The Horse:Your Guide To Equine Health Care provides monthly equine health care information to horse owners, breeders, veterinarians, barn/farm managers, trainer/riding instructors, and others involved in the hands-on care of the horse.
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42 TheHorse.com The horse April 2015 H orse people put a lot of stock in a horse's conformation, as far as pre - dicting his athletic potential. After all, it's common knowledge that certain conformational characteristics have the potential to be career-limiting. But have you ever come across the horse that never "read the book," doesn't know he's not perfect, and continues to perform soundly and successfully despite his flaws? Or, maybe you're familiar with the pristinely conformed horse that's a less-than-stellar performer. So many factors determine whether an equine athlete becomes successful that it's sometimes hard to predict which horse will go far in the competitive world. It pays to look beyond an individual's struc - tural conformation and also consider the horse's work ethic, disposition, skills, training, and fitness, as well as the condi - tions of the day you assess him. "Generally, when referring to confor - mation, we talk about form to function— what structural characteristics are desirable within a specific discipline," says Duncan Peters, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVSMR, associate professor of lame - ness and sports medicine at Michigan State University's College of Veterinary Medicine and team veterinarian for the United States Equestrian Federation. "Certain body types tend to work best for different disciplines, but within that discipline there is often a wide variation in conformational changes and other at - tributes that allow a particular body type to be successful." In other words, some horses with conformational defects can still compete successfully. However, "performance horses are expected to perform over a long career, and while a horse may do well for a while, a conformational defect may shorten a competitive career," Peters says. If you own or are considering buying a horse with less-than-desirable confor - mation, how might you find a way to make that horse work for your equestrian pursuits? Western vs. English Sports When reviewing the different general disciplines (i.e., Western vs. English sports), Peters has some thoughts on what minor conformational challenges are likely to be acceptable for each. Frequently, Western horses exhibit workable imperfections such as being over at the knees, slightly turned out in the front limb(s), slightly cow-hocked (hocks are too close together and point toward each other) and sickle-hocked (hocks show excessive angulation, less than 150-153°), and short and small in stature. These horses often have a smaller foot size relative to their body mass, yet this might not greatly impact performance. For English disciplines, such as dres - sage, jumping, and eventing, Peters notes that there is much more physi - cal variety than what he sees with the Western sports. Body types range from a lean, rangy Thoroughbred to a big, SPORTS MEDICINE NaNcy S. LoviNg, DvM TheHorse.com/Sports-Medicine The Conformationally Challenged Athlete While a sport horse with less-than-ideal conformation might perform successfully for a while, recog- nize that his conformational defect might ultimately shorten his competitive career. DUSTy PERiN No horse is perfect, and many with conformational flaws go on to compete successfully. What can you live with and how?