The MAJOR POINTS used to evaluate conformation.

The points are listed in their order of importance, esp. balance and type; however, different emphasis may be desired depending upon the breed, type and sex of the class being judged. ("BMSQTT" is an aid to remember the names of these 'points')

BALANCE - Always the most important point, the balance and symmetry of a horse is best represented by: its body fit in a "square" or "slight horizontal rectangle", equal height at withers and croup, desirable angulation of shoulder, stifle, croup, etc., and near equal proportions of the shoulder, back-loin and croup lengths and equal proportions of body depth and front leg length. (See Appendix B diagram of horse) Also considered is the proportionate body width or base, with hunter and saddle types being generally slightly narrower bodied than stock types. A horse having serious balance faults should be placed at the bottom of the class.

TYPE - Type is depicted by those traits in a horse, which make him uniquely distinguishable as belonging to a breed. Type should be evaluated from two aspects: a basic body type and unique breed characteristics. Most of the show breeds fall into one of three basic body type groups (see Appendix C and Table 1) which are distinguished by differences in traits like neck set and carriage, top line curvature and shoulder-arm (shoulder) and thigh-gaskin (stifle) angulations. A large, moderate or lighter muscle mass is another base type characteristic. The typical size and substance for the breed should also be evaluated. The unique breed characteristics usually include a handful of characteristics that give the unique "look" to the breed, such as, the massive overall muscling and large jowl of the Quarter horse, or the refined dished face, high arched neck and high tail carriage of the Arabian. Also considered under 'type' is the demonstration of breediness or sex character in a horse. A stallion should look masculine and a mare, feminine. A horse obviously lacking breed type (especially the basic body type) or breediness should be placed at the bottom of the class. Also, a horse with sufficient type but poor balance will be placed over a well-balanced horse that seriously lacks type.

NOTE: Horses showing excellent balance and type should end up in your top pair.

MUSCLING - Both the muscle quantity (amount, thickness or volume) and muscle quality (length and tie into joints) should be considered. The main areas to evaluate muscling are total body width (from the rear view at level of the stifle and the front view at the arm) and both inside and outside muscles of the forearm and gaskin. The inverted 'V' created by the pectoral muscles between the front legs; and, in the hind leg, the fullness of the buttocks (breeching) when viewed from the side are two more places to look for muscle expression. (See Appendix D) The horse should have equal proportions of muscle in both the fore and rear quarters of the body. Muscling and muscle definition (the apparent creases between muscle groups) is of major importance in evaluating stock type breeds but is of minor importance in most other breeds. Beware of horses that seem massive but do not show muscle expression in the areas mentioned above; they may just be "fat".

TRAVEL - Evaluation of a horse's method of progression or forward movement. Also often referred to as way-of-going, and includes the rhythm (purity of gait beat and leg sequencing), correctness (trueness of the limb swing), length, height and ease or elasticity of stride. These are evaluated as the horse is led at the walk and trot. Usually the trot is given more weight than the walk. (See Appendix E) Differences in way of travel can be used to decide a close pair or cause a horse to be dropped one placing.

STRUCTURAL CORRECTNESS - Structural correctness involves evaluation of the leg structure or under-pinning. When evaluating leg structure all views, the front, rear and side, should be considered. Certainly, some leg structure deviations are more critical than others; however, for the purpose of placing a class, try to categorize each horse as having: generally correct legs, some leg deviations or many/serious leg deviations and use this to break close pairs or drop (or raise) a horse one placing. Any obvious deviations (see Appendix F), such as back-at-the-knee, close-at-the-hocks, short-straight pasterns, etc., should be noted and mentioned in your oral reasons. Apparent unsoundness may cause the horse to be placed at the bottom of the class (see Appendix G). More emphasis should be placed on structural correctness and soundness when judging gelding and using-horse classes like Hunters-in-hand.

QUALITY - A difficult point to define, quality is best described as a degree of refinement and cleanness of features or a lack of coarseness. Refined, chiseled features, adequate flat bone, dry clean joints, thin skin and fine hair coat, well-shaped ears and an overall impressive looking horse depicts quality. This point often can be used to easily pick out either your top or bottom horse in a class. There are other observable points such as presence, condition or finish, natural animation, etc., which can be mentioned in a reasons set but should not really influence your placing except for close pairs.

Definitions of common horse evaluation/halter terms.

(Suggested terms and phrases to use for oral reasons are in parentheses, you can make up many more of your own.)

balance - The symmetry and proportions of the horse front-to-rear, top-to-bottom and side-to-side. The way in which all parts fit together to produce an athletic individual. [more correctly balanced, more balanced front-to-rear, lacks balance]

bloom - A clean, healthy, fine-textured hair coat. [healthier, most bloom]

breedier - The evidence of more breed and sex character [breedier, lacks breediness, more masculine, more feminine]

coarse - Lacking quality and refinement, and usually also lacking good conformation. Appearing rough or harsh. [coarse, unrefined, rough appearance]

condition - May refer either to the amount of muscle tone the horse exhibits or to the degree of fatness or finish. [harder, trimmer, more correctly conditioned, over-finished]

conformation - The structure and arrangement of the parts of the horse's body, the form. [shows balanced and correct conformation, poorly conformed]

frame - The overall build (ht. & wt.) of the horse and its general body proportions and substance. [larger framed, taller more angular individual, smaller more compact, heavier framed/built]

presence - A horse's ability to command attention or draw the viewer's eye, whether the horse is alone or in a group, and not because of anything special or unusual that he does, but simply because he is there. Sometimes referred to as the 'look of eagles'. [shows great presence, lacks presence]

quality - Possession of dry, defined features, refinement of head, hide hair and bone but not to the detriment of usefulness. Lack of coarseness. Also, can refer to muscle quality, which implies, longer, smoother muscles that tie deep into the joints. [more overall quality, high quality muscle that ties deeper into the joints, drier cleaner joints & features, cleaner hocks]

size - Combination of weight & height (same as frame). [taller, larger framed, roomier bodied, smaller, slighter built]

smoothness - The blending of one body part into another. [more smoothness throughout, smoother over the hip, shoulder]

substance - The amount of bone and muscle, not to be confused with coarseness. [larger, flatter bone, more bone, light boned, more heavily muscled, larger more desirably shaped joints, greater substance]

type - The combination of specific characteristics of conformation, movement and or temperament of a horse that make it immediately identifiable as belonging to a specific breed or performance 'type' (and makes each breed unique). [more modern type, lacks type, approaches the ideal(breed or use) type more closely, follows the type of my top placed horse more closely]

unsoundness - Any deviation of the body, legs or stride which would interfere with the animal's ability to perform a desired function. These may be of limb, eye, breathing, etc. A horse found to be free of these is said to be 'sound'. Do not confused with blemishes (scar, etc.), or with conformation faults. [use specific criticism of unsoundness - see Appendix G, i.e. bowed tendon on the left foreleg, splint on inside of left cannon]

way-of-going - Total movement and way in which a horse moves forward (same as travels). Should be further described by referring to the rhythm (purity of each gait leg sequencing and beats), trueness (the straightness of the forward and backward swing of the legs), degree of flexion (at knees and hocks), length, ease and smoothness of the stride, and speed or pace of the gaits. [more rhythmical, higher action, rounder/flatter/lower mover, truer striding, more confident mover, more extension, freer mover]