Many months ago now, Breeches & Boat Shoes posted thoroughly about conformation, and many others followed suit, happily drawing lines and shapes on their ponies. I am just now getting around to doing this myself. But to be honest, I’m not sure if I learned anything from it, other than I can’t really tell exactly where to put the lines. I took the Breeches & Boat Shoes posts into consideration, and also some other random articles found via Google, typically from vet schools. But one thing I ran across confused the heck out of me. Shoulder slope. Kind of important in horses that jump (and perhaps for other disciplines?). In this UGA Extension article, their take on measuring the shoulder angle was new to me. They drew lines like this:
I have two different pictures because I couldn’t quite figure out where to put the lines. Nor can I be bothered with trying to measure the angle. However, I learned some time ago, most likely as a child and not yet a horse owner, that shoulder slope was determined by drawing lines like this:
Basically, bisect the angle of the scapula and humerus at the point of shoulder with a line parallel to the ground. The slope is then the angle between the scapula and the line parallel to the ground. Maybe slope and angle are different things? How do y’all determine the slope of your horse’s shoulder?
I also drew some other lines and shapes:
Mainly, I conclude that my horse is leggy. Not a shock in an ottb. And if anyone wants to draw lines and shapes on my horse better than I have, here’s the original:
I’ve got posts forthcoming about Eli’s chiro appointment, saddle reps visiting the barn, and a blog hop from ‘Fraidy Cat Eventing … and also Weenie Wednesday, of course.
Saturday’s lesson recap: fun. Eli was great and very handy in the turns around little 2’6″ courses. We’re just going to keep on keeping on.
Your horse is super attractive, but lines and shapes confuse me too.
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That’s basically my mantra for everything: Why is this so hard? At least my horse is pretty.
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Gotta say, Eli looks good in whatever lines you choose to draw 🙂 Hip, hip HOORAY for leggy OTTBs!
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His cannons are SO LONG!
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Saw all those posts too. And they confused the heck out of me. I am not conformation savvy. Good on ya for giving it a try!
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I have no real experience with conformation. I don’t care how the horse is put together as long as he is sound and jumps well! But it’s kinda fun to play with.
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I could never figure out where to draw the lines either. People are always telling me that Henry has a nice shoulder and I’m like… *shrug*…. I can’t really “see” it. It looks like a shoulder to me.
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As long as he has two shoulders, one on each side … lol
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I get stuck same as you – where EXACTLY do we draw the lines?? Your horse looks good to me. =)
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The lines are always in different places on different horses. So confusing.
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Well and then people talk about “ideal” conformation in a horse but… for what? Ideal for… pleasure? roping? dating? sitting on the couch? I find conformation VERY confusing except the obvious things — straight, not straight, etc.
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“Ideal” varies between horses and disciplines, but it is based on physics and geometry that would have positive effect on the biomechanics of the horse.
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Right, which is totally fair! But I have seen many conformation articles just talk about ideals without stating a discipline, or how those things related to biomechanics, so they don’t have the context required for a good comparison (in my opinion).
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Oh gotcha!
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I’ve been reading the Practical Horseman regular confirmation clinic feature, and one of the reasons I like it is because it’s done with an eye for comparing horses of the same discipline. A cutting horse isn’t really comparable to a show jumper…
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The lines for shoulder angle are drawn from the point of the shoulder to the buttock and from the point of the shoulder to the top of the withers. The angle between those lines is the slope of the shoulder. 🙂 I’m a conformation nerd.
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Thank you! I will be drawing those lines on my horse next!
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he’s so handsome lol. i actually went through the whole process of putting lines on my horse too, but the pic i used was super old and i never posted… might try again when i finally get a decent confo shot that’s current… but yea i’m in agreement – the placement of the lines was confusing and a slight deviation one way or another seemed likely to make some big difference… maybe? haha idk
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I totally agree about the line placement –if you move one point of a line by even an inch it totally changes the angles!
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I tried doing this but then it just made me really depressed because 1. I didn’t know what I was doing and 2. I think my horse has the confirmation of a goat
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Haha omg I don’t think O looks like that! She is much more majestical.
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I actually just busted out laughing at the “conformation of a goat” line
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Haha I love the lines and shapes! I’d really like to do one with the DragonMare, ’cause her owner and I make fun of her all the time for having an enormous head and practically no neck. Pretty unicorn.
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Nah, dragon unicorn mare is perfect!
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