Bokt.nl

Citaat:

Conformation of dressage and jumping horses

This is the case about conformation. We will talk about the conformation of the KWPN horse, the jumpers and the dressage horses.

The head and neck

The head of the horse is the part where most people first look at. The brightness of the eyes says a lot about the condition of the horse. Nonetheless, a large head doesn’t say anything about the capacity of the horse. It is preferable to be in proportion to the size of the animal.
Some things are particularly undesirable, like small nostrils, parrot mouth or overbite, a heavy jaw and small ‘bug’ eyes. All these things influence a horse in its performance; small nostrils prevent the horse from adequate breathing and cooling, a parrot mouth or overbite keeps the horse from digesting its food properly, a heavy jaw is the cause of a bad flexing in the front and bug eyes prevent the horse to see properly.
Dressage horses should have a dry head with much expression and a straight profile, because the expression of the horse is judged while riding a dressage contest. The eyes should be friendly and without fear.
The throat latch, the space between the back of the jaw and the top of the neck, needs to be long enough. If this area is too thick and heavy the horse can not breathe properly and will have difficulty with flexing the front. Although some horses have difficulty with flexing the poll, this can be because the muscles are tight, not because the throat latch is heavy.
The length of the neck is important, as it must fit to the rest of the horse and be in proportion of the frame. It is not true that longer necked horses are more athletic. Long necks tent to be stiff and unbalanced. If the neck is too long, nerves can be damaged or the horse could develop bad habits like roaring.
A good neck has the widest part just below the level of the withers and is high. The higher its widest point, the less distance it has to move to get up to the arched position in which the horse accepts the bit (flexing the front). A hollow neck produces a convex front leg and a flicking action of the foot.
For a dressage horse, the neck should be flexible and long. The ideal is a harmonic reducing neck with a short and flexible poll. A long neck with too little muscle will put too much pressure on the shoulders. Also it will have difficulty finding the right way of arching the neck and accepting the bit, for they have the tension to go behind the bit and curling themselves up. A horse with a short, big neck will have difficulty in flexing it. The angle between the neck and the shoulder should be about 85°.
The neck of a jumping horse should be long, slightly raised and arched, with muscles in the top line. The horse should be able to bascule above the jump, which means that it lowers its head and neck, wherefore the rump follows the direction of the neck.
Of course, a stallion will have a broader neck with more muscles than a mare.



The shoulder

The position of the shoulder is important in its relationship to the fore arm. In an upright shoulder, the bone is more mobile and can rotate fully to the front of the chest. It allows high knee action and is essential for jumping horses, because it is then able to take large obstacle. Disadvantages are that the foot strikes the ground farther back, with the risk it gets hit by the hind legs. It also decreases the comfort of riding and reduces soundness.
A laid back shoulder is already partly rotated in front of the chest. This permits forward-reaching action which is desirable in dressage. The disadvantage is that the horse may be stiff legged.
The shoulder of a dressage horse should be long and sloping to permit the forward-reaching action. The angle between the shoulder and the upper arm should be about 90°. If the shoulder is too steep, the movements of the horse will be flat and without expression. When galloping, the horse is not able to engage the hind end enough.
A Jumping horse with a long, sloping shoulder will have the ability to contract, lengthen and to elevate the shoulders and help him be a better jumper.

The back
The back, or middle part of the horse’s anatomy, is defined as between as the withers and the hip. The back should be so long, that the fore and hind legs act a rectangle. Mares have a longer back than stallions. A back that is too short often leads to a spiritless action. Today the breeders want to have a longer and lower back, which means a back with a lower recess after the withers. The saddle has a good position on this kind of back. These horses are excellent for jumping, because they have smooth actions. Faulty are atonics and countersunk backs, or high and carp backs.

The croup

The croup should be long and broad and have good built on muscles, because that is the leverage of the energy. Together with the hind legs it is the source of all working activities.

The Tail

A pretty horse needs a good carried tail. Horses which carry the tail sideways often have tensions. It indicates that the horse has a back problem. People do not like to see an exaggeratedly high tail carriage, or tails that are carried straight out or sideways. Furthermore there are differences between the way of carriage. At first, we can have a look at the high tail set. That means the tail comes out of body on a level with the top of the back. You can usually see that sort of thing at Arabians, Saddlebreds, Gaited horses, and Morgans. There is no direct performance consequence. The high-set tail contributes to the appearance of a horizontal croup, which may be an aesthetic concern to some. Now, we want to have a look on the low tail set. There comes the tail out of the body well down along the haunches. It can be associated with goose-rumped or steep pelvis. That low tail set can be seen in any breeds, especially in draft breeds or Quarter horses. That is also only aesthetic concern unless directly caused by pelvic conformation.



