Critique on 10 yoo Broodmare

[Serenity]

She was open and in pasture condition at the time of the photos. Rip her apart folks!



She really is not butt high. The unlevel ground and my inability to hold a camera level makes the pictures deceiving.


My favorite




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The American Paint Horse!

[onewildhoss]

Her head is terrible, her hip IS high, she is cowhocked in the rear just to name a few of her flaws. Shall I keep going? but she has nice color.
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[Paula]

Overall she is a nice mare, the only faults I can see is she may be a little straight in the shoulder and just slightly mutten withered She has a nice head but not spectacular. How many babies has she had. She looks excellent through her midsection for being a brood mare!! Has she ever foundered she appears to have some rings on her fronts but it looks like it is just about grown out.

[Serenity]

Keep going!!!

She has 3 foals on the ground that I was told about. Her last one was a 2004 colt. I hope she cleans up as nice after her 2006 foal.

I don't know the whole story on her. The lady said she had never foundered, ultimately it wasn't a concern for me as I have dealt with many of my own horses developing rings that have not foundered. She seemed 100% sound.

Her life story...
Dakota was born in SD, came to WI or MI as a weanling, and at 7 years old another lady bought her. We'll call her Patty just because it's easier than saying that lady. LOL

Patty knew I had intentions of starting her undersaddle. Supposedly, the lady that bought her as a weanling just wanted to use her as a broodmare, but when Patty acquired her she had plans to send her off to a trainer. However, the dominant pasture gelding ran her through the fence, she was injured and pretty beat up so she stayed home to heal, and she never got around to having her trained after that.

I never asked what she injured or how severe it was, I vaguley remember her saying cuts, that's all I remember, no real injuries. But oddly enough after I had her for a few days I started working with her (still intending to start her), and I discover this mare has all of her ground training. She is superb in the roundpen and knows all her voice commands very well. She has a ton of respect. But she would not take the saddle.

I sold her as the home and price were right, and the guy tried to start her. He was eventually able to get her to take the saddle no buck through all her gaits. Then came time for the rider, she'd settle for bareback (however he only tried once), but the first attempt riding with the saddle didn't go well. I think the 2nd or 3rd time he got on her, he spooked her and she began to buck (her typical rodeo bronc bucks - I'm not stopping until everything is off). He jumped off, broke both his wrists. LOL Everything stopped for a little while, then my hubby felt the urge to trying his hand at this mare. Got the saddle on her, no buck. He started riding her, walk/trot, she only attempted to buck once, not hard and he pulled her out of it. Second time he rode her, he got her to trotting and she threw him. Permanently injured him. So we started to think maybe somethings WRONG with her. This mare IS NOT mean or disrespectfully.

I learned the hard way. The mare has athritis, very severely. The vet suggests it was present before we got her, but trying to start her made it worse. She could not handle the weight because of the pain it caused, so she bucked to relieve her self, and ultimately, the more she bucked the more pain it caused so she would buck harder, causing more damage each time. So now she is subject to life as a broodmare. I have bought her back as her owner had come to hate her because of her unsoundness issues.

So I'm thinking, when she was injured by the run in with the fence, it caused the onset of the athritis. But somewhere along the lines in her life, she had been sent to a trainer who did attempt to start her, which would explain the groundwork.

I actually traded a breeding and a grade weanling colt for this mare originally. Seemed like an odd deal. The lady swore she wanted this colt so terribly and had big plans for him. But a week after she got him home he hit the market. I didn't find out until 3 months later (just recently) when she said she had to get rid of the colt. She gave him back to me for free, but is tickled about the foal she will be getting as a result of the breeding in spring. Just one screwed up deal to me. My conclusion is Patty knew her mare was not sound and just wanted to get rid of her for whatever she could. She didn't really want my colt, but figured she could possibly sell him, but she asked for the breeding in trade as well just in case she couldn't sell the colt at least she'd have selling out of it all. Otherwise I do not understand why she would have given him back to me.

Ok... EXTREMELY sorry for carrying on. Just had to vent. It's been very frustrating along the way, but I am glad with the way things have turned out. I did only want her for a broodmare in the first place, just hoped to start her undersaddle as a bonus. Now I'm anxiously awaiting her foal in May.

Now I've got to get to bed. Got a day of tending to her injured leg. She slipped on the ice and tore a muscle a few days ago. She is feeling better today, trying to buck, rear, and play with the other horses but her body just isn't letting her quite yet. She is chasing them around more today than she was yesterday, limp and all. So that's a good sign.
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Power Steering and Brakes
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The American Paint Horse!

[summerhorse]

I like her. I think she has a nice stock horse head and overall she doesn't have anything horrible although she'd never win a halter class (not necessarily a BAD thing...). Her legs are not fantastic but not horrible either, average. As a bonus she is nice and broad and sturdy. Her biggest problem I think is her long back and mutton withers. She does have a short neck but I've seen far worse. When you breed her try to pick stallions that have SHORT backs, well defined withers (without being TOO high) and a nice long neck. At least not one shorter than hers because the foal's head might just erupt from his shoulders! Seriously things that are too long or too short seem to compound in the foal when bred together. So two long backed horses might produce a dachsund horse or two short necked horses might produce a neckless horse.
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