformation type pictures. I love appendix horses, as you can get the looks and gaits of the thoroughbred and the mind of the quarter horse.

In pictures 3, 5, and 6 he is behind the vertical or also know as behind the bit. You want him to relax at the poll, not pull his chin to his chest. You may be overdoing it with the running martingale.

It looks like you are training for western pleasure. Is that right?

yeah I know he is behind the vertical. I am just trying to get him where he wants to keep it down and lvl. He has the best temperament ever! Haha I love how he has the tb body but the qh temperament, I LOVE his head too =)
Thank you so much for critiquing him for me =)

Riding him so he is behind the vertical will not get him to where he will want to keep his head down. It restricts his movement and does not allow him to strengthen the correct muscles. It would be better for him to work with his head down and in front of the vertical then behind.

^Agreed. And learning to keep his head down doesn't do anything for the way he moves. Even in western you want the horse to be moving and carrying himself properly.
I say ditch the running martingale. Ride him back to front, not front to back.

He is quite lovely!
:]

Ok, thank you

Looks like he'd be great for english equitation on the QH circuit! I agree with the PP's about ditching the martingale - he looks like he wants to find his frame anyways, so it might be overkill.
He's lovely, I'd love to have one like him!

Agreed. He is very lovely, but I ride APHA and the quickest way to get a horse on the forehand is to pull him down there and force his head somewhere it's not ready to be.

When he can handle the weight and is pushing off his hind end, then the head will come down when the back rounds. If you pull it down, then you'll loose the back and he'll pull from the forehand--which he's already doing, as he's losing muscle in his rump and forming incorrect muscles.

Good luck with him!

Ok thanks everyone.

Shesinthebarn, you think he would do well in the QH circuit?
He moves very nice

I do! He has the size and look for the equitation and english pleasure classes. If he moves like you say, he would most likely do. If you are going that route, work on that headset, though. Go on youtube and look at some of the congress videos, that will give you a good idea of what frame to try and achieve. Were you thinking about the english QH classes?