Have you ever wondered what makes the top performance horses so successful? The answer can most likely be found in the study of equine balance and conformation. Horses that are built well, typically perform well.
It is important to evaluate horses’ balance and conformation for a few reasons. By being conformationally correct and balanced, our horses are able to (most of the time) perform well and remain sound.
Recognizing these characteristics is also important for breeding practices. It is our responsibility to ensure that positive traits are passed down to the next generation. It is crucial to only breed those horses that have the best balance, conformation, and performance for the benefit of their offspring.
Finally, your horse’s conformation can impact how much you spend on their maintenance. Of course, if you are in a position to pay for numerous treatments and expensive maintenance, go ahead and buy that horse if you want! I would just like to give you the skills to select the best equine prospect for your personal and financial situation.
I will provide example photos and plenty of links to show you examples of the points I discuss as well.
Evaluating Equine Balance
When you evaluate a horse’s balance, they should be placed on a level surface without any tack on. It is impossible to evaluate a horse accurately when they have a saddle on their back. The saddle hides the horse’s back and can confuse your eyes when evaluating.
To evaluate balance, you will have to be comfortable with making invisible lines with your eyes. It is beneficial to practice with photos but the visual skill is extremely useful to have.
Balance is defined by the proportionality of the horse and is determined by the skeletal structure under the skin. It is important to consider because it illustrates the harmonious blending of the horse’s body parts.
When evaluating balance, you will look at the overall:
- Body Proportion
- Length of Neck
- Shoulder Angle
- Hip Angle
- Wither and Hip Height
Body Proportion
When evaluating body proportion in horses, you want to visually divide the horse into thirds. The three pieces are as follows:
- Point of shoulders to withers
- Point of withers to point of hips
- Point of hips to point of buttocks
An ideal horse will have equal distances between each of these points. However, after examining some horses, you will quickly see that most horses are not “perfect”. Your goal is simply to figure out where problems may exist.
It is important to remember that just because a horse isn’t considered perfectly balanced, that doesn’t mean that they are worthless. However, it may mean that the horse:
- Can’t compete well against other horses who are better balanced
- Will require more care and management
- Isn’t ideal for breeding
When examining thirds, you need to also look at the horse’s underline vs. back. Draw a line from your horse’s wither to the point of their hip and draw a line from elbow to hock. Then compare the length of the two lines.
Horses possessing a back that is longer than their underline will often break down faster than a horse with a shorter back. This is how we get horses with sway backs. You can think of a horse’s back like a rope bridge. The wider the canyon (longer the back), the more the bridge will sag.
The next piece of the equine balance and conformation puzzle is length of neck.
Length of Neck
When examining length of neck, we want to see a longer top line (poll to withers) than bottom line (throatlatch to point of shoulder). The desired ratio is 2:1 with topline being twice the length of the bottom line.
A horse with a long bottom line compared to topline is referred to as having a ewe neck. Horses with ewe necks will often have less flexibility and a steeper shoulder angle (more on that in the next section).
These horses may develop incorrect muscling as well (having more muscle on the bottom of the neck instead of the top). Unfortunately, they will have decreased athleticism and maneuverability overall.
The next step of an equine balance and conformation examination (as mentioned above) is shoulder angle.
Shoulder Angle
The shoulder angle is described as the angle between the point of the shoulder and the end of the scapula. I’ll be honest, this is one that I struggle with a lot.
The ideal shoulder angle should be around 45-55 degrees. This angle allows for a greater range of motion in the forehand, or, in other words, greater reach with the front legs.
There are two common faults that you may see. A straight (or upright) shoulder will have an angle greater than 55 degrees and result in a longer back. This will also create a shorter stride and more concussive stress on the leg joints.
The upright shoulder will typically cause a bouncier ride as well. However, a slightly upright shoulder can be seen as ideal sometimes. In jumping horses and gaited breeds, a steeper shoulder angle may allow for higher knee action.
A shoulder angle that is less than 45 degrees is less of a problem with stress on the joints than an upright shoulder. A downward sloping shoulder will cause problems with saddle fit. Since the scapula is angled so far back that it is hard to find a saddle that doesn’t interfere with shoulder movement.
However, draft horses will be more likely to have a more laid back shoulder due to their breeding. A lower shoulder angle allowed for easier collar fitting and therefore was a desirable breeding trait.
Similar to shoulder angle, we must also examine hip angle.
Hip Angle
Even though horses only hold about 40% of their weight on their hindquarters, all of their power for motion comes from this area. Just like the shoulder angle, we want to see a hip angle of around 45 degrees.
A more sloping hip can allow for greater reach under the body, a.k.a. more POWER. A short hip is considered more of a fault than a sloping hip as it doesn’t allow for correct muscle connection through the hip. This in turn makes it less efficient at the muscular level.
The final main point of examining equine balance is the comparison of wither and hip height.
Wither and Hip Height
This may be the easiest thing to examine when looking at equine balance. To determine wither and hip height, you simply need to compare the height between the two.
