What do you think about this filly?

Kassie Finley · Member Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Posts: 95 Location: Texas

Ok this filly is under weight in these pictures, due to just being weaned and then getting a cold, but now she looks much better. And we are going to be showing in a show this next weekend. I want to know what you think of her, she is very sweet, also she was only 4 months in this picture, now she is 6 months. I will post some new pictures of her tomorrow, but for now what do you think from these pictures?

She is a Quarter Horse, and I know she is thin in these pictures, but give it your best shot. I am wanting to know if you think I have a chance at the show. I also want to know her weak points and her strong points.

Kassie Finley · Member Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Posts: 95 Location: Texas

Ok here are new pictures I took this morning of this filly:

dctrainingandlessons · Very Active Member Joined: 04 Jul 2005 Posts: 548

It's sounds like you're looking for show critique? If so I will say that she needs conditioning. She needs to have a good diet and workouts. She needs a sleek coat which means curry, curry, curry until your arm is about to fall off. I see a filly that needs a good conditioning program if you wish her to be a successful show horse.

Conformation wise, I see a butt high growing girl. I would like to see a shorter back, more defined withers, a cleaner throatlatch, more slope to her shoulder, and something bothers me about her neck and her hind legs but I can't put my finger on it. Her appearance overall seems somewhat weak to me. Maybe on a good conditioning plan a lot of these things would not jump out at me.

I'm just being fussy, and I am not a QH judge by any means, I'm still learning the breed's particulars of conformation. I think someone else on the board would be much better at critiqueing your filly. Heck, someone else could come on here and prove me all wrong!! ha ha. Overall, I like her color and she has a very kind looking eye.
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JR · Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 3:33 pm Post subject:

If you're taking her out to the show just for the experience, ok. But she's not a halter filly. From the front and rear, her legs look solid. She may grow into herself, but right now is not a good growing stage for her.

When you stand her up in the show pen, bring those back legs underneath her a bit. As is, she looks very camped out behind. You're also going to want to have her lower her head some trying to bring her neck out of her shoulder better. In that picture, she looks to have a very straight shoulder and be ewe necked. She's going to look downhill from that stance, but in a baby that is to be expected. It'll make her frame look better though if you don't have her parked out with her head high and yes.. I know babies don't always cooperate and chances are she's gonna dance all over the place in the pen. Don't be upset if she does that, reward every good moment even if the judge is watching. Have fun and good luck
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JR

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It's never the horse, it's the rider.
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dctrainingandlessons · Very Active Member Joined: 04 Jul 2005 Posts: 548

JR, That's what I was thinking about her neck, ewe necked. I too thought her hind end appeared camped out, but thought it may be because those hind legs were nearly parked out. Wow, I'm getting better at this stuff with stock horses! Smile

What is this filly's breeding?
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As always, you can take my advice for what it is worth, today it just happens to be free, tomorrow I may decide to write a book and charge $29.95.

JR · Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 4:35 pm Post subject:

She's got a lot of Impressive in her, not showing any of the bulk that line throws. Some of it is Coosa though and he's not so much a halter horse, but one of the better performance Impressive breds out there.

http://www.yellowhouseranch.com/foal1.htm

That's the link to the page the pictures come from, you can see her baby pictures as well as momma
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JR

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It's never the horse, it's the rider.
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horsewoman1965 · Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:29 am Post subject:

I agree with JR. need to bring those back legs under her more. I also agree with Dc about she needs to be on a conditioning program. good worming every 30-45 days, good feed, and work to build her up some. you don't have to go for the extreme bulk but she does need more definition. Also she needs to be out of the sun, preferably stalled for at least a couple of months before a show. where are you planning on showing her?
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dctrainingandlessons · Very Active Member Joined: 04 Jul 2005 Posts: 548

In this fillies case, if I were looking to put her in the showring....

I'd start bringing her in throughout the day, then letting her back out in the evening with a sheet and/or blanket on, whatever is appropriate for your particular temperature. Curry twice a day, or three times a day while you are doing a feeding, however often you chose to feed grain. I would take her off corn and go with a oat/supplement feed.. Like Omolene 300, with little corn in it, or Stategy (I think Horsewoman or someone on this board uses this feed with good results). Free choice nice quality hay. Then, for say 10 minutes to start with, give her a workout. Trotting builds the best muscle tone, and going up and down hills works wonders and will help to strengthen her topline that looks a bit weak. You can tote her behind a 4 wheeler, or pony her with another horse.. Buy a neoprene neck sweat, put it on her, and wrap it with garbage bags before her workout. Afterwards, rinse her off well, you don't want sweat to dry up her coat. At this point I would also be using a throatlatch sweat, she may just have her head at an akward angle making it look thick, but I would sweat that a bit. My favorite leave on 24/7 sweat is at Schneiders tack, it comes in a variety of sizes and is just a flannel wrap. It touches up a neck well and is worth the low price and so much more!!

All in all, this plan along with horsewoman's should get her ready to go into the showring and look good in a few months. I usually figure it takes a good 2 months+ to put a horse into show condition, sometimes it's quicker, other times it takes longer.

The biggest secret is a good diet, good deworming plan, and lots of grooming and protection from the sun and sweat. It doesn't help you much for this weekend's show, but will for the future. Also, try to avoid pasturing her with little demons who like to play rough, or you're gonna get a patchy coat look.... One thing I'm big time dealing with out here right now!

BTW, off subject, but does the APHA and AQHA allow you to "color" your horse's bite and kick marks in to be less noticeable? Ptha??
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As always, you can take my advice for what it is worth, today it just happens to be free, tomorrow I may decide to write a book and charge $29.95.

Kassie Finley · Member Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Posts: 95 Location: Texas

Thank you all for your advice. It will be taken and put into action. I am noticing that she does not look as good in pictures as she does in person, actually her coat is very shiny, the pictures make it look dull and almost like it is still a foal coat. She has been groomed a lot the past few months, bathing and clipping, brushing ect. I have not done any work on her building up bulk, which now I know was a mistake, I should have been working on that. But she is current on wormer, but I did not do the daily stuff, I might start that soon. The marks on her are not bite marks, she has some odd spots on her where it looks like her coat is a different color. She is kept stalled with another colt that we are showing this weekend also. But I am going to start working on some of the stuff you adviced. Thanks for the help.

Kassie Finley · Member Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Posts: 95 Location: Texas

We had a great time at the show, here are pictures:
Here is the little colt we showed

and here is Cali:

horsewoman1965 · Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 5:32 pm Post subject:

WONDERFUL job on her cleanup!!! I love that front view!
where was the show?
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Kassie Finley · Member Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Posts: 95 Location: Texas

Thanks. the clean up took about 2 hours on each horse. I got some help from woman that shows minis a lot. She gave me a bunch of pointers and really helped get them ready for the ring. At the show everyone kept saying how soft Cali was, and she was, she felt like rabit fur. VERY SOFT. and she did SO good. the show was the local fair here in Amarillo TX. We had so much fun and there where several people their that gave us pointers and helped us out. But about 15 min before the show, I was touching up Cali's feet and she pawed at the bottle and it went flying in the air, and went all over me Embarassed

. It also got a HUGE blob on her side. I cleaned her up as best I could, you can kind of see a dark smudge in the first picture on her side, close to her flanks. I am just happy we got to show, I think it made her so much easier to handle.