Draft Horse Confirmation

[Does’ Leap]

I would like to learn more about confirmation from others who have been working horses for a while. I figured I would post a pictures of my 2 horses to generate a conversation on what folks look for in a working horse. What are the positive and negative traits about the way these horses are built? How do they compare with one another? Don’t hold back. Regardless of what folks write, I’ll still love my horses and know they will get the job done for me.

These horses are half brothers (same sire) and are Perch / Belgian crosses. They are both 16.2 hands. The first horse has an estimated weight of 1550 (done by extrapolating girth diameter from a standard horse tape), while the second is around 1650. The first horse has fully shed out his winter coat while the other has not. They are 7 years old.

Here are 2 pictures of the second horse (the heavier of the two):

George

[Pete]

That is a very nice looking team.

[Donn Hewes]

hi George, I think you are smart to want to continue to learn about the animals and confirmation is a fasicnateing subject. Many confirmational flaws or defects don’t seriously limit a horses productive use or life. When we breed our animals or begin to buy young mares however, it is smart to start to consider how various flaws may add up. I think I begin to see things and understand a little, until I am around my 72 year old horse vet who tries to explain the meaning of every angle and the relationship of ever bone to the others.

To really say much in detail a person may well want more photos from different angles. Even then if they were there they would watch the horse walk and move to pick up more.

Like you said they work great – and they look great.

[Ed Thayer]

What a fine looking team.

I know nothing about confirmation except to know that having 4 legs a head and a willingness to work is important.

Funny how some shed out sooner than others.

Do you feed them grain George? They look very healthy.

Ed

[Carl Russell]

First I would like to confirm that we are talking about conformation…correct?:D

I also think that the way an animal is built is important, and I will make a few comments, but there are so many environmental and physical affects that can alter the animal’s effectiveness more than their natural conformation.

I like the way your horses stand, at least from the side view, with their front feet solidly baring weight. It would be good to get a front view, of their stance, and chest.

I like the pronounced shoulder, with good seat for collar. I also like the way they hold their heads up in relation to the angle of their shoulder.

I am partial to this style of horse with the deep chest and long barrel, with legs that are not too long.

Proportionately, I think this conformation provides excellent power through muscle mass on the hinds, with a long spinal lever against the ballast of the deep chest. They may not be the best for long light loads like wagon trips to town, or even haying, not that their conformation would preclude that, but they are excellently built for work such as plowing and logging.

I know folks who prefer short coupled, long-legged horses, and in some cases that conformation may have advantages, but all-in-all it really make a difference that the animals can move freely, and unless you are breeding to meet some standard, then variations in body type are insignificant (in my humble opinion:rolleyes:). That’s not to say that I don’t look for the details that I laid out above.

Carl

[Andy Carson]

I read an interesting article about draft horse conformation a while ago, and found the reference again. The authors were looking at particular conformational traits in Ba’nei draft horses (Japanese draft race horses) and linking them to the likelyhood that these particular horses would win races. I found it fascinating.

Relationships among Body Size, Conformation, and Racing Performance in Banei Draft Racehorses. Journal of Equine Science Vol. 12 (2001) , No. 1 pp1-7

To make a long story short, overall weight was the most important single characteristic that determined performance in these races. This was not particularly suprizing to me. Beyond overall weight, the most proportionally built horses tended to do the best. It was interesting to me that some features (such as cannon bone diameter, girth, body length, chest depth, etc) did not benefit these horses UNLESS everything else on the horse was built to match. I think this speaks to the importance of symmetry and balance in a heavy horse rather than breeding or selecting for specific individual traits (at the expense of others).

[Does’ Leap]

Thanks for the comments. Ed, I don’t grain my horses. They get alfalfa pellets and oil when logging in the winter and dairy quality grass (12 hours only) during the summer as they follow our goats. Carl, I appreciate your comments and also prefer this style of horse. I am having a hard time understanding your quote below. Can you elaborate?

@Carl Russell 18504 wrote:

I think this conformation provides excellent power through muscle mass on the hinds, with a long spinal lever against the ballast of the deep chest.

George

[jac]

Hi George thats a handy looking team with decent fuel tanks.. We have Clydes and a lot of the modern Clydes have what we call a “herring gut”.. no fuel tank.. ok for a quick lap or 2 of a show ring with an empty wagon but not for a days drag harrowing..I try to breed the old fashioned type and your horses are what Id call the proper farm horse type.. We dont corn either btw…
John

[Carl Russell]

Does’ Leap;18517 wrote:

Thanks for the comments. Ed, I don’t grain my horses. They get alfalfa pellets and oil when logging in the winter and dairy quality grass (12 hours only) during the summer as they follow our goats. Carl, I appreciate your comments and also prefer this style of horse. I am having a hard time understanding your quote below. Can you elaborate?
George

Proportionately, I think this conformation provides excellent power through muscle mass on the hinds, with a long spinal lever against the ballast of the deep chest.

This body type is low and long. This gives the horse a lot of weight ahead of the hips to ballast against the power in their hind ends. As I have mentioned in other posts, horses lift their front end up on every stroke of a hind leg. They do this using the spine, based on the fulcrum at the hip.

If horses have long legs and short bodies then the hinds have more leverage over the front end, and therefore they aren’t as able to use the weight of the front end as ballast against the heavy load. These high and short horses have better stride, and when used on light loads that don’t tax their weight to power ratio, like wagons etc., they have advantages over the long and low farm style.

I think that horses built such as yours, and mine, have a body type that lends itself more efficiently to the varied work of the diversified farm that we run.

I am not saying this is the ultimate conformation, nor am I claiming that your horses are built perfectly, nor mine for that matter, I am just trying to point out some of the features of conformation that I look at, and seek to find in horses that I want to work.

Carl

[Does’ Leap]

Carl:

Got it. Thanks for the clarification. In support of your view, my wife went for a 4 or 5 mile ride (trotting) with one of horses pictured above along with my daughter and her friend (both with riding horses). The draft is in much better shape than the other 2 horses after logging in the winter and spreading manure in the spring, yet he was the most affected by the exertion and the heat.

George

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