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This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » References » Equine Illustrations » Muscoskeletal Anatomy and Conformation » Front and Hind Limb: Normal Conformation »
  Discussion on Long pastern in weanling
Author Message
Member:
jadamy

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 23, 2008 - 10:28 am:

Hello Dr O
I recently had my 5 month old filly inspected for her registry. SHe received great scores on movement but the judge said she was long in the pastern. With the pictures below, what is your opinion? She will be used for dressage, are they so long that she may be prone to injury? My farrier, who's opinion I value, Has commented on her pasterns form day one and sees them as just an indication she will be a tall horse. I have read on other post that the pastern is normally the adult length and the foal grows into them. Do you agree?

Thanks




pic 1pic 2
Member:
erika

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 23, 2008 - 1:26 pm:

Beautiful filly, Jennifer! Is this the Royal Veritas on your website?
Her pasterns certainly aren't "saggy", are they? She will probably be a comfy ride with shock absorbers like that!
What did the judge say was the problem with long pasterns? I have not heard that as a criticism unless they were very lax.
Best of luck with her.
Erika
Member:
jadamy

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 23, 2008 - 1:41 pm:

Yes this is Royal Veritas, thank you I think she is splendid as well. The judge gave her very high marks in her movement. He didn't elaborate on the problem except he thought they were long. I compared her to some of the other fillies and could see a very minor difference. He did not score her extremely low, just a couple tenths of a point. I just want to be sure she is not at risk of ligament injuries as she grows. If there are precautions I can take now to protect her future I would certainly want to do that.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 24, 2008 - 8:35 am:

Jennifer to get a good impression and give accurate appraisals we need some good clear conformation shots that show the whole horse, filling the image, and standing square. The light should be behind the photographer. The farther away you are the better as it creates less foreshortened distortion but the telephoto should be used to fill the viewfinder.

There is a general impression that the pasterns in the image are long. When skeletal segments are measured during growth for research papers usually pastern lengths are left out. Such papers have established that cannons are a greater percentage of their final length at birth but I am uncertain about pasterns. In general I find foals that I assess as having long pasterns generally become adults with long pasterns but I expect foal pasterns to be a little longer to the eye. It is a very subjective subject.
DrO
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