Someone commented that every horse has a flaw. Why, yes, they do. And I have had some doozies myself, as I am going to show today. These are all horses I owned or own.
Let's start with the front end. Look, it's a duck! A friend of mine commented that the reason this horse stayed sound is because his entire legs were crooked, and that they are more likely to have soundness issues when part of the leg is straight and then part of it is crooked. This may be true. All I know is that he had hideous conformation and was really a miserable SOB for many years until we had a come-to-Jesus meeting about barn sourness, at which point he decided to be a good pony, which ended up winning him a very cushy retirement. He never went lame, but he did go blind. 
Someone not only created this front end, but then they didn't handle him, either. Or register him! Yay, they got the whole Backyard Breeder Trifecta! This is an unhandled 2 year old that I trained a long time ago. Thank God he was quiet and got himself a good riding home, after he got a gelding surgery.
Moving on to the back end...LOL. There is a reason you cannot see the tail. It was a little stick with a few hairs. Typical old style Appaloosa. Gotta love those crooked legs. Had a whopping huge hammerhead with pink ringed pig eyes too, but I can't find a good profile picture of her.
Sweet horse, but she really did look like someone threw up on her. Good school horse though. They don't have to be pretty for that!
Ha ha, could her croup be any shorter? Her tail looks like it is trying to migrate east and say hi to her mane. If I tell you that this mare had a lot of trouble getting her back end underneath her and instead preferred to prop on her front legs to stop herself, will you even be a little surprised?
A neck can also tell you a lot about a horse. This horse, prior to my owning him, ran away with someone and ran over a stop sign. Took it right out. Again, are you even surprised?
Looking at this neck, he should have come complete with an anchor!
Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad shoulder. Rode like it too. Bad gaits, heavy on forehead, tripped at any speed faster than a slow lope.
While these are all horses who had a use, and stayed relatively sound, and were loved by someone, none of them were breeding quality and I am happy to say they were not bred. Some of these are horses I really loved. But you can love a horse and still recognize it's not a breeding quality horse. Or at least you should be able to. I have met breeders who could have come up with a justification for breeding every single horse you see above. After all, the duck footed one was a great color, the appaloosa and the gray had fairly impressive performance careers, the dun was well bred, and the dark bay was, well, sweet and beginner friendly. I have seen horses bred for a lot worse reasons, haven't you? We all need to be able to love our horses and yet say no to breeding unless they are superior in conformation, athletically talented and have good dispositions.