The Forelegs
The foreleg of a horse from the side seen:
- The place and the size of the knee: a leg can be ‘back at the knee’ or ‘over at the knee’ but a foreleg should be preferentially take a middle position. ‘Back at the knee’ is worse than ‘over at the knee.’ The tendons then will be stressed disproportional. A knee never should be too small.
- The forearm should be good muscled. This increases the surface area and the length of the muscular attachments. This is mostly important for a jumping horse, because it helps absorb the strain on joints and tendons. For a sport and dressage horse the forearm should be long, preferentially in combination with a short cannon bone.
- The angle of the fetlock-joint is important. The angle should be 130-140%. When this angle is less, the pastern is too weak, when this angle is great, the pastern is too steep.
At the front of the forelegs one can draw the plumb line from the middle of the horse. The lines you can draw from above to the knee, to the fetlock-joint and the middle part of the hoof should be a parallel with the plumb line. (One vertical line) This is the ideal situation.

A deviation can cause disproportional stressing of the tendons, a wrong hoof wearing, or faults in locomotion. The different faults are; turned out feed, turned-in feed. And the legs can form an 0-stand (wide in the front-knee) and a x-stand (narrow in the front knee).


The Arm bone
When the arm bone is long, this effects in dressage the lateral movements positively. It is also desirable for jumping horses, as it stimulates also the ability to fold the forelegs under the body during a jump.

The Hind legs
The hind legs can also be over the knee or back to the knee. The ideal situation is a position between this two. The ideal angle of knee the must be 90% (between femur and tibia). The hock angle must be 145%. The hock should not be too high (short tibia with a long cannon) but for dressage horses a little higher hock can work better, because the bodyweight is more carried at the hind legs. Hocks preferentially are slightly higher than the knee.
From behind seen the legs should also straight, when seen as a line between the different joints (hip, knee, hock and fetlock joint).
Of course the feet must be in the right proportion with the rest of the body. A small foot can handle the stress on it with every footfall less than when it has the right proportion.


Linear Score Sheet - Explanation
Conformation/Movement/Jumping Characteristics for Riding and Gelders type horses
The parts below are scored 1-9 with 5 as the average.

Conformation
1. BODY: SHAPE (rectangular - square) A horse is square if the length (from point of the shoulder to the point of the buttock) is equal to the height of the withers. A
horse is rectangular when the length is greater than the height. Horses need long lines (a rectangular conformation) in order
to be athletic and elastic for any kind of sport purposes.
2. BODY: DIRECTION (uphill - downhill) A horse, used for any purpose, is less rideable and harder to collect when built on the forehand. Dressage horses need to be
built uphill to facilitate collection and comply with FEI rules regarding the quality of movement.
3. HEAD-NECK CONNECTION (light - heavy) A light connection is needed for acceptance of contact, good rideability and especially a soft mouth. The FEI requires a ‘supple
poll as the highest point of the neck’.
4. LENGTH OF NECK (long - short) The horse needs good length of neck for a smooth way of going on the bit, secured between the driving aids of the rider’s legs
and the restrictive aids of the rider’s hands.
5. POSITION OF NECK (vertical - horizontal) Show jumpers need a rather horizontal position of the neck in order to collect themselves just before and during take-off.
Dressage horses need a rather vertical position of the neck for easy self-carriage and in order to have uphill movement.
6. MUSCLING OF NECK (heavy - poor) The FEI rulebook indicates that the neck should be ‘arched’. This round topline is a matter of muscling. Muscling that is too
heavy is bad for suppleness.
7. HEIGHT OF WITHERS (high - flat) Wither height is important for good saddle position. Withers that are too high can get sore due to saddle or blanket pressure.
8. POSITION OF THE SHOULDER (sloping - straight) This is also important for the position of the rider. A sloping shoulder places the rider in the center of the horse, above the
center of gravity, which prevents too much weight being transferred to the forehand.
9. LINE OF THE BACK (roached - weak) The back is the dynamic connection between the hindquarters (where movement starts with impulsion) and the forehand,
which should become light thanks to impulsion. The back should therefore be strong but not stiff, supple but not weak.
10. LINE OF THE LOINS (roached - weak) The loins actually connect the ‘motor’ of movement to the rest of the horse. A flowing, well-muscled topline enables the horse
to move with good use of the back in any exercise. Strong muscling is needed for stretching the back and hindquarters during
the second part of the jump.
11. SHAPE OF CROUP (sloping - flat) A very sloping croup is bad for the flexibility of the pelvis, which is needed for collection, especially in piaffe and passage a
very flat croup is bad for elasticity.
12. LENGTH OF CROUP (long - short) The length of the croup is important for proportional conformation. The forehand, middle and hindquarters should form equal
sections.
13. STANCE OF FORELEGS (over at the knee - back at the knee) In order to insure durability, the stance of the forelegs should be straight. This characteristic is scored from the side. Toeing in
and toeing out is scored in the walk.
14. STANCE OF HINDLEGS (sickle hocked - straight) Excessive pressure on the joints and soft tissues around them should be avoided by maintaining the balance between straight
and sickle hocked. The average score will reflect a hock angle of approximately 150 degrees.
15. STANCE OF PASTERNS (weak - upright) Good length and elasticity of the pastern is needed to convert energy from gravity and movement (in the first part of the
stance phase) into elastic energy (the second part of the stance phase, the lift off). Too long and weak is bad for durability,
too short and/or upright generally is not good for elasticity.
16. SHAPE OF FEET (wide - narrow) In order to deal with gravity and ground reaction forces properly, the horse’s feet should be well developed and even.
17. HEELS (high - low) The heels are responsible for a correct linear position of foot and pastern. Heels that are too high cause an interruption of the
imaginary straight line through the center of the foot and the pastern. Well developed heels are good for shoeing the horse.
18. QUALITY OF LEGS (lean - blurred) Lean legs show soundness and general quality of the horse.
19. SUBSTANCE OF LEGS (heavy - fine) A horse needs well-developed bones, joints and tendons in order to be durable. Horses with too much bone often lack
elasticity.