Ideally, the withers and hips will be approximately even. Horses that are slightly “uphill” (higher at the withers) are often not faulted. They may have decreased power in the hind end, but other than that, is not much of a problem.
If a horse is “downhill” (lower at the withers), the horse will carry additional weight on their front end. This leads to lack of agility on the forehand and due to the excess weight, can lead to future lameness in the front legs.
However, young horses are the caveat to this rule; they will grow faster at the hip than at the withers. Therefore, a young horse may be downhill, but may catch up as it reaches maturity.
Additional Points to Consider
Heart Girth
While heart girth is not super critical to examine, it is important because this area houses the heart and lungs. When looking at heart girth, the depth should be the same as the distance from the chest to the ground and should be longer than the depth at flank.
This trait is often examined in Thoroughbreds because more room in the chest cavity means room for larger organs. In other words, more room for a larger heart and lungs.
Head
Regardless of personal preference, the equine head should be characteristic of the breed. Draft horses typically possess a Roman nose (convex nose), whereas Arabians are known for their dished faces (concave nose).
Eyes
Being a prey species, horses require large and round eyes to view their surroundings efficiently. Therefore, the ideal eye is, well, large and round. Small eyes are termed “pig eyes” and are not only unsightly but could also cause poor vision in the horse.
Mouth
Both the top and lower jaws (as well as the lips) of the horse should meet evenly. An uneven mouth can cause the horse to have issues with chewing their food and cause uneven tooth wear.
The two common faults you may see are called parrot mouth and monkey mouth. Parrot mouth is when the top jaw and lip overhangs the lower (a.k.a. an overbite). Monkey mouth is when the lower jaw and lip overhangs the upper (a.k.a. an underbite).
Throatlatch and Neck
The throatlatch of a horse should be well-defined and “open”. A horse with a thick throatlatch can experience restricted airflow through the larynx to the lungs. It is also simply viewed as unsightly.
Evaluating Conformation
Similar to evaluating equine balance, evaluating equine conformation (a.k.a. structural correctness), deals with the skeletal structure. However, we only evaluate the correctness of the limbs.
Proper conformation is critical as it allows the horse to be utilized to their full potential and have fewer issues with unsoundness.
All faults will have linked images that you can check out 🙂
Front Legs
To evaluate the legs properly, you need to examine them from the front, side, and hind views. In other words, you need to walk a full circle around the horse to see the entire picture.
When examining front legs from a dorsal view, you should be able to draw an invisible straight line from the point of each shoulder to the point of each hoof toe. This line should bisect each forearm, knee, canon, and hoof.
Forelegs that are set too far outside of that line at the chest are known as “base wide”. Legs that are too close together result in a horse that is “base narrow”. Base wide horses may have toes that are turned in (“pigeon toed”) and base narrow horses may have toes that are turned out (“toed out”).
Deviations can be present in the knees as well. If the knees deviate out from the line, they are referred to as “bowlegged”. If the knees deviate in from the line, they are referred to as “knock-kneed”. These deviations cause additional physical stress to be placed on the bone or joint.
When examining the forelimbs from a lateral view, draw a line from the shoulder to the ground. The line should divide the leg down the middle. The knee joint should not deviate forwards (buck knees or over at the knees) or backwards (calf kneed). Calf knees are a larger fault as they can cause hypertension and increased risk of fracturing carpal bones.
Pastern and Hoof Angles
The average horse weighs 1,000 lbs. and holds up all that weight on 4 softball sized points — the hooves. So what absorbs the impact of all that weight when the horse is in motion? The pastern! Ideally, the pastern should be about a 45 degree angle when measured against flat ground.
An upright pastern has no give or flexibility, leading to more concussive force on the joint. A sloping pastern can cause the fetlock to smack into the ground while the horse is in motion (OUCH). These faults cause the hooves to wear incorrectly and incorrect farrier care can exacerbate these issues.
Both of these faults increase the risk of lameness issues in the lower leg as well.
Hind Leg
To evaluate the hind legs properly, you need to examine them from the side and hind view. We will again draw a straight line (this time from the buttock through each hock and down through the fetlock) to cut the leg in half.
Horses are base narrow (bow legged) when the hocks deviate out from the straight line. Horses are cow hocked when the hocks deviate in from the straight line.
Final Considerations in Equine Balance and Conformation
All in all, you should be examining horses’ build for the overall harmony of their structures. Again, although it is possible, you are very unlikely to find a horse that is “perfect”. It is your job to determine what you are looking for in an equine companion/prospect and what kind of maintenance/support you can provide for them. All horses have purpose and usefulness.
It is also extremely important to not breed horses that have more severe faults. Many of these faults cause pain for the horse and why would you want to pass that pain and discomfort down to the next generation? Stay educated 🙂
Thank you so much for reading about how to evaluate equine balance and conformation. Let me know if any of the information in this post surprised you! I’d love to hear from you.
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