anilizing confomation of this horses shoulder

Question
Can you tell me what type of shoulder this horse has? He has been described as having a straight shoulder, but descritions of how he moves smoothly & has a long stride make me think he doesn't...but his shoulder  doesn't look like a sloping one either...please give me your opinion...thanks, Belinda

http://image20.webshots.com/20/5/58/46/224355846umRvqT_ph.jpg

Answer
Hi Belinda;

The angle is not ideal to look at the shoulder as the photo is taken with the hindquarter closer to the camera than the shoulder, however...

He does appear to have a straight shoulder, meaning upright, probably at least 55 degrees, perhaps as much at 60 degrees.  Can't tell for sure because of the photo angle.

But, how straight or sloped his shoulder is has NOTHING to do with how his stride will be.  Whether a stride is short and choppy or long and smooth or inbetween,comes from the shoulder ANGLE (NOT SLOPE) and from the length of the HUMERUS bone in relation to the length of the SCAPULA.

This horse appears to have an adequate shoulder angle of 90 degrees.  Anything less and the stride will be short and choppy.  Grand Prix jumpers will often have very upright shoulders, but will have a shoulder angle in excess of 100 degrees, as much as 115 degrees.  That is what gives them the ability and range of motion to tuck their knees to their ears.

This horse's humerus definitely exceeds 50 percent of the scapula length which is also required for a long stride.  The really good moving horses will have a humerus with a length of 60, 65 percent of the scapula length.  

So, what gives this horse a longer, smoothier stride is that he has an adequate shoulder angle and a nice long humerus bone.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Lana Reinhardt