Articles
The Conformation
The Missouri Fox Trotting
Horse
The Missouri Fox Trotting Horse has become
one of the most beautiful horses alive today. When judging
conformation do not just pick the fattest horse, pick the one that
is the most correct. If a horse does not have the correct
conformation to be a top performance horse then that horse is not
the model of the fox trotting breed. To judge the conformation of
a horse one must look at the different parts of the horse before
looking at the whole. The parts of the horse that should be looked
at are the feet, legs, chest, barrel, hind quarters, neck, head,
and the over all proportions.
While being judged, the front
leg should be set so that the front of the foot is directly under
the point of the shoulder. The horse’s rear leg should be set so
the leg will be vertical from the hock down to the rear ankle. The
horse’s head should be high enough that the point of the nose is
level with the top of the withers. The feet of the horse should be
centered under its ankles, and should point straight ahead. The
legs should be straight when looked at from the front and the
rear. The knees, when looked at from the side, should not be bent
nor bowed.
The shoulders of the horse should be well
defined with the neck joining just above the points of the
shoulders. The slope of the shoulder is measured from the point of
the shoulder to the top of the withers, and should be near
forty-seven degrees. The neck joins over the shoulders and should
have some arch to it. The head should taper and not be narrow and
long. The bridge of the horse’s head should not dish nor bow out.
The bridge should be straight and the muzzle should be tapered.
The eyes should be set wide on the sides of the head, and the
teeth should meet evenly.
The chest of the horse should be
well defined showing muscle extending down the inside of the legs.
The withers should be over the girth and as high as the top of the
rump. The back of the horse should be flat with a small crease
down the center. The barrel of the horse should be the deepest at
the girth and should taper up slowly to the flank. The flank
should extend back past the start of the rump. This makes a horse
“short on top and long underneath.” The hips of the horse should
be full, and muscle should extend down the inside of the rear leg.
The croup line, measured from the hip bone to the muscle just over
the hock, should be long. The rear legs should have some crook,
but not so much as to prevent the horse from having an easy break
over. If the hind quarters are correct, a vertical line touching
back of the hock and ankle will just touch the point of the hip.
On a balanced horse, the neck, from the pole of the head to
the top of the withers, the back, from the top of the withers to
the start of the rump, and the croup, from the point of the hip to
the lower end of the muscle above the hock, will be of the same
length. The finer points of proportions can be shown pictures and
diagrams.
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