Liz Graves clinic - Part 1

Dawna and Mary arranged a Liz Graves clinic at Joy's stable. Day 1 was about conformation and saddle fit. Liz demonstrated how you look at key structures of a horse to determine their characteristics.

First, she found a region on the horse (often, where a bone is located) and placed a bright orange target sticker there. Then she connected the dots to create lines that show the angle or length of bone. The angles can help determine the reach and lift of a horse's stride and other significant attributes.

We found the quarter horses had a steeper rise on their shoulders and the Tennessee Walkers had a more laid back angle.

I had to laugh when I left to see half a dozen horses in the pasture looking like constellations.

Here are a couple links to some very good information about horse conformation. You should be able to use that page to identify the points of your horse. Then read this page about how to analyze your horse. Try some of the links toward the bottom of the second page for photos that illustrate key points. These articles are about gaited horses, but could apply to any horse.