One thing that struck me about Mommesin and Monsieur
Joseph was that they both had lil' feet. After becoming paranoid about
the "endurance horses must have big feet" concept, ...... AERC NC
Mommesin 1st FW Division
Monsieur
Joseph 1st MW Division
Re: Feet ..... this is what's important
to "me". .... from observation/experience gleaned from my years at the track.
>The size of the feet are not as
important as "how thick are the walls of the hooves". I've had
several horses including the *FA Staccato "Get" who can train without
shoes. Their hooves hard / walls thick they don't wear down their
toes.
Another horse comes to mind that I
trained who had large dark hooves who needed shoes within two weeks
after he started training. He was in danger of wearing his toes "off" behind the
white line because the walls of his hooves were too thin.
Thick walls "hold nails firmly" without
creating sensitivity/pain to the horse. Nails clinched onto
thin walls can create sensitivity/pain and are less apt to stay
on.
I don't want to leave the
impression that I condone racing horses without
shoes. I put shoes on the horses
as needed or when they begin to "breeze" using an outer rim shoe so that
the horses don't slip in the turns which could pull/tear the stifle and
tendons.
I would take into consideration the
size of the feet as it relates to the overall size of the horse i.e. ; Would not
want to purchase a 1300 pound horse who wears a 00 shoe. .....
As for the rest of the horse ..... this
is what's important ... to "me".
(Some of this I posted earlier.)
>The size/height of a horse is
not as important as is; the angle of the shoulder, length of the humerus,
long forearm/short cannon, strong well muscled back (should be particularly
important in Endurance horses), well defined gaskins and long hip (I'll
give on the length of the hip if the shoulder is well laid back).
Ability to oxygenate their
system; large nostrils, good width between the jaws, good depth of
girth.
The neck should be long enough to act
as a pendulum and not so heavy/thick that it adds too much weight onto the
front legs.
Size/ height becomes a factor when a
rider is very tall (don't want the riders feet to drag on the
ground) :) :)
