I’m judging these three mares based on how I feel they’d succeed as performance horses. Many qualities are required of performance horses, including a good mind, but good conformation and adequate muscling will make any performance horse’s job easier on mind and body, and help preserve soundness. 

I’m first looking for overall balance, from front to back and top to bottom. A well-balanced horse will have front and hind ends that match in good angles, substance, and muscling, as well as good depth to the body. I want to see a topline that’s shorter in relation to the underline, well-sloped shoulders and hips, and clean legs with structural correctness. 

Even though a horse’s head doesn’t determine success in performance, I do want to see refinement and femininity in mares. As potential breeding animals, they should be good representatives of their breed and type.

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The Placings

🥇 Mare A

 In this class, this mare is the most balanced from top to bottom and front to back—the first thing I look for. I would like to see her stronger in her loin and her topline a bit shorter in relation to her underline, though hers is the best ratio of topline and underline in this group. 

Her ears and head aren’t especially feminine, but she’s short from eye to muzzle. Her throatlatch could be trimmer, but her neck shows adequate length from poll to wither and ties in nicely to her chest. Her shoulder is fairly well laid back and she shows good depth of heartgirth. Her length from point of hip to point of buttock is also good. Her overall muscling is adequate in volume and definition. 

Her knees appear flat, though in this photo her right front leg just visible behind her left front leg could give her the illusion of being slightly over at the knees. Her front pasterns are strong, with good length and angle to match her shoulder angle. Her hocks are a bit over angulated and sit higher than her knees. 

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🥈 Mare C

This mare has some nice qualities but lacks Mare A’s overall balance. Her topline is weak and long in relation to her underline and she doesn’t have the first-place mare’s depth of body. Also, she lacks muscling throughout. 

Her feminine head, trim throatlatch, and long, shapely neck are some of her best features. Her neck ties into her chest nicely, and her shoulder has adequate slope. However, she’s shallow in her heartgirth and has less length from point of hip to point of buttock than Mare A. 

As with Mare A, it’s a bit difficult to discern from this photo how flat her knees are with the right front leg positioned behind the left front leg, but her front pasterns are of good length and match her shoulder angle. She has too much angle in her hocks so that when they’re positioned nicely under her, her hind cannon bones angle forward to the ground rather than forming an ideal plumb line. As both hind legs are visible, her right hind leg appears to toe out quite a bit. 

🥉 Mare B

This mare is the least balanced of these three, with a front end that’s much more substantial than her hind end. Her topline appears level, but it’s long and she drops off steeply in her croup. She lacks muscle volume and definition.

Her head is large and coarse, and though the shadow behind her makes it more difficult to assess, she appears to have a shapely throatlatch that joins a neck of good length. Her neck ties into her chest quite low, however, and her shoulder is the steepest in this group. She has adequate depth of heartgirth, but behind that point, she lacks substance and needs much more length from point of hip to point of buttock. 

Her knee shows a bump up front that could be the result of wear and tear. Her front pasterns appear to match her shoulder angle. In her hind legs, her stifle angle is quite open, and her hocks are straight. Not enough angle in her stifles and hocks appears to have weakened her hind fetlocks as her hind pasterns have the slope I’d expect to see in front pasterns. 


Karen Banister owns and operates White Harvest Farms, a boarding and training facility in Brighton, Colorado. As a trainer, she has produced world champion horses and riders on AQHA, APHA, and USEF show circuits. As a judge, she holds AQHA, APHA, ApHC, and NSBA cards, and has judged championship shows in the United States and internationally.

To submit a photo of your horse to be evaluated in Conformation Clinic, send us a left-side profile photo of your horse (high-resolution, 300 dpi, in at least 3″ x 5″) to HorseandRider@equinenetwork.com with your contact info and your horse’s breed, age, gender, and height. We welcome all breeds!