5 Day Challenge - Day 3

11.  Critique Your Horse's Conformation

Ok, I'm not the best at conformation critique, but I'll give it my best shot!

Starting with his hind end, he has fairly good angles that show he should be a good jumper, nothing spectacular or perfect, but shows a penchant for jumping over dressage (lack of the inverse 7).  His stifle is at a moderate height which won't let him get his hing legs under him as much as possible, so will have some issue with getting his hing legs stepping up underneath him. Nothing awful, but again, not perfect.  His SI joint is close to where you want it to couple in, but it is a bit far forward from the point of hip.  

Moving to the front, his pillar of support bisects the front legs (even when they're NOT set backwards...) making his front end lighter.  His humerous and shoulder angle shows that he'll have a nice front end over fences and should be able to snap up his front legs to avoid jumps.  Now, this isn't the greatest photo of Koda, but it does show that overall he has a fairly decent balance with only minor conformation issues that won't affect soundness but performance.  

For those of you who saw this and thought tl;dr, here are the highlights:
1.  Average hind end

2.  Nice front angles for jumping
3. Overall nice balance but not an Olympic contender

12.  Horse's Favourite Riding Exercise

I think Koda likes doing exercises with things, whether it be poles, jumps, cones, etc.  He's a pretty curious and cautious horse, but whenever I start pulling stuff out, he'll always go and check it out!  In particular, I think he likes grids since they make him think and I don't nitpit on him as much.

Perks right up coming into the short gymnastic :)

13.  Favourite Spa Day Products

We don't do many spa days up here (have to haul-in water to the farm) so it's usually just me, my grooming kit, and some tunes on a nice day.  My favourite grooming tool of ALL TIME is my cactus mitt.  Cactus cloth on one side, fleece on the other, you can use it for just about anything.  Best tool for soaking awkward areas (horse's face)?  Cactus mitt.  Get rid of sweat marks? Cactus mitt.  Help bring out the shine in your horse's coat?  Cactus mitt.  Remove the last bit of dried poultice on your horse's legs?  Cactus mitt.  I have at least three of them!

The all-magical mitt

14.  Three Best Things About Your Horse

1.  Honest - Koda is a pretty honest guy.  Yeah, he can get a bit of attitude or have a freak-out moment, but when we're really putting in the work, he is the most honest horse I know.
2.  Attitude - I love his attitude, even when it's a bit over the top and ridiculous!
For the last one, I asked The Fiance what he liked best about Koda, and his answer was...
3.  His size - Koda is actually a really good size for me.  Since I have relatively long limbs, Koda compliments me rather nicely at 16.1hh.  We match each other well.

My third choice would've been his canter...

Such a sweet man

15.  Favourite Picture of Your Horse

Even though he was a little intimidated/scared of it, he flew over top!