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Equine Sample LessonEQ179 Putting Together Equine Conformation
Conformation is the physical appearance of an animal determined by its arrangement of muscle, bone and other body tissue. Each breed organization has identified its "ideal" horse. Therefore, the breed "ideal" is the place to start when evaluating horses. The purpose of judging or evaluating horses is to find the horse most typical of the breed ideal within a group of horses. It is important to establish a systematic approach to evaluating conformation. A system that works for many people includes three basic steps: 1. Begin by initially tracking the horse for soundness, structural deviations and way of going. 2. Secondly, the evaluator should view the horse from the profile, starting with the head, throat latch, neck, shoulder and front column of bones, top line, hindquarters and rear column of bones. This profile view should be done at a distance in order to visualize the entire horse. 3. Finally, the horse should be viewed from the front and rear. ELEMENTS OF CONFORMATION Head: Various breeds have certain characteristics that help define breed character or type, but there are variations even within breeds. However, attractive, well-conformed heads for most breeds have common characteristics. These characteristics include short, well-set ears; large bold eyes; short distance from eye to muzzle; large nostril; refined muzzle with a shallow mouth; as well as sex characteristics and "breediness" of the head. What makes a head attractive? Certainly the set of the ears, shape of the eye, size of the nostril, depth of the mouth and overall proportionality of the head is important to our concept of beauty. It is important that the ears sit squarely on top of the head, that they point forward and have an attractive, alert appearance. When a horse is measured from the poll to a horizontal line drawn between the eyes, this distance will approximate one-half the distance from the horizontal line to the midpoint of the nostril. The eyes will be positioned one-third of the distance from the horse's poll to its muzzle. During evolution, the eye has moved from the front of the horse's head to the side, which provides a more rounded area of vision (about 300 degrees.) Large, quiet, soft eyes usually indicate a quiet, docile disposition. A small pigeye is indicative of a horse that is usually somewhat sullen and difficult to train. The horse with excessive white around the eye is very often nervous and flighty. However, this is characteristic of some breeds. Even though many breed enthusiasts discuss the need for large, flaring nostrils to facilitate adequate intake of air, there appears to be no scientific data for this statement. The horse should have a well-defined jaw. Stallions should have a slightly larger, deeper jaw than mares, indicative of secondary male sexual characteristics. Typically, geldings' jaws will be intermediate in size. There are distinct differences among breeds and lines of horses with respect to depth of the mouth. Typically, the more shallow the mouth, the softer and more responsive a horse is to a bit and vice versa. When examining the mouth, be sure that the mouth is not parrot mouthed (overshot muzzle) or monkey mouthed (undershot muzzle). Neck: Horses use their neck as a balance arm. The throat latch, which is the junction between head and neck from ear to ear, should be trim and refined regardless of breed. A trim, refined throatlatch will allow the horse to flex at the poll and perform while breathing correctly. The ideal would be approximately a two to one ratio of top to bottom line of the horse's neck. The determining factor in the ratio of the top to bottom line of the neck is the slope of the horse's shoulder. As the shoulder becomes more sloping, the top line of the neck becomes longer in relation to the bottom line. As the shoulder becomes straighter, the ratio of the top to bottom line becomes smaller. Balance: Balance is the single most important characteristic in equine selection because it forms the basics for movement, length of stride and ultimately performance. Balance is determined by the skeletal structure. Nothing is more critical to balance than the slope of the horse's shoulder. Slope of shoulder changes drastically when the angle of the shoulder increases or decreases. Not only does the top to bottom line ratio of the neck change, but the ratio of length of back to length of underline also changes. It is ideal to have a short topline and a long underline. The straighter the shoulder, the farther forward the withers will be with a correspondingly longer back from withers to coupling. Length of underline from elbow to stifle is not affected by difference in shoulder angle; thus, the straight-shouldered horse's body has the appearance of a tube. It is incorrect to compare 14.2-hand horses to 17-hand horses in exact measurements because horses of different sizes should not have the same length of body or underline. When measuring the height of a horse, a hand is equal to 4 inches. A 14.2 hand horse will be 58 inches tall (14 hands X 4 inches = 56 inches + 2 inches = 58 inches). Therefore, 14.4 hands will becomes 15 hands. Shoulder: The ideal slope of the shoulder is approximately 45 to 50 degrees. In general, the angle of the pastern will correspond to the angle of the shoulder. A horse that has too much slope to its pasterns is undesirable and is said to be coonfooted. A horse with a short, steep pastern will endure more concussion and is predisposed to navicular disease. In addition to overall balance, slope of shoulder influences length of stride. Thus the steeper the shoulder, the shorter the stride. The steep or straight-shouldered horse will be shallow-hearted, as measured from the top of the withers to the chest floor. Unlike the balanced horse, with legs that are approximately the same length as depth