In 2012, I attended the Wednesday jog at Rolex with a particular mission in mind. I was preparing to breed my mare for an event baby, and I had been spending hours analyzing the conformation of particular stallions and their offspring, and how that would fit my mare. I wanted to produce an elite athlete capable of Eventing at the Advanced level. Just what does that animal look like?
So I set out to answer my question at Rolex’s first horse inspection. If you want to see successful upper level eventers, that’s a good place to be. My main goal was to determine what was most similar among these horses. Clearly, good horses come in all sizes and shapes. But could I find something in common? I’m sure you’re aware of “ideal” conformation. Balanced, with proportionate pieces. Longish neck, sloping shoulder, deep girth, strong loin, hindquarter angled just right. Low set hocks meeting a plumb line dropped from the point of buttock. Pasterns of medium length and slope. That’s what you’re taught to look for, so that’s what I had in mind.
After studying 50+ horses, I noticed a lot of variation. Big bone, fine boned. Some horses were leggy, others not so much. Some had long, weak-looking backs. And the hindquarters? We’re told that the hind end is the source of power, scope, and thrust, clearly needed for the four-star level. Yet I saw ALL kinds of hind end conformation that obviously did its job. Everything from steep to flat croups was seen at the jog that day; some horses with seemingly straight hocks, others a bit sickled. While a good hind end is important, there appear to be a few successful options back there to get the job done.
Since the hind ends were all over the place, my attention became focused on the front end. Ah, yes! Here it was – the magic feature I was looking for: The Shoulder.
Horse after horse, I viewed a LONG shoulder, tied in well above the chest. Some were a bit more upright, others more sloped – but that scapula was consistently of impressive length. Most of them were matched with a long, forward-placed arm (humerus), giving an uphill feel to the horse’s front end. A lot of those shoulders were topped by very prominent withers – partly due to being fit, but also due to the enormous size of that shoulder.
As my eye became accustomed to it, those big shoulders stuck out to me like a neon sign. THIS is what to look for, I thought. The shoulder means something to the success of these horses.
Why the shoulder?
If you think about it, the power generated from the hindquarters has to go somewhere. On an event horse, that power has to go out (gallop) and up (jump). The front end of the horse must be able to reach for a big stride, but also lift and get out of the way over fences. A low-set shoulder makes it much more difficult for the horse to travel in a balanced fashion – he’ll constantly be pounding downhill into the ground. Conversely, the higher-set shoulder makes it easy for the hind end to come under, raising the forehand and compressing the body.
The long shoulder also precipitates a long, efficient stride. These horses have to gallop and jump, and overcome the fatigue at the 9-minute wall. A fluid, ground-covering stride is less tiring and can be continued for a greater distance at faster speed. It probably keeps the horse sounder, as well.
Take a look at these photos – I know the quality is poor, sorry. See if you can pick out the similar shoulders among horses. And notice the wide variation of other traits.
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