What's the point or the purpose of a horse having "Good conformation"?

Question

What's the point or the purpose of a horse having "Good conformation"?

Answer 1

Conformation is directly related to a horse's health and performance. Conformation is SO much more than how nice-looking a horse is.



If a horse has, say, crooked legs, it's not going to stay sound and will be more prone to injuries.



Horses with upright pasterns are more prone to navicular. Horses with long backs have trouble making tight turns, so would be bad for jumpers or barrel racing. A horse with a thin neck will have trouble "rounding" and getting into a proper frame. Horses with sickle hocks have an easier time making sliding stops, but they pay for it with having a difficult time extending their stride. A horse who is built downhill will naturally be a poorer jumper than a horse who is built uphill. The list goes on and on.



Of course no horse has perfect conformation, but some are significantly better than others. There are some flaws that you can live with, and others that will really hurt the horse or make it unsuitable for any serious riding.



Horses may even have to be put down if their conformation is poor enough; a horse with a very severe fault might not be able to live comfortably and could have to be put down, just because of how uncomfortable its life would be otherwise.



I suggest you read the wikipedia article on horse conformation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equine_conformation



It has a lot of good information, as well as some common faults and how that will impact the horse. There's a lot of good books out there on conformation too, but the wikipedia article will probably suit your purposes.



To me, conformation is one of the most important things about a horse (if I intend on riding it and doing some serious sports with it). Good conformation will really increase a horse's price- I have seen horses sell for 50,000 JUST because they have awesome conformation. A horse with very bad conformation will rarely sell for more than $2500, even with all the training, heart, and ability in the world... just because it won't be able to stay sound and healthy.



Conformation doesn't have anything to do with personality/temperament, that's 100% mental. Conformation relates to health, ability to do a sport, and soundness.



ADD-- There are the rare few who are capable of overcoming shoddy conformation and becoming great athletes... just look at Seabiscuit:

http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/k/a/kah19/seabiscuit.jpg

As cute as he is, Seabiscuit is very over at the knee and has a poorly constructed neck. BUT- Seabiscuit also ruptured a suspensory ligament in one of his front legs... perhaps that injury was tied to his conformation, noone can say for sure but I think it's certainly possibly that his conformation caused his career-threatening injury.

Answer 2

Short answer: A horse's conformation will determine his athletic potential, the other factors being unseen ("heart," attitude, etc). A well conformed horse is less prone to injury as his structure is essentially strong, based purely on physics and physiology! As for temperament and intelligent, some say the size of the eye, shape of the head, etc, will indicate temperament, and it does seem to hold true to some degree.



That all said, there have been some really badly conformed horses who defied all odds and were very good jumpers/race horses/eventers, what have you.

Answer 3

It's the difference between a horse that may be prone to physical problems that may show up early compared to a horse that can be hardy its whole life (or close to it).....and how "useful" that horse is for whatever it is you want to do (jump, reining, cutting, etc).



So, if your horse has "odd" conformation.....you might find out your horse can get arthritis easily, or that your horse tends to have back pain easily, or .... ?



If your horse has excellent conformation, pretty well put together....you have a higher chance that your horse will be able to last and stay physically healthy easier.....



If the horse has very small eyes that are farther apart than normal (called, "pig eyes")....your horse might be a little more spooky because his sight might not be as good as a horse with normal set eyes, who can see better.



It has nothing to do with intelligence, though.



Everybody is looking or cares about something different. Some people don't care or simply don't know....that they have a horse with "odd" conformation, until someone else points it out.



People who are into certain disciplines will tend to look closer at the confirmation, because it'll make the difference if the horse will be able to "perform" or not, or how well.

