Judging Athletic Ability

by HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

There are no horses with "perfect" conformation. And there are also some differences of opinion and preference among horsemen as to what constitutes perfect conformation in the equine athlete. But in general, there are some guidelines to follow when selecting a future athlete, winner or champion.

Most outstanding horses (in whatever their field of performance) are well balanced individuals in their overall conformation, whether they are racehorses, jumpers, cutting horses or pleasure horses, large horses or small ones. In the well balanced and athletic horse, the legs fit the body, depth of body and length of leg are similar, the back is neither too long nor too short compared with length of leg, and so on. Size of the feet and length of neck are proportionate to the rest of the animal.

The angles in the body (shoulders, hips, pasterns) all match, and are of good length and slope for maximum shock absorption and a good stride. No matter what size he is, the horse has good balance and all his parts fit together. If he is well proportioned and his shoulder matches his hip, with good over-all conformation, he will probably be a good athlete—agile, with good speed and staying power—whether he’s large or small. The angle of the hip, rather than the horse’s size, length of leg, or height, is what governs his stride. A horse with a long, well-sloped shoulder and hip will usually be fast and agile and move with a minimum of effort, compared with a horse that has a short, steep shoulder and hip, with choppy action. A well laid back shoulder (acute angle between shoulder blade and the line drawn from point of shoulder to elbow) permits a greater swing of leg; the horse can reach out farther with his front feet, with a longer stride. In the hindquarters, too, the sharper the angle, the greater length of hip and more freedom of movement in the legs.

A good horse has a short top line and longer underline. He is also "square", with the length of his body (point of shoulder to point of buttocks) equal to his height at the withers. Legs and body are also equal; the well balanced horse is the same distance through his body (top of withers to underline) as he is from underline to fetlock joint.

Leg action should be free-flowing and fairly straight. The horse with crooked legs and crooked flight path of the feet puts more strain on all leg structures, and when working at speed he may strike himself and seriously injure his legs. Any horse that is "out of alignment" with much deviation from straight foot flight tends to have problems when he is working fast.

A horse that interferes at high speed may crack or break a sesamoid bone or suffer other leg injuries because of the way he hits himself. And if feet aren’t striking the ground perfectly square (if he lands first on one side of his foot due to crooked leg conformation), this puts extra stresses on certain parts of the leg and may create strain or injury, possibly leading to breakdown or future unsoundness. The horses with more correct feet and legs tend to handle the stresses of athletic exertions with less injury. The better the horse’s feet and legs, the longer he will hold up.

Most horses are not perfectly straight in the legs, but some types of deviation are less harmful than others. You can often get by with a less than perfect horse if he has strong leg construction and good joints, along with a good "engine"—the will power and endurance (we often call it heart) to be a good athlete in spite of minor imperfections.

A slightly pigeon-toed horse may sometimes be a better risk as an athlete than the toed-out horse. In neither deviation are the joints lined up perfectly, but the pigeon-toed horse often seems to be able to stand the stresses on the legs better than the splay-footed animal. Also, the horse with toes slightly turned in won’t strike himself, since he tends to paddle outward when in motion. By contrast, the toed-out horse picks his feet up to the inside, winging them inward, and tends to hit his other leg if the foot flight comes very far inward toward the opposite limb.

No horse is perfect, but usually the one that fits together with a pleasing sort of fluid motion as he travels, will be a good bet as an athlete, especially if his feet and legs are well constructed for efficient movement and minimum stress.