Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Mary,

Like you, I'm a big fan of a good butt.  <G>  I have two horses I'm riding now, and they are as different as night and day.  One is a 14.2h pure CMK gelding with a gorgeous hindquarter...long, deep, and full.  Once he gets muscled up, he's going to look like a quarterhorse.  <G>  He's only done one 50 so far.  My other horse is just shy of 15.2h, almost pure Egyptian, and has a much smaller, shorter hip.  He's done two 100s and a lot of 50s just fine, but he just doesn't have the power coming from behind that the CMK gelding has...and I attribute that to the CMK horse's much better hip.  When I'm riding the CMK, I can feel an incredible amount of power thrusting from the rear.  That little guy can leave the taller horse in the dust at a trot without even trying.  They both have good bone and good sized feet.  Unless a horse had tiny, spindley, china-doll legs,  I think most well-conformed Arabs have adequate bone for the sport...I'm not including the "halter creatures," or rejects from that venue, in the well-conformed group.  <G>  When I look at a horse, I'll look at the amount of bone, but I'm more concerned with a good hip, nice back, deep body, and nice shoulder, as well as decent (straight, or at least with not *major* faults) legs.

 

Dawn Carrie

 

 

On 3/6/07, Mary Howell <mary.howell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I watched about 60 horses vet in to a ride last fall and was impressed
by two horses who had powerful looking hind ends and a smooth relaxed trot
that reflected this confirmation. Both horses did well in the 100, and
the owner of these horses agreed to let me work with one of her "extras"
through the winter.

Even before conditioning, the mare's hind end had a powerful looking shape -
almost like my QH cross - rounded through the croup area and with a full
haunch and thigh. Seems as though a lot of Arabs with Crabbet or Al Marah
bloodlines have this build.

Although this mare has delicate legs and teeny feet - 00 in front and 000 in
back - she's never took a lame step throughout training and after about 2
months of gradually increasing speed and intensity, was able to keep up with
my much taller and larger gelding no problem - that hind end gives her the
needed push.

She'll be tackling her first 55 miler in 10 days and I'm eager to see how
she does - working with her has revised some of my perceptions about
necessary confirmation. As long as the legs are straight and the horse has a
good way of going, I'd prioritize well built hindquarters over cannon bone
measurement.




=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=