of heart, the straight-shouldered horse's legs will be longer than his depth of heart. A steep-shouldered horse will always be rough-riding. Top line: The top line of the horse includes the withers, back, loin or coupling and croup. As viewed from the side, a properly balanced horse will be higher at the withers than at the croup. Strength of top line and loin muscles over the kidneys are also factors that influence soundness and athletic ability. The ideal withers should be sharp, prominent and well-defined. This enables the withers to hold a saddle on a horse without the need to excessively tighten the front cinch. Horses should have short, strong backs relative to a long underline. Length of back is directly related to length and slope of shoulder as well as to the top to bottom line neck ratio. Horses that have excessively long backs are unbalanced and weaker in their top lines than short-backed horses. The loin should be well-muscled and strong as opposed to being long, weak and poorly muscled. The croup should be long and gently sloping. This adds length to the stride as well as dimension and muscling to the hindquarter. "Stock horse" breeds (Quarter Horses) are more sloping in their croup than "pleasure breeds" (Arabians, Morgans). Hindquarters: Regardless of breed, the hindquarters should appear square when viewed from the side. The flatter and more level the horses's croup, the more vertical its hind leg action is likely to be. In contrast, the horse with a steep croup will exhibit greater horizontal action, moving with its legs more collected under its body. The ideal horse has a hindquarter that is as full and as long from across the horizontal plane of the stifle as it is from point of hip to point of buttocks. Barrel: The judge should evaluate spring of rib and depth of heart girth, since these are indicative of capacity for reproductive and athletic performance. Muscle: Muscling is an important criteria in judging many conformation classes, especially stock horse classes, such as Appaloosa, Quarter Horse and Paint Horse. The correct horse is a balanced athlete that is muscled uniformly throughout. Horses visually appraised as heavily muscled had greater circumference of forearm, gaskin and width of quarter than lightly muscled ones. Today the horse industry accepts muscling that is long and well-defined. However, a powerfully muscled horse that has length, bulge, ripple and definition to its muscle structure is desirable in the stock horse breeds. It is important to note that breeds such as the Arabian will not have the quantity of muscle that is seen in the "stock" horse breeds. However, long, clean, well-defined muscling is preferred in all breeds. BREED AND SEX CHARACTERISTICS Breed characteristics are those traits that are unique and characteristic of a particular breed. These would be traits such as body type and color pattern, as well as gaits and way of going. Sex characteristics are also an important aspect of horse judging. Masculinity refers to male traits such as prominence of jaw and heavy muscling. In mares, the evaluator should look for femininity and refinement. Geldings would fit somewhere between stallions and mares, but generally will not be as massively muscled as stallions. Structure: Conformation is directly related to skeletal structure, the framework that gives the body form and protects the vital organs. The horse's skeletal structure will determine the length and slope of shoulder, overall height and all the other things that are related to skeletal design. It includes the bones and ligaments which bind the pieces together to form joints. A horse must have structurally correct legs to be a performance athlete and the manner in which a horse moves is determined by its conformation and skeletal structure. Front legs: The horse's forelimbs bear about 65 percent of its weight. The horse should have straight legs as viewed from the front. A straight line from the point of the shoulder should bisect the entire front leg all the way to the toe. There should be two equal parts in the ideally structured horse. Although this is actually rare, the toes and knees should point straight forward. The width of the toes on the ground should be the same width as their origin in the chest. The cannon bone should be centered on the knee and fetlock. There are several deviations to the ideal front column of bones as viewed from the front. These deviations affect movement and, subsequently, performance. Horses whose toes point inward (toed-in) are referred to as "pigeon-toed," while other horses that have toes that point outward (toed-out) are called "splay-footed." A horse that stands base-narrow is closer at the ground than at the origin of the legs in the chest. This is typical of horses with large muscle mass. The base-narrow horse is predisposed to landing on the outside of its hoof walls. Base-wide conformation positions the horse's feet wider at the ground than at their origin at the chest. Horses that are narrow-chested are usually toed-out and will thus distribute more weight on the inside of their front hooves. Bowlegs, knock-knees and bench knees are other examples of poor conformation that may affect soundness. Bowlegged horses present the entire knee in an outward deviation as viewed from the front. Knock-kneed or close-kneed horses have the entire knee set to the inside of a straight line from chest to toe. This condition is generally accompanied by toed-out feet and with some degree of outward rotation of the cannon and fetlock. Bench knees is another structural fault in horses. Bench or offset knees are characteristic of a horse with the cannon bones set too far to the outside of the knees. This conformational problem increases the possibility that a horse will develop splints. When viewed from the side, the front column of bones should have an appropriate slope and angle of shoulder and pastern. A correct line should