Answer 4

Conformation is the way a horse is put together. Most of what is evaluated is based on the construction of the skeleton, which is the framework that the entire body is built on. Any deformity or weakness in the skeleton will have an impact on the soft tissues that support it and are protected by it. For example, The rib cage houses and protects the heart and lungs. A narrow rib cage leaves less room for the heart to develop and for lungs to expand, limiting the horse's circulatory and respiratory capacity. An excessively long spine means a weaker back, with less ability to carry weight without developing inflammatory or degenerative conditions. Weak long loins make it hard for a horse to develop the abdominal and loin muscles, which leaves the abdominal organs more vulnerable to injuries and prevents the horse from using his whole body efficiently for athletic performance. The angles of bones at their joints, the lengths of bones, and the bone circumferences and densities determine how well they will handle the stresses placed on them over the lifetime of the horse related to the various activities the horse will be asked to perform. The conformation of the face and jaw will affect the horse's ability to take in air through the nostrils, and carry a bit comfortably, and the length of the head and neck will affect the horse's overall ability to balance himself. The set of his eyes will affect his range of vision.

Temperament is affected when a horse is chronically in pain, so painful inflammatory conditions brought on by poor conformation can lead to problems with temperament.

I consider correctness of conformation to be the most important consideration in choosing a horse to purchase. It has nothing to do with breeding horses in my situation. I want the horse to stay sound and function well, and good conformation is the foundation for making that happen.

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Add....a horse that is chronically stressed by fear will also display it through his temperament and intellect. Poor range of vision, for example, limits the horse's ability to see what he hears, which leads to stress. Stress releases hormones and neurotransmitters that affect cognitive functions of the brain. Intelligence can also be overcome by these effects when functions of the cerebral cortex are shut down, limiting the ability to think and reason, and causing the horse to rely on instincts dictated in the animal brain. The sympathetic nervous system takes over and fight or flight mode kicks in and overrides intelligence in these situations.

Also, while a poorly conformed horse may be capable of athletic performance, it is not about that. It is about the horse's ability to perform without sustaining injuries as the result. Great athletes with marginal conformation typically break down at an early age.



Seabiscuit broke down at the age of 5. He was rehabbed and returned to run two more races as a 7 year old, and then retired permanently. He was lucky to be retired and kept at stud for 7 more years until his death, but his athletic career was very short. Had he not been the great racehorse that he was, he would not likely have been given those last seven years of retirement to keep on earning stud fees for his owners.

Answer 5

I agree 100% with Julie - she hit all of the important points right on the head -



Conformation is key to having a good using horse,

Answer 6

Incorrect. Purpose is the reason u were created. God made u for a reason so u have purpose. Fin. God does as He pleases. He made u for w/e purpose cuz it pleased Him to do so. Ps pleasing Him is an intrinsic part of ur purpose

Answer 7

conformation is like how the horse stands or how it looks it can be helpful when buying if you look at its conformation

Answer 8

it shows how judges will like ur horse if ur showing in english if its confirmation isnt that good then u may not even place also confirmation also shows wat the horse can be good for



well built horses would probably be good jumpers racers or hunters maybe even driving

poorly built horses can just be ridden or maybe western pleasure or something toned down u know

Answer 9

you have me on that one. They all look alike in a crock pot with carrots and potato's

Answer 10

Conformation has a lot to do with how well a horse can do a certain thing. Have you ever heard anyone anyone say "does my horse have good conformation for barrel racing?" or something like that? The reason is, is that if a horse's conformation makeup is really lanky then the horse wouldn't be able to get around the barrels as well as a rounder, less long horse. The same is with a jumper, you don't want some really lanky, really long legged horse as it wouldn't be able to take the impact of landing on it's two small legs.



Sometimes conformation means health or risibility, if a horse's conformation is down hill, or his legs aren't right then he wouldn't be as comfortable as a horse with a level back or strait nice legs.



Some people believe that what a horses face looks like tells it's attitude, I don't believe this but to each his own.



In most cases, if you are looking for a horse you want it for a certain thing and are willing to pay more for it if it has good conformation based on what you are planning to do with it.