Rumonek wrote:
NancyL wrote:
I agree with AllieBaba on this one. The mare's head is too long and plain with a smallish eye set too high in the head. Her neck is looks a little short and thick in the throat in some of the pictures and not in others, so who knows. Shoulder is kinda straight. She's light in the rear end. Her croup is short and her tailset is low. She's light boned and looks like she may be close in the hocks. The stallion has a short thick neck and he's not going to help her shoulder at all. He may improve the hindquarter. He likely will not help on bone. I'd like to know the breeding on both so as to know what's behind them pedigree wise. You never know what's lurking back there that my jump out and get you.
Her head is not long by any stretch. It's not extreme, but I've found now that many more people prefer her head over my SE's who is VERY extreme. I like having a variety so I can have something to offer for "everybody". I would prefer a little more dish, but she is wide between the eyes with a classic wedge-shaped head.
I don't see her being light in her rear end either- she has a huge hind end. Her tailset is NOT low:
You need to keep in mind too with the stallion that he is 18 years old in the photos, out of work, and only being used for breeding. He has a nice shoulder, and I would be happy with my mare's shoulder. I don't want "help" on bone- if anything I want her lightened up in bone because she is THICK. What do you mean by "lurking" ? I dont argue with a critique very often, and it's so annoying when people do, but I really disagree with this one.

For other critiques- please keep in mind this horse is not in work and hasn't been her whole life. Also remember that she's bred to race, not to be a halter horse, so she is not going to have the tabletop back with the super long loin and croup.

Tailset that is not low at all:
image

How anyone can say this mare is light in bone is far beyond me. I hope I can lighten her up if anything. This is a 3 year old horse who hasn't been worked a day in her life. Look at that bumm!
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She has a very pretty profile, long mare ears (what are ya' going to do, it happens ), and her eye is definitely small and too close to the ears. That fact can make her head look quite long from certain angles, because the distance from the eye to the nostril is longer than it should be. She is not all that wide between the eyes. Big deal. The LAST thing I care about on an Arabian (but I'm in the minority) is the head - hers is decent, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't *realistically* look at its structure. Heads can be improved. Or you can just say forget about it. But a small, high set eye is a much worse fault than a plain head when it comes to Arabians. And that's according to the breed standard, not me.

She IS light boned. The current pics show it very well. Showing pics where she is fat, "thick", out of condition, and hairy don't mean she has heavy bone.

High tail carriage is NOT NOT NOT the same thing as a high tail set.

I think the stallion's shoulder will help the mare, especially now that you've included a few more pics. A picture of the stallion in a pre-breeding horny pose doesn't do much to show their real conformation. That's if the pics aren't photoshopped - there's some very weird things going on with his legs in the pics with the flowers.

You know, EVERY single horse has faults. When you're breeding it's important to single out each of those faults and make a plan for improving them. A critique of the mare isn't meant to say she's a useless piece of crap, it's meant to say here's what you should look to improve. I'm sure it's hard not to be defensive. But no one is trying to be mean spirited.