Below is a section from our chapter on finding your perfect horse. We have many, many more tips and a great deal more information in the book.
When Looking at Any Horse Prospect
Always look at videos of the horses that interest you, so you can study their movement in detail and not just be overwhelmed by their presence, as you might be in person. In the videos, watch for an overstride (the hind foot coming farther forward than the footprint of the front hoof) in both walk and trot. A few years ago, people thought the bigger the overstride, the better. But now that breeders have satisfied that market request and created a generation of horses with huge overstrides, we understand that you can, in fact, have too much overstride! A huge overstride can create a “dangerous” walk, meaning that it can have a lateral tendency if the back tenses which immediately reduces an 8 or 9 walk score to a 4. That’s really not a worthwhile risk since it’s a coefficient of 2 movement.
With a video, you can watch his overstep, how his back swings, and how rideable his gaits are both at normal speed and in slow motion (watch his back – does it move smoothly up and down or is there a stiffness or too much motion there?) Take video of him trotting away (ideally in a bit of a lengthening) and watch it in slow motion, especially looking for the horse to go “wide behind.” Wide behind happens when the front feet don’t leave the ground fast enough for the back feet to have a place to land, so they step the hind foot just to the outside of the front feet to avoid stepping on the heels of the front feet. This is sometimes seen in young horses (lack of strength) and stallions (they’ve got to protect the family jewels!). Judges will give lower marks for going wide behind in lengthenings, mediums and extensions because it is an avoidance of collection. It can take time to break this habit because it requires building strength, so if you buy a horse that goes wide behind, be prepared to have him spend time with a trainer to correct it.
Always look at videos of the horses that interest you, so you can study their movement in detail and not just be overwhelmed by their presence, as you might be in person. In the videos, watch for an overstride (the hind foot coming farther forward than the footprint of the front hoof) in both walk and trot. A few years ago, people thought the bigger the overstride, the better. But now that breeders have satisfied that market request and created a generation of horses with huge overstrides, we understand that you can, in fact, have too much overstride! A huge overstride can create a “dangerous” walk, meaning that it can have a lateral tendency if the back tenses which immediately reduces an 8 or 9 walk score to a 4. That’s really not a worthwhile risk since it’s a coefficient of 2 movement.
With a video, you can watch his overstep, how his back swings, and how rideable his gaits are both at normal speed and in slow motion (watch his back – does it move smoothly up and down or is there a stiffness or too much motion there?) Take video of him trotting away (ideally in a bit of a lengthening) and watch it in slow motion, especially looking for the horse to go “wide behind.” Wide behind happens when the front feet don’t leave the ground fast enough for the back feet to have a place to land, so they step the hind foot just to the outside of the front feet to avoid stepping on the heels of the front feet. This is sometimes seen in young horses (lack of strength) and stallions (they’ve got to protect the family jewels!). Judges will give lower marks for going wide behind in lengthenings, mediums and extensions because it is an avoidance of collection. It can take time to break this habit because it requires building strength, so if you buy a horse that goes wide behind, be prepared to have him spend time with a trainer to correct it.
Excerpt from "A Guide to Your Perfect Sport Horse" Copyright (C) 2020 by Jennifer Truett and Lynda Sappington. All Rights Reserved.
