Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Maybe EN should have a conformation photo op like one of
the other popular horse magazines has, three horses (they
could all or some be well known or high mileage horses) and
we could study their conformation and place in the order we
think they best go and then see from the results who has
high mileage, no experience, etc.  Might be a fun column
and I'd bet pretty darn eye-opening!

heidi larson and Kalasha


--- Bruce Weary DC <bweary@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>   Conformation has always fascinated me, at least as it
> relates to 
> performance. Like so many singular factors about horses,
> (height, 
> weight, breeding, foot size, muscle type, resting heart
> rate) it seems 
> that it can either be a significant factor, or not. I
> tend to look a 
> little beyond the conformation of a horse standing still
> in front of me, 
> and prefer to see how it uses it's body parts to propel
> itself  forward. 
> If conformation is looked at as a dynamic concept, I
> think we have to 
> look beyond the horse's standing posture,  to his
> biomechanical 
> efficiency when moving, how much of his skeletal system
> is indeed 
> functioning optimally when he is moving, what his muscle
> conditioning 
> and function are, and his general coordination. All of
> these factors 
> combined, I think, will tell us more about what a horse
> is physically 
> capable of, than just his standing posture. I am *not* an
> expert on any 
> of these factors. I am, however, highly opinionated at
> times. Does that 
> count? :>
>      We recently had to put down my wife's horse due to
> chronic lameness 
> extending from a club foot deformity. He had nearly 3,000
> endurance 
> miles, and was the only horse in our barn to bring home a
> Tevis buckle. 
> My daughter's horse, Big Nose George, was very
> cow-hocked, and had a 
> nearly life threatening injury to his right hind foot
> early in life that 
> left him permanently deformed. He broke his maiden the
> first time out at 
> the track, and retired with 4,400 endurance miles. My
> wife's current hot 
> shot gelding toes out in front, and is the fastest
> endurance horse I've 
> ever had in my barn. I ride a foxtrotter that moves
> funny, but beats 
> most of the Arabians she competes against. My other mare
> is a national 
> top ten halter horse, and she interferes in the rear at a
> trot.  With 
> all these exceptions to the rule, I guess I just shop and
> hope to find 
> horses that can do the work, and hold up over the long
> run. Sometimes, I 
> think it's a turkeyshoot anyhoo.      Dr Q
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