and ignore my outfit...haha

 

 

I'm not real sure how you are supposed to get them to stand for conformation pics

beleive it or not...he is jet black in the winter :/ hate th splotching

Thanks!!!

 

What do you want to know exactly?  

Its a conformation critique.  I think he is cute, lol, but I know very little about conformation.  He is built uphill and has a nice neck.  He is compact and looks athletic.  Hopefully some of our confo experts will chime in!  The forum is so freaking slow in the summer!

To make him stand still try to talk to him and pet him on the nose.  This might work b/c it has worked on the horses I did this to for a long time.  Like FCP I'm also don't know very much about confo pics.  He is very handsome and cute though.

This is very weird way to say this but try not to have him stick out his penis.

yeah....he was just so relaxed....haha i know i told him not to expose himself  ya i just confirmation comments or whatever1 thanks1

I love his hooves! My horse has horrible flat feet with almost no heel- she was just born with very bad feet. He looks so happy and sweet :)

He looks grand! I see nothing glaring at me, cept a more balanced trim on his feet. Even his bottom lip is hanging, he's half asleep!

Try feeding trace minerals, particularily copper and zinc. That's the deficiency showing in his blochy coat. It will bring out the colour he was born with. I turned a horse that looked just like this to jet black IN the summer sun last summer and no blankets. Its the copper/zinc deficiency that causes the damage and allows the sun to bleach it. Excellent for hoof health too and spitting out thrush. I also use No Thrush, which is a powdered copper sulphate and its performed very well. I even tried an experiment and put it on a nasty skin fungus that was going on. (wasn't rain rot). One application......gone. I seem to be becoming quite a copper fan and for good reason.  

He definitely looks like a nice horse overall :)  He looks like he's got a lot of power.  When taking conformation pics, you can try to get the horse to stand so that his closest front leg is perpendicular to the ground, and the same with his hind leg.  The other two legs are preferably placed with the front leg slightly behind the closer leg (so that you can see the cannon bone, but the knee is hidden by the other leg) and the hind leg slightly in front of the closer leg (so that the hock is hidden by the other leg).  But don't worry about that too much, because trust me, getting a horse to stand with his legs perfect is very difficult (and I believe it's nearly impossible with some more fidgety horses!!!).  I believe you can search Equisearch for an article on taking good conformation shots (can't remember what the name of it is, but you might try typing in "conformation photos" or something similar; it has photos of a perfect shot and several poorer shots).  The photographer should stand on a horizontal line to the horse's middle; and the camera should be on a level with his middle, which means you may have to squat down in order to keep from tipping the camera.  You'll want the sun shining towards the horse, behind you, which means the best time to take a left side photo is just about at sunset, and the best time to take a right side photo is just after sunrise.

Just thought I'd offer those tips ;)

Well I'm not really a fan of a dip in the base of their neck, although that's common for a TB. His withers are rather prominent. He seems to have a Tb bloodlines, correct? He has a rather sway back although a lot of horses have that and he is a little top heavy in his shoulders and chest. He looks to be about 16 hands and is either a TB or a Warmblood. I am correct?

i would say the background is a little busy, makes it kinda hard to focus on the horse, maybe have him stand sideways with the barn as as the background or any other solid colored wall. 

Liv To Ride- No...he is a Quarter Horse...jk. Of course he is a warmblood or TB, what else would he be? He is a Trakehner. These pictures are at a weird angle, I agree, so it doesn't really show him porportionately. I spose the dip in his neck is lack of muscling?I will post another one soon. thanks to everyone for looking!

Always late...sorry new to this forum.  I have been studying certain breeds intensely for awhile now.  Orion looks to be overly large in neck and head for his size, consider this to affect his balance.

Thanks! He may be built a bit that way. Again, I didn't take a very good angled picture. I'm going to retake soon and repost so it is a little more realistic. He actually has a rather nice sized back end, but I'm sure he is't perfectly proportioned. He is not cow hocked, but he is pigeon toed in the front. Thanks!

 Hi i am very new to this forum and am a little daft when it comes to computers so bare with me.

Also the outfit is gorgeous!!

i have done quite a few vet checks over the years and can tell you that there is no horse with a 100% perfect vet check score if you are picky.  it is also very hard to judge a horses confirmation and performance from a static photo.  What you do with him is also important.  slight cow hocks/toe out can be a good thing in a heavy harness horse as they help traction of the hind legs and provide power. So confirmation faults can depend on the horses use.

 i think that he looks a good type.  he is a little upright in the pasterns and shoulders and a little straight through the hocks and stfles.  

he looks a little toe in in the photos but without looking front on and able to compare the angle of his frog with the line of the pastern and the cannon it is not realy possible to say.

appart from saddle fit the high withers should not be a concern - unless you ride bare back a lot -  ouch!

The pictures make him look a little long in the back and a little weak through the croup. (could be stance or muscle fitness)   All in all though nothing that would have him breaking down.  As far as confirmation for the show ring i am not a judge- i tend to look at the horse from a functional point of veiw rather than solely aesthetic.  i also tend to like a chunky old fashioned head so get laughed at by my showy friends.

i would love to see him move - he looks like he would have a nice powerful stride and cover the ground well.

also the copper and zinc should do the coat wonders. sometimes a omega 3 source like flax seed will help as well