PONY CONFORMATION - THE BASICS

By Shelley Wolhuter

Have you ever heard people talking about conformation and wondered what it’s all about? Or maybe you know what it is, but you don’t know what to look for. In horses, or ponies, conformation refers to the structure and shape of their body. It is important to note that it is mostly about the horse’s skeleton, and not the muscles or fat. Whether a pony is underweight or overweight, their conformation will not change. However, sometimes an overweight pony can hide certain conformation faults. Conformation can give us an idea of a pony’s possible physical abilities and weaknesses. Sometimes, it even a gives a clue as to how long a pony might stay sound for in their older years.

Where to start

Firstly, it is important that you set up your pony correctly so that you can get an accurate view of their conformation. Your pony should be positioned on level ground, ideally concrete. Then, you must make sure your pony is standing with their weight evenly on all four feet. Ideally, they should stand square, but if one leg is slightly out it is not too serious.

Assessing conformation takes some time, especially if you haven’t had much practise, and asking your pony to stand perfectly still for a long time might not be easy for them. So, the best thing to do is take photos of your pony once he is standing correctly. You will need to get a good photo from the side, the front, and the back of your pony. Remember not to tilt the camera, as it may distort your photo! Once you’ve got some good photos, you can look closely at each detail, and even draw on the photos if it helps!

Overview

Now that you’ve got your photos, you’ll need to know what you’re looking for. Of course, you can get in-depth with conformation, but we will just be covering the basics here. First, we look at the big picture, the proportions. No matter what breed (or mixture of breeds) your pony is, the proportions are important! What this means, for example, is that your pony’s head shouldn’t be too big for their body, and their legs shouldn’t be too short! Ideally, when you look at your pony from the side, you want their body to fit nicely into a square box. In other words, you want to be able to divide their body into three equal parts: the forequarters (shoulders), the barrel, and the hindquarters.

Once we have this overview we can take a closer look by examining the view from the side, the front and the back.

DID YOU KNOW?

A pony’s feet can affect their posture. If a pony has an unbalanced foot or an unbalanced trim, the whole leg will be affected and the conformation may look odd!

Side view

Let’s zoom in on the legs first. In order to judge them, you need to drop a plumbline (vertical line) through them, from the top to the bottom. The plumbline should perfectly split the front legs from the top to the bottom. For the back legs, drop a plumbline from the point of hindquarter to the ground. The back of the hocks should touch the plumbline.

The topline of the neck should then be longer than the underside. A well-muscled pony should have a thicker upper neck rather than a thicker base of neck. When the base is thicker, we call it a ‘ewe-neck’. However, neck muscling is a product of exercise and carriage. A lot can be done to improve muscling; however, the bones cannot change! Remember, with conformation, we are focussing on the bones!

Front view

Now, look at your pony from the front. You are specifically looking at the legs and feet. If you drop a plumbline through the middle of each leg, the line should perfectly split each leg into equal halves. The line should pass through the centre of each knee, fetlock and hoof. You can also look at your pony’s hooves. Do they split into perfect halves? Is one side higher than the other?

Back view

For the back view you will need to drop a plumbline through each hind leg. The plumbline should start in the hindquarters and end in the feet, passing evenly through each hock, fetlock, and hoof.

Take home

While a pony’s conformation can tell us a lot, it is not everything. There are always exceptions, and some seriously talented ponies often have a conformation fault or two. So please do not panic if you find a fault! It is just something to be mindful of. Finally, the most important factor to consider here is that it is how we take care of our ponies that has the greatest impact on their wellness. An imperfect pony that is well managed will last much longer than a perfect pony that is poorly managed!