Evaluate and place these Quarter Horse performance geldings. Then see how your choices compare to our expert judge’s.
This is a very nice class of performance geldings. Whether the class is halter or performance halter, the first things I look for are overall balance and correctness. I’ll be judging these geldings on the four categories of balance, structural correctness, breed and sex characteristics, and muscling, and assess each horse’s positive and negative traits within those categories.
General attractiveness helps, too, as some horses have a natural presence that stands out. I like to see soft eyes and well-set ears, even in geldings, as their heads are an indication of their overall quality and trainability.
Overall balance and correct structure can benefit athleticism and help a horse stay sound. Each of the geldings in this class appears to be a good candidate for a successful performance career.
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The Placings
🥇 Gelding C
This is a very attractive horse with great balance, quality, and presence. He’s very proportionate with a strong, level topline and smooth turn over the croup to a well-set tail. His wither is adequately prominent, and the depth through his shoulder, heartgirth, and hip is excellent.
His head shows good breed and sex characteristics with a soft eye and small, well-set ears. He could be slightly cleaner through the throatlatch, but his neck is of good length and ties in well to his shoulder and chest. His shoulder shows excellent definition that indicates his level of fitness and is nicely sloped to match his good hip angle.
His forearm also shows his level of conditioning with outstanding muscle volume and definition. His front legs are very correct, with a straight knee and the ideal slope in his front pasterns to match his shoulder angle. His hocks are slightly higher than ideal, and a bit straighter than those of the other two horses. Overall, this horse appears to be a very capable athlete.
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🥈 Gelding A
This is also a very attractive gelding with a lot of eye appeal, but he falls just short of Gelding C. He’s very well balanced and has a strong topline, but he isn’t quite as level, quite as prominent in his wither, or quite as long in his croup as the first-place horse.
He has an appealing head with a nice eye and well-set ears. As with Gelding C, he could be a bit cleaner in his throatlatch, though that’s a minor fault. His neck is of good length and ties in well to his chest and shoulder, which is nicely sloped. He has very good depth of body and hip, but comes up barely second to Gelding C in those areas.
This gelding also shows good definition in his forearm and is very correct in his front legs, with straight knees and good slope to his pasterns to match his shoulder angle. His well-angled hocks are set a bit lower than Gelding C’s, an advantage. He should be able to perform well.
🥉 Gelding B
This is another good-looking horse who appears very useful. His overall balance is adequate, but he’s slightly longer through his midsection, less prominent in his wither, shorter in his croup and higher in his hip compared to the other two geldings.
His head is a bit less refined than the other two, but I like his honest expression and alert eye. He has the cleanest throatlatch in this class. His neck is of good length and ties in well to his chest and shoulder, but it’s a bit thick on top. His shoulder is steeper than the other two’s and he lacks their depth of shoulder, heartgirth, and hip.
His forearms show adequate definition, and his front legs appear correct with straight knees and adequately angled pasterns. He has larger feet and a substantial amount of bone in his legs. Though well angled, his hocks sit much higher than his knees, which translates to his high-hipped topline. His high hocks may not be ideal for certain disciplines, but he is sure to find a place in performance.
Margo Ball, with her brother Wayne, owns and operates Ball’s Quarter Horses, a breeding, training, and showing business in Fort Collins, Colorado. A carded judge for more than 35 years, she currently holds AQHA, PHBA, APHA, NSBA, NRCHA, WCHA, and NVRHA cards. She’s judged more than 900 shows and is currently an AQHA Director at Large serving on the show committee.
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!