run from the center of the scapula to the front edge of the knee and bisect the hoof. The most frequent structural deviation of the knees when viewed from the side is "over at the knees," commonly referred to as buck-kneed. This is a forward deviation, with knee set too far forward in relation to the leg. Although buck knees are a structural deviation, such horses are typically capable of a long performance life. The opposite condition to buck-knees is "back at the knees" or "calf-kneed" legs. This conformation fault is extremely serious and many calf-kneed horses do not stay sound. Calf-knees allow the knees to bend backwards (hyper extend) and predispose the horse to unsoundness. The ideal pastern is moderate in length with angles approximately 45 degrees in front and 50 degrees in the rear. Short, steep pasterns give the horse a choppy, rough stride and predispose it to lameness due to extra concussion on its entire front column of bones. However, pasterns that are too long relative to length of limb are weak and may allow the horse to injure ankles, tendons and ligaments. Rear legs: When viewing a horse from the rear for structural correctness, an imaginary line from the point of the buttocks to the ground should bisect the gaskin, hock and hoof. This will equalize the distribution of weight, bone pressure and strain on ligaments. Horses that are bowed-in at the hocks and cannon bones instead of being parallel are referred to as cow-hocked. Typically, their hocks are set too close together, pointing toward one another with their feet widely separated. Horses that are cow-hocked tend to be weak in the major movements that require work off of the haunches, such as stopping, turning and sliding. Horses that are toed-in when viewed from behind are referred to as "out at the hock" (bow-legged). Bow-legged horses have hocks that are too far apart and are generally predisposed to being base-narrow. These horses have added strain on their bones, ligaments and joints and may have many types of interference in movement. Excellent hind leg structure, as viewed from the side, is delineated by a line that extends from the point of the buttocks to the ground. Ideally, that line should touch the hocks, run parallel to the cannon and be slightly behind the heel. A horse with too much angle in the hock joint is called sickle-hocked. Viewed from the side, the horse's leg stands under its hip from the hock down due to the excessive angulation in the hock. Horses with sickle hocks are predisposed to curbs. Structural correctness ultimately determines a horse's value and usefulness. Regardless of whether the animal is a favorite in the Kentucky Derby or a pleasure horse, length and skeletal correctness play a critical role in the usefulness of the athlete. EXERCISE: 1. Use the horse pictures provided by your instructor and make a list of the positive conformational traits of the horses in the pictures. Once you have completed the positive list, then compile a list of bad conformational traits of the horses in the pictures. Make sure you identify the positive traits first. Based on your evaluation of the structure of each horse, make your best prediction on how that horse might move. INTERNET RESOURCE:
** Equiworld - Anatomy & Physiology
** Gaited Horses - Body Parts of the Horse
** University of Kentucky Agripedia - Interactive Games
** University of Missouri Extension - Horse Conformation: Form to Function TEST: 1. What is the single most important characteristic in equine selection? 2. The ideal relationship between the horse's top line and under line is for the top line to be shorter in relationship to the under line. TRUE or FALSE?
3. The front limbs of the horse bear what percent of the horse's weight?
4. Define the following conformational faults:
5. What conformation trait influences stride length more than any other trait?
6. How will a horse move with a conformation of a straight, steep shoulder, long back and short, steep hip? EQ179 Putting Together Equine ConformationTEACHER'S GUIDEOBJECTIVE: The student will develop an understanding of ideal equine conformation and how it affects function.PREPARATION: Contact your local county extension office for additional horse judging or selection material. Provide picture of different horses from breed magazines so that students can compare conformational differences and make predictions on movement. Two graphics on another page show parts of a horse and the skeletal system. INTERNET RESOURCE:
** Equiworld - Anatomy & Physiology
** Gaited Horses - Body Parts of the Horse
** University of Kentucky Agripedia - Interactive Games
** University of Missouri Extension - Horse Conformation: Form to Function IMPORTANT TERMS: balance, muscling, structure, breed character, neck, shoulder, top line, under line, croup, back. EXTENSION: Have breed magazines available for students to use to further their appreciation of different breeds and their conformation and uses. Visit a horse farm or a horse auction and practice your evaluation skills. Watch the horses move to confirm how form affects function. EXERCISE ANSWERS: 1. Answers will vary depending on pictures used. TEST KEY: 1. What is the single most important characteristic in equine selection? Balance. 2. The ideal relationship between the horse's top line and under line is for the top line to be shorter in relationship to the under line. TRUE or FALSE? TRUE.
3. The front limbs of the horse bear what percent of the horse's weight? Correct answer: B. 65
4. Define the following conformational faults:
5. What conformation trait influences stride length more than any other trait? Correct answer: C. Slope of the shoulder. 6. How will a horse move with a conformation of a straight, steep shoulder, long back and short, steep hip?
The horse will move with a short stride, the hooves will hit the ground hard and will be rough to ride. END
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