By Gigha Steinman Beauty Biomechanics
A N D
Can Work Together
Beauty is as beauty does, but good conforma- tion and biomechanics are crucial in a sport horse. Whether you’re a breeder, a trainer or an amateur looking for your next equine partner, it’s important to find a horse physi- cally suited to the job. Evaluation of a horse’s conformation and movement is an important tool in predicting a variety of things, includ- ing future sport suitability and a predisposi- tion for soundness problems.
THE USDF (U.S. Dressage Foundation) has developed a Dressage Sport Horse Breeding (DSHB) division which includes DSHB competitions, a Breeders’ Championships series and educational sport horse seminars. Their sport horse seminar program is an excellent op-
portunity to learn about the evaluation and judging of sport horses as well as the ins and outs of the DSHB com- petitions. These seminars are open to all and are espe- cially recommended for breeders, judges (especially those aspiring to become USEF Dressage Sport Horse Breeding judges), and anyone who would like to simply learn more about evaluating the conformation and movement of horses. The Delaware Valley
Combined Training As- sociation recently hosted one of these seminars July 26 and 27 in Pennsylvania with seminar instructors Bill Solyntjes and Kristi Wysocki, both licensed “S” dressage judges and “R” sport horse judges. The semi- nar squeezed an incredible amount of information into a two-day format, with classroom lectures both days at New Bolton followed by practice judging and live presentations at Iron Spring Farm in Coatesville.
Overall Impressions Matter! The evaluation of a sport horse typically begins with an
evaluation of conformation, which was also the start- 32 September/October 2014
Using the author’s young Friesian Sporthorse, Lauderdale ROF, she demonstrates finding the horse’s center of balance.
All seminar photos by Penny Hawes
A comprehensive report on the recent two-day USDF Sport Horse Seminar focused on Dressage Sport Horse Breeding classes.
ing point of both the weekend’s lectures and the USDF student manual provided to the participants. However, the first step is to look at the big picture conformation- wise. This is not the time to nitpick or jump ahead to the evaluation of details; it’s the time to begin to form an overall first impression. Does the horse look uphill or downhill? Is he built proportionally and does he look balanced? There are different body types for different jobs. For ex-
ample, a champion Western cutting horse will likely have conformation which is not conducive for upper-level dres- sage. A dressage horse should look like a dressage horse, with an uphill build and a center of balance that is higher and farther back than you would find in most stock horse breeds or race horses. To find the center of balance, you can draw an imagi-
nary line from the point of the shoulder to the point of the buttocks and then draw an imaginary vertical line from
Gigha Steinman
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