I would love a confortmation breakdown on my boy. I know the pics aren't that great, I haven't had help with taking them so he is either loose or tied to the trailer. He stands 15hands and is solid built. I only bred him to 2 mares this season, both mine. I have lots of pics of his offspring, and he definitely outproduces himself! He won $8K in his youth as a show horse in a handful of different working events. He has not been ridden in about 12 years and he is getting ready to go back to school for a tune up. I want to trail ride him and enjoy him. He is a very quiet stud and it is actually quite difficult to get him to tease and breed mares, he definitely does not have making foals as a priority on his to-do list!
Anyway, his pedigree is on allbreed, his registered name is Skip A Dan. He is DNA tested a true black, however hs is NOT Homozygous black. He is 95% foundation and approved with ApHC and APHA. He is AQHA registered. He is still sound at 22 years old! NONE of the pics were taken on level ground. And the grey on his face is because of age, he is NOT a grey.
Video, not the greatest but shows him moving:
http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a11...=horses021.flv
here are pics taken today, some last week, some last month:

more pics since it says I can only post 4 pics at a time:

last of my group of pics:

I lied! I have to throw in this last head shot! This one was taken today.

Hello!

First off, let me say I love your horse, don't think I could get tired of his photos... . I will do my best.

...*still gazing at him and drooling without a nod towards conformation*... hehehe...
...* Now straightening up and putting on the horse-judging face*...

To me, there really isn't alot to pick on that would be a serious problem. Pasterns are a little short, he appears to be a little 'over' at the knee, but that may be just the way the photos making him appear.

I really like the way his sections all fit together with relatively same length. Hocks and knees are close to same height. The slope of his shoulder is very exceptional to my eye, he appears to have a "goose rump" but that is mostly due to him standing under himself in the back.

Now the neck would differ from everyone's opinion. A halter class might like a slimmer, trimmer neckline better (kinda' hunky) but I like that neck personally. It ties in well at the shoulder, Throat latch though, is thick. That would make it harder for him to get on the vertical.

He is a tiny bit cow-hocked and in one photo is standing toed-out in the front- may just be the way he was standing at time of photo shot.

Now for back legs, he stands underneath, but if he were to be straightened out, where fetlocks and hocks would be perfectly vertical one underneath the other- he would have to camp out in the back. Which just means stifle (stifle, no, what is it...something... FIBULA- is a tad long. The ideal would be a straight Vertical line from: Point of rear- to point of hock- to back of fetlock. And his legs would stand out a bit further back than the point of his rear, in order to be perfectly vertical. It's hardly noticeable.

Beautiful head with thick stallion jaw, tapering down to a small muzzle, eyes are well set and expressive. He has such a cute face (if I can say so for a guy ).

Overall, nothing really stands out and says NEGATIVE. He has very decent conformation to me, I really like his stockiness and hunky build.

...did I mention I really like his build?? Lol...

So that's my best. I'm no certified judge- I did take horse Judging, and hippology for 3 years and competed in MTSU- so I can say I have an "idea" for what I'm looking at.

By the way, I'm in LOVE with his ears .

And the video shows a very deep and springy trot! Boy I wish my Stallion (He is a black AQHA also) would be one of those hard ones to get to tease the mares. He's so rotten, he even tries to "tease the geldings." He is getting much better, but for living 5 years as specifically only for breeding services has left him a little spoiled and not knowing how else to act around other horses.

Thank you! I love my old man! I think the term you were looking for is sickle hocked on the rear? I see it slightly but it isn't a big fault in performance horses, same with a slight cow hock. Some days I see a cowhock and some days I don't. The toeing out in front I think was the deep sand in the pictures because he actually toes in a little and shows it when he needs a trim. It is very mild, and I am so used to horses toeing out that I look at him and he looks very straight to me. I had thought about sweating his throatlatch a little, buit figured at 22 years old, I don't plan on showing him anymore and I am iffy about breeding him to the public, so as of right now he can be a gorgeous hunk in my pasture with a thicker throatlatch, lol.

