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Built for the Job: The Concept of Functional Conformation

By Celena Delaney

“My mare wasn’t sound, so I bred her.”

We’ve all heard that one, even as we witness the tragic realities of horse overpopulation. Unwanted horses are being slaughtered and neglected to death, and still we continue to over-breed horses.

Part of the problem is that horses with conformational issues are being bred and passing these problems on to their foals. This means that more and more of the horses we are breeding are predisposed to lameness – which makes them difficult to sell and more likely to end up in a slaughterhouse, or worse, abandoned and starving to death. As horse lovers, we need to change what we are doing for the good of the horse.

Judy Wardrope, a sport horse breeder and respected equine journalist, is helping horse people to make these changes. Her clinics and seminars teach horse owners, breeders, riders, trainers, and inspectors/evaluators about the concept of ‘functional conformation’ and its impact in the performance arena.

By relating form to function, Judy demonstrates key conformational areas that are vital to performance. She shows how horses that are “built for the job” are more successful in their careers; they are more keen to learn, less likely to injure themselves and, in general, are happier horses.

“Horses come first for me,” Judy says.

That philosophy is clear in her work. By educating people in the equine industry, she is helping to increase the quality – and quality of life – of horses that are being bred.

Among several key areas that Judy addresses is the location of the lumbosacral gap (LS), which is found on the loins just in front of the point of croup. Through her research, Judy shows how the placement of the LS is critical to the performance of the horse.

She has found that the most successful performance horses, regardless of their discipline, all have perfect (or near-perfect) LS placement – that is, the LS gap is placed directly above the top wing of the point of hip. The LS is a main area of compensation, and if it is strong, horses are more likely to stay sound and are better equipped to compensate for other conformational defects.

Knowledge of LS placement and other elements of functional conformation gives riders, trainers and breeders the knowledge to buy horses that are conformationally suited for their discipline. The downside of Judy’s job is that she sees thousands of horses that she knows will have to break down before they can prove to their owners and riders that they are not built to do what is being asked of them.

For the sake of the horse, the horse industry must demand responsible breeding practices. By educating ourselves and by choosing and breeding horses with the functional conformation necessary for their discipline, we can reduce the number of unwanted horses and have happier, more successful equine partners.

For more information on Judy Wardrope and the concept of functional conformation (including links to free articles on functional conformation), visit Judy’s website, JW Equine.

ARTICLE ADDED SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2010
CATEGORY: FUNCTIONAL CONFORMATION

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