Form and function and a lot more...

Wow. I have to say, this is the worst shoulder I've seen so far. This is, thankfully, a gelding who someone was smart enough to ensure couldn't reproduce. Check out that shoulder. It is almost straight up and down. This horse must ride like you are sitting on a jackhammer. At least this one is out of the gene pool, and we can only hope he was an "oops" baby from a one-time breeding of his parents.

Here is a sweet old mare advertised for sale. The only problem is that the ad brags that she has had a few foals. Dear Lord, why? Because she is gray? This mare has short stubby legs and tiny feet which don't look even marginally capable of holding up her bulk. She has big old head and appears to be cowhocked. Folks, just because a horse has a nice disposition, that doesn't mean you should breed it.

Know your breed...please

Today's class: Know your Breed: Arabians.

This mare is being advertised as one that would make a "perfect broodmare" even though they admit they have no papers on her and will sell her for $250. OK. Now let's look at her conformation.

Today I'm not even going to point out all of the things that are wrong here. I'm just going to post a picture below of a breeding quality Arabian who is the same age as this mare (to be fair). Take some time and look at the differences for yourself if you are unclear about what a breeding quality Arabian should look like.

So you're a rescue, huh?

Some 501(c)(3) horse rescue in Oklahoma has this mare up for sale...with her colt at side by a registered AQHA stallion. What are they doing, trying to breed their own future rescues? This mare is as long as Britney Spears' hair extensions. She's downhill, short necked, crooked in front and post legged behind. She isn't a terrible horse but she isn't a breeding quality horse. And then they choose to breed her to a Quarter Horse with no show or race record. Why? Why? Why?

All babies are cute!

I made that statement but after perusing some more sale ads, have thought better of it. First, we have this sorrel filly who really looks just pitiful. She is thin, dull coated and looks wormy, but even if she was good weight, she'd still be calf kneed, cow hocked, and (I suspect, it's hard to see from the angle) long backed. And now she is being ditched on Craigslist. Why breed if you're going to (a) breed crap and (b) not even take proper care of them? This is just sad.













Oh my. I am afraid I may never again be able to say that all babies are cute. There is something about this filly that just reminds me of a spider or something. Her hooves are yellow. Her head is huge. I sincerely hope her eyes aren't as small as they look. She doesn't look very happy, and if I popped out looking like that, I can't say I'd be happy either.

It's just as well there's no picture, my head hurts already

Today's Craigslist gem:



1998 TB Stud Has Seattle Slew bood lines, His name is Foespike if you want to look up his lines . Not ridable. Not set up for a stud need to find him a home. I have his transfer papers. The lady I got him from tossed his papers by mistake. So he can be registered. He has not Raced. He is a Black Bay. He injured his leg is why he didn't race. Please email for more information and pic's of him. Rehoming fee $500.00 To a good home only. There is one foal on the ground that is his. Stop flagging this ad! I am not asking a high price for rehoming. Just need to find him a good home. I see people that ask over 2000.00 for horses and they don't get flagged. WHATS UP???

What's up is the world doesn't need another unraced, non-performing, totally undistinguished in ANY way Thoroughbred stallion producing more mediocre foals.

Don't toot your horn so loud unless you're driving a Ferrari

A friend forwarded me an advertisement for this filly, described by her optimistic breeder as "flawless." I am not sure what the word means in their world, but their picture shows a filly who is going to have some training issues as her right front leg wants to go in a different direction as the rest of the horse. That can be a real problem, although it does make leg yielding easier, at least on that side. Like the colt we saw yesterday, this filly has a "nest" - her neck seems to grow straight out from her forelegs with little definition, and it isn't any longer than her head. While she may somewhat grow out of her downhill conformation, I doubt she will grow out of her post legged back end and short, thick neck.

This opinion is reinforced by the picture of her dam, on the same web site. Note that Momma has the same post legs behind and thick, short neck as the daughter. In addition, she does not look like she ever made it to level - her croup still appears higher than her withers.





This filly is not just going through an awkward baby stage. These folks bred a mediocre mare and produced a mediocre baby in the most common color on earth for absolutely no good reason.

But wait, there's more...

The most stunning example of "WTF, WHY did you breed THAT?" on their web site comes in the form of a buckskin gelding who is the most stunning example of "nest" I have seen lately. Not to mention, his back end makes these mares look like excellent stadium jumping candidates in comparison. If this critter is still sound by his sixth birthday, I'm going to be big-time surprised.

Missing body parts

Today's lesson is about missing body parts - or at least body parts that are wildly undersized in comparison to the rest of the horse, giving the horse the appearance of a FrankenHorse monster which has been assembled from a collection of non-matching pieces.

This sad filly, for example, has no butt. She has a long back and a long underline that looks like it should culminate in a butt, but sadly, does not. Who is responsible for breeding this thing? I'm not sure she's going to be athletic enough to do 4-H walk trot.

You've probably heard of "cankles" before...well, this colt has a "nest." His neck runs straight into his front legs. Where is his chest? We think it's there, but we can't really see it. If he were a chick, he'd be a AA cup. His general weak, wormy appearance does not help his overall look and it is no surprise his owner, who clearly thought they were in the money because he popped out grulla overo, is now ditching him for cheap on the Internet.



C'mon people...you gotta THINK before you breed. Both these horses are for sale for less than $500. You aren't making back the cost of feeding your mare for the year much less stallion service, vet, etc. So why? Why do you continue to breed these crappy horses?