Critique this horse.

[Oldtimer]

Haymaker- I'm not an appy fan-- but don't let that fact or the fact the horse is little stop you from getting him if you like everything else....

One of the toughest horses I ever rode was a neighbors that was a big headed ugly Appy and only stood 14 hands tall- probably weighed 900 lbs....Whitey could go all day- in the breaks working cattle- get back to pickup and load from the flat into the back of the pickup stockrack-pre stocktrailer days (even saw him hauled a couple times with no stockrack )...
He had a pretty nice walk, but was just shorter strided than some of the others we were riding- being his only drawback (besides being just plumb ugly looking) was a rough trot that he'd get into to keep up with those big old rangy horses- but had the smoothest lope- and if you needed to cover country could lope forever....
If you tied onto something big- he'd almost get down on his knees digging for traction to drag it....

Some of those little horses will surprise you....One of the pictures I still have of my dad was on a horse that was 14 hands high (Shