Conformation clinic

You are all invited to take part in my conformation clinic today.

My eyes lie. The camera doesn't...when we're talking about conformation. But this camera did me an injustice today - this mare is gorgeous, and the pictures are just awful. I don't know what my problem is but you'll just have to take my word for it!

Funny how my first impressions of a horse don't allow me to see certain things.

I met the russian bred Arabian mare today. When I saw her in the field I thought Oh dear, if she's as sweet as she is pretty...

She is. She wasn't offended when I picked up all 4 of her hooves even though two of them were painful with scratches (we had a wet summer). Instead, she moved her nose to my face and exhanged breath with me for several moments. I've never had a horse initiate this horse greeting and I have to admit, it's a powerful experience.

But she was mannerly too, for 5, and moved away at a finger touch on her body. And she's huge. They say 15.1 but she must be more based on where her back was when I stood next to her. That she had just completed a two day ride was most interesting to me - how did she behave in the group? More importantly, how did she behave when separated from the group?

The breeder said she is easy to rate even when others are cantering, and she might call, but is easy to manage when other horses leave her alone on the trail. They said they practice separation on the trail a lot.

They are not the owners, they are the breeders. The owner had an injury and asked them to ride her and sell her. They said if they did not have 30 of their own horses, they would definitely keep this mare. They say she is that much fun to ride.

We got talking about brands and he brought out his Arabian branding irons. The ox means purebred, the others mean Shagya and Anglo Arab. Next year it will be illegal to brand any horse in Germany, due to animal rights activists saying it hurts them. All animals must be chipped instead. I know branding does not hurt (the horses barely notice) and I know a thief cannot see a microchip.

This mare let me touch her all over, and when I got to her girth area I felt swelling and heat and the mare flinched, but did not snark at me for what must have hurt. I said, "Did you ride her in a neoprene girth?" "Yes." "I have had this issue too - they're great for short rides but for long ones they build a lot of heat."

The mare was started in December at 4.5 years old. They say she has no vices and jumps right into a horse trailer even alone.

I kept taking pics of her legs cuz I saw that her right front turns out immediately. I wonder if that is a potential problem? Baasha has this too but I don't know if it affected him over his life.

Her shoeing was not so good. I wanted to get the shoes off and trim her and then take pictures of her legs to see the difference. She had flare on all four feet. I think she could have beautiful feet if given a chance. Her feet are at least a size 2.

I wanted to ride but she was tired from the two-day ride and that wouldn't have been a very good test anyway.

So I'll go back next Saturday and they will take me on a trail ride.

Now for the main issue I saw: She's camped out behind in all the photos I took of her. The thing is, I don't know how this affects soundness. There are some conformational flaws that do not inhibit a horse's athletic ability (over at the knee is one example - many horses do fine with this).

Then I had to think of Medina, the 7 year old Straight Egyptian grey mare I looked at and watched being ridden. My first impression couldn't see past her color and size (14.2). But check out this photo. She is fabulously built, with almost perfect legs and feet (too-high hocks is the main thing I see). I know you are not supposed to look at color but I know I will regret it the next 20 years if I get another grey. Her price is 2500Euros.

In the case of Medina, the camera improved her.

With the bay, the camera made me wonder. The bay is 6K Euros (no worries I'd never pay that much for a horse. They're family members, not cars).

Please share your thoughts about your experiences with these conformation issues, I'm curious.

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OH but then I got to meet the father, Prognoz!

He has the biggest eyes I've ever seen on an Arabian horse, and he's way prettier in real life. The mare did not inherit his eyes, sadly.

Cameras were not made to honestly reflect God's finest creation.

P.S. I altered the brightness and contrast on all of these photos because they were washed out for some reason.