WOOT! critique this

here is one more...just cause

What a cutie! He looks a little 'heavy' through the neck, but I like how the rest of him is put together. What a sweet boy with an alert and interested expression, and he looks to have come a long way since he came to you. Lucky pone-pone to have found you to restore him to health.
heidi

thanks Heidi, he is quite low up front i am guessing his QH half gave him that. every pic his head is higher then his natural head carriage but he is quite balanced when he moves. here are a couple movement pics.

Adell took some FANTASTIC PICS! had to share.

Jen - That is a really really nice red dun (aka plain old CHESTNUT!) :laugh1

Gosh he IS REALLY pale!!! That's one of the closest ones I've ever seen to Lace.

I really like him, there's nothing obviously bad screaming at me about him - he's a nice honest pony and he could do some shows. :D

awww he's so cute! You did such a great job with him!

I find I *really* must comment on his mane.
I like the newest pic because it looks very good and improves his overall look. He looks professional and ready for business.

At another horse site, there was a huge debate and, I guess it deteriorated a little bit into an argument over which is better; pulled/thinned or just straight scissor cut and snipped. I feel like I can definitely see the difference in these photos from short and BUSHY to short and CONTROLLED.
*IS* his mane pulled/thinned in this latest pic?

I'm not Sass but I feel qualified to answer this question. :D I know she pulled his mane because she and I had a good laugh over how quickly she clipped and pulled her rescue pony. I do the same thing... although I do have some scissored babies right now because they won't stand still for pulling yet.

Pulled NEVER scissored short....at least not for the final touch. :laugh1 I have, on occasion, been known to scissor a mane just shy of where it needs to be, and then pull it to the proper length, but that blunt-cut look... :hammer :hammer :BH :BH

Diane

Tell me about it. Even *I* have been pulling Lacy's mane lately. :laugh1

is it too late for me to admit i used scissors???? cut straight up towards the ceiling and then combed several times a day over the last 4 months to thin it. Indie is not positive he likes people yet so i didn't want to pull it. the more you comb and brush, the thinner it gets! i absolutely HATE the blunt cut look, but careful scissoring towards the ceiling makes the impression of a pulled mane, makes it just as easy to braid and saves you the heartache of dealing with a lunatic pony. i do pull my white pony's mane...but you would never know it hahahahahahha

'zokay, Sass. I'll admit I do that too on some of my chestnuts and palominos! Some red horses just can't stand having their manes actually pulled out. Another thing you can do is rat up a section of mane as though you are going to pull it, but then trim just that long section instead of pulling it out.

But everyone else gets pulled. Teddy and Rocky were pulled today. :mrgreen:

the slick shiny coat also aides in his more professional look! He's quite nice~

I am tripping about the mane though....All I do is try to grow them and you all just cut em off!!!???

;) Lacy's is so naturally thin and dry, it stays just a few inches long without trimming....I'm working on her diet though so...maybe we'll get it to a whole 4 inches this year..??? LOL Now Serenity? Her's is recovering from being chewed off from Cyn - want to borrow him? - he does not leave a straight edge except on tails, so better bag the tails before he gets em.

I am tripping about the mane though....All I do is try to grow them and you all just cut em off!!!???

hehe, you should have seen the pile of mane hair in my grooming stall yesterday. :P

Ha! KK is recovering being away from Cyn. Cyn is looking broken - his doesn't even lighten - it just breaks off... I'll have thin-haired, short mane and tailed arabs! Wah!

MTG is your friend! man i love that stuff...it smells like BBQ hotdog mixed with gasoline, but makes even the fugliest mane look reasonable and i have used it before on the whole body with a towel for a much more natural look then showsheen or anything else. In that pic indie was bathed, but then turned out and he rolled and then when he dried i brushed him off for the pic.

i still think hes a red dun....Ive never seen a chestnut who was so light. his body is almost buckskin colour (minus the dark points obviously)

As far as I know, we don't have MTG here...poor Casey could use a whole case of the stuff himself, right now... :laugh1

Diane

I have and have used MTG for 3 years now and it does not help. I haven't had them tested for mineral deficiency yet, but if that's not it, then it is just simple genetics. Weak & dry hair genes in Lacy and Cyn. Cyn is not quite as bad, but bad enough. Everything else has been ruled out. Since Ser and KK have thick hair that was only affected by getting chewed on, I'm thinking it's genetics.

try people conditioner?

indies mane has lost its 'fuzzy-ness' since he shed out this spring, but i think he has a nice mane to begin with. i have 2 geldings with hedge manes who i wouldn't take pics of without braids, but Indie's mane is pleasing! I feed lots of omega 3 to hay fed horses....indie was on about a cup of ground flax (balanced with 1/4 cup veg oil for omega 6...because it doesn't matter how much you feed as long as there is balance and Omega 6 is pretty much everywhere) a day until he got out on grass. i think Omega 3 has an effect on hair, so that might be something you could try. loves those essential fatty acids!

the vet came out today and implied that Indie still needed more weight :( does anyone agree with that? i hate to see him with more weight on him!

Well I like mine a bit plumper than that (say about 25-50 lbs) but he looks fine to me :bounce . I think your vet may be more of my mindset on size and less like yours - it is a matter of personal taste rather than health at this point, imho.
:love

???

He looks perfect to me. I'm surprised at the vet since most vets seem to like horses thinner than show people want them.

As I've said before, I think there is quite a range of healthy weights and where you keep your horse in that range has a lot to do with your discipline. It seems to go, from thinner to fatter, race horses, event horses, jumpers, then dressage horses and hunters. Your guy looks in the jumper range to me -- right in the middle. He could easily do pony hunters at that weight as well.

definitely a matter of taste. I would not want him any thicker. He's a great weight now! Right where he should be.

he has almost no whither now and i would hate to make him plumper and have a saddle slide right up to his ears! LMAO glad everyone agrees that he doesn't really need weight, i was worried when she made the comment...perhaps i miss-understood.

His weight looks just fine to me. I'd keep him where he is.