When talking about the morphology of the horse, two criteria should be observed : type and conformation.

Type is the qualities of the equine that make it look like a beautiful horse, in miniature. Conformation is the qualities which make that this equine will be adapted to the practice of such or such activity. It goes without saying that certain details of the horse's conformation will objectively be defects and others qualities, whatever the purpose.

 

To put it simply, type is beauty. Conformation is good.

 

Type

A good type for a miniature horse will come from observing several general points : proportions, bone structure, mass and head. Close your eyes, and visualize how you imagine a beautiful horse : will it be high on its legs or rather close to the ground ? Will it have wide and strong hocks, or will it look thin and sleek to you ? Will he be fit like a thoroughbred or strong and massive like a percheron ? You yourself define the type of horse that suits you. Some will prefer a good-looking draft horse, others a racehorse. And if the different studbooks tend towards a miniature horse that would like to have only the type of the arabian horse, besides the fact that, coming out of photoshopped marketing and sometimes conditioned beyond the limits of mistreatment on the part of certain breeders, that simply does not exist. The multiplicity of lines and the crossings that still take place today due to the opening of most registers allow you to imagine raising YOUR ideal horse .

However, it should be noted that the type of horse will depend on the quality of its use : we do not skidding with an arab show horse.

But whether it is a mini french arabian or a mini percheron, the essential is that its model is coherent : a big head on a short neckline, the whole grafted on a long and scrawny body posed on four legs too thin and too short, it will be ugly, undeniably.

 

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Conformation

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In this article, it will be necessary to remain relatively vague : in order to be precise, it would be necessary to detail the interest of the length and the angulation of each of the long bones and the flat bones of the horse, the implantation of the muscles, the length of such and such. such ligament... This is not the purpose of this article.

 

We will therefore remain in a global and deliberately imprecise approach, however enough for you to be able to detect in a horse what will seem to you to be a quality or a defect. Considering that the main sporting activity of the miniature horse will be driving and show jumping, it is with this in mind that we will look for what might or might not make a "good" horse.

The neckline, for most uses, should be relatively long. A short neck will be desired for driving horses which need a lot of strength, for skidding or plowing for example, this is the typical case of draft horses. For all other cases, and for questions of balance, mobility, use of the pendulum, prefer a long neckline.

 

Just observe the ratio of the length of the head to the length of the neckline, the latter is considered (relatively) long if it is longer than the head. The neckline should not be tied too low, again for reasons of balance and mobility. Regardless of the use, in a natural posture the top edge of the neckline should be convex.

 

Avoid photos of a horse that poses, during a show for example, a horse “placed” by a handler or a professional photographer will obviously not have the same posture naturally. If you have to force him to an attitude that he can only hold for a few seconds, you can of course imagine that the same horse in a meadow will not behave in the same way at all.

 

Note that with a little conditioning, it is easy to pretend that the horse has a good neck. It is absolutely essential to demand to see at least “natural” photos of the horse, and at best videos where the horse stands alone, without any external solicitation. A horse with a concave upper edge of the neck will be unfit for most activities, it is a significant defect, inherited, and difficult to correct through work, and it is a very common defect in miniature horses.

 

The neckline should be muscular, with a rather horizontal port.

 

The shoulder must be long. Its orientation depends on the use of the horse. Except for a driving horse from which only strength is required and for which a fairly vertical shoulder is desired, a tilted shoulder is preferred : fuller gait for the coupling, easier movement over obstacles.

 

The horse should be slightly “done on the rise” : the withers should be a little higher than the point of the hips. Otherwise, the horse is “done downhill”, resulting in problems of balance, defective gait, and by compensation a posture of the neck and head unsuitable for work. It is also a very common defect in miniature horses, a defect that is very easy to hide in a professional photo. Again, demand at least one photo where the horse is presented with the forelegs and hindquarters at the same level, on level ground.

 

Note that as the horse grows, this can change ! A two year old foal may appear to have a too high hindquarters, and once growth is complete, to be properly balanced. The back should be neither too long nor too short, but broad, muscular, straight. In its continuation, smoothly, the kidney must also be broad and strong, it is the same for the hindquarters.

 

The croup should be long, muscular and not sloping : consider that if the line from the point of the hip to the point of the buttock is slanted more than 30 degrees from the horizontal, then the croup is too sloping for the Most uses : limited gait, limited extension, little mobility.

 

The legs must be correct, and like everything else you must be able to observe them naturally, and not once the horse has been placed by a handler who will be able to hide the faults. It is not essential for a miniature horse to have perfect balance if its use is limited, on the other hand for a horse which do driving regularly, bad balance will tire it and lead to painful lameness. Don't save yourself a good appreciation of them before you buy.