Movement Characteristics
20. WALK: LENGTH OF STRIDE (long - short) Length of the stride.
21. WALK: CORRECTNESS (toed in - toed out) This is evaluated from the front, particularly at the walk. When the hooves turn in from the fetlock they are considered to be
toed-in. When the hooves turn out from the fetlock they are toed-out.
22. TROT: LENGTH OF STRIDE (long - short) Length of the stride.
23. TROT: ELASTICITY (elastic - stiff) The measure of elasticity with which the movement flows through the body and is then received by the limbs.
24. TROT: IMPULSION (powerful - weak) The measure in which the horse pushes off the ground with the hind legs.
25. TROT: BALANCE (carrying -pushing) The combination of body position and the measure in which the hind leg carries.
26. CANTER: LENGTH OF STRIDE (long - short) The length of the stride.
27. CANTER: IMPULSION (powerful - weak) The measure in which the horse pushes off the ground with the hind legs.
28. CANTER: BALANCE (carrying - pushing) The combination of body position and the measure in which the hind leg carries.

Jumping Characteristics
29. TAKE OFF: DIRECTION (upwards - forwards) The measure in which the horse is able to make the withers go upward in the jump.
30. TAKE OFF: QUICKNESS (quick - slow) The time during the last canter stride before the jump - the time between when the forelegs and the hindlegs hit the ground
and the moment when the horse actually leaves the ground
31. TECHNIQUE: FORELEG (bent - stretched) The measure in which the shoulder bends, in combination with the upper arm, forearm and the cannon.
32. TECHNIQUE: BACK (rounded - hollow) The measure in which the neck and back follow the arc over the jump.
33. TECHNIQUE: HAUNCHES (open - fixed) The measure in which the angles of the haunches are able to open during the second part of the jump.
34. SCOPE (much - little) The ability of the horse both to jump upward with power as well as develop a forward direction during that jump.
35. ELASTICITY (supple - stiff) The measure in which the entire jump
(including the landing) flows, the horse must be elastic through the body.
36. CARE (careful - not careful) The natural ability of the horse to not make any errors over a jump.

The Linear Score Sheet Explanation is a publication of the Dutch Warmblood Studbook in North America, NA/WPN, Inc.

References
Paardebenen, E. Offereins, 1999
Klassieke Dressuur van basis tot en met Hoge school, Stefan M. Radtke, Tirion Natuur, 2004
A Photographic Guide to Conformation, Robert Oliver and Bob Langrish, J. A. Allen&Co. Ltd, 1997
The Equine Dictionary, Maria Ann Belknap, J.A. Allen, 1997
Richtlinien für reiten und fahren/ Band 4/ deutsche reiterliche vereinigung/ 10 Auflage 1999
http://www.americantrakehner.com/SportH ... Cpart1.htm
http://www.nawpn.org/Specialization%20f ... Horses.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equine_con ... _Hind_Legs
http://www.nawpn.org/Linear%20Score%20Sheet.pdf
http://www.iberianwarmblood.com/conformation.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equine_conformation
http://www.gaitedhorses.net/Conformation/BodyParts.htm