He is a very easy horse to get along with. He is quiet and overall just keeps to himself. A friend came over today and she helped hold a mare for breeding and she was amazed at how gentle he is. I was surprised because he nipped the mare a little harder then normal, the mare doesn't stand well, and I am assuming the nipping the stifle on th emare is a way to see if she is still receptive or if she is not quite in enough and he might get kicked. Either way he uses his lips only for it and I was surprised and my friend told me stories of her grandpa's appy stud who required 4 people to bree dhim. I guess he was rough and hard to handle, but they still bred him because he threw nice babies i guess. of course this was 10 years ago. Either way, after that we washed him down and dressed him in a fancy show halter and took pics. The pics came out OK although more blurry then most and not really set up well, he was not in a mood to stand still in a grassy front yard. He wanted to graze and if he stood set up he protested with his ears back. lol.

Either way, He is really is a true gentleman. He reminds me of the neighbor who is so quiet you never know they are home. Or the friend who needs a place to crash and never overstays their welcome. He is a nice boy.

No sorry, Cow hocked is what I meant, it would not be cow hocked if his toes did not pointout, then would be a problem directly in the hocks if they angled this way without his toes out. But no, only very slightly noticable and not a problem at all. Quite common actually.

... Or where you talking about the way he stands Underneath himself? (totally different than his slight cow hocked position which can only be seen from front and rear pictures) What I meant there was that in order for him to set up where the point of his rear, point of hock, and point of fetlock all line up in a vertical line- his hock-to-fetlock will be standing out behind his rump which will make him have to camp out a bit. Makes his Fibula bone look long. I couldn't remember the bone.

I couldn't tell if he was toed out or not in the front, in one photo (where he is facing the camera at an angle) he was standing toed out in front but I wasn't sure if this had to do with the footing, or just the way he happened to be standing.

I personally like his thick chunky neck. He's about as close to my ideal favorite style of conformation as I get and I love him! Hey, post his fancy pictures with his show halter on! Sounds like he was quite enjoying himself *sarcasm in voice* ...none of my horses would stand happily for pictures after being washed and dressed up. They hate me when I do that... heehee...

This is the photo in where it's obvious he'll have to camp out a little bit in order to get his fetlock DIRECTLY underneath his hock. See how he is already standing out in the back end, and the fetlock still has a ways to go to get underneath that hock? That's why I noticed in all the other pictures he's really standing under himself.

Now I feel like a picky know-it-all... I'm only posting this pic again to rid the confusion! Nothing else... Sorry

I am not trying to justify pics and conformation at all, but maybe that one has to do with the ground being on a hill. He is standing with his butt slightly more downhill then his front. Don't believe me, look at his fence behind him. His pen is a 40X40 pen, a perfect square pen. He is standing about the middle of it. Oh well. I see what you are saying though. His fancy pics didn't turn out very well. A good friend was either holding him incorrectly while I tried snapping pics, or she took the pics while I held and she zoomed in too close and they were blurry, or overall bad angles. I need a pro photographer! I am uploading them to photobucket now.

These 7 pics are the best that were taken.

Wow! 100x better in photos of him clean and standing a little more squared up. Yes, the long hind legs are still there whether crooked photo or not- but it's very very minimal. It's probably not what most people would notice. Just something I notice- weird. But it's close to nothing worth mentioning.


My weakness is a black... I love him!

Well Danny left on the 17th for a tune up under saddle. He was given the first day to settle, good thing since he was unloaded as it was getting dark. He has a roomy box stall inside a barn with fans! He got ridden the following dayand has gotten 1 day off each week so far. I pick him up on the 10th. They have told me he has no buck, no attitude, nothing! However they say he is really lazy. They haven't been working him, just trail riding him. Making sure he has no spook or buck or acting up issues after 12+ years off! I can't wait till he comes home! He sounds like Mr. Perfect!!