Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Non-Spanish Hips

I think that to go along with my explanation of what is a Spanish hip, that I would post some pictures of non-Spanish hip styles. These are all mixed and non-Spanish Sulphurs. These photos are of horses that currently no one owns. I wont be putting their BLM numbers up as even though they are displaying non-Spanish type, they still deserve to find a good home. I don't want my Spanish conformation lesson to turn into horses not getting good homes. My comments will be below the picture I am talking about.

This black mare is displaying an apple butt.
This mare is displaying a sharp dip from her croup to her back. She has a flat croup, her pin bone does not blend nicely with the base of her tail and you can just visualize the muscle line (semitendinosus) that is coming off of her pin bone.
This mare is displaying excessive muscling over the points of her ilium. Giving her a boxy appearance instead of a round appearance.
This mare would actually be the worst of all of the horses on this page. She has a dip going into her back from her croup. She has a flat hip with a "hunters bump", pin bone is sticking out really far from the base of the tail. You can clearly visualize her semitendinosus. She also has excessive hair on her fetlocks for a horse that is suppose to be a light riding horse.
This mare has excessive fetlock hair for a light riding horse in a winter coat. She also has a very high set tail.
This stallion has a flat hip, his bone density is quite thick, excessive feathering on his fetlocks, you can just visualize his semitendiosus, his pin bone sticks out just slightly too far.

The point of all of these pictures is for the viewer to understand non-Spanish type. I went through the adoption pictures and picked out horses that I felt showed some really obvious non-Spanish traits. The viewer must keep in mind that the horse that they are looking at when critiquing conformation might just have subtle traits of the ones I listed above. This is due to the fact that the horses with these non-Spanish traits are mixed with Spanish horses as well as non-Spanish horses. So, you will never see a horse that looks like a purebred of the horse that they are influenced by. The more educated your eye is the more you will start to pick up on non-Spanish conformation traits that you might have never noticed before. The goal of me writing this is to first and foremost educate Spanish Sulphur horse breeders and enthusiasts of what true Spanish type is. The end goal being that excellent Spanish type horses will be bred to excellent Spanish type horses thus preserving the Spanish Sulphur breed.

2 comments:

  1. Outstanding!!!!

    Keep up the good work!
    ;) S

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  2. Good information here, Kim.

    I would add to your post on Spanish hips, that the stifle should be lined up vertically with the point of the hip or as close as possible. Non-Spanish hind ends tend to have the stifle trailing the point of hip. It goes along with the tail head and pin bone lining up, creating a nice tucked in hind end.

    Keep it up.

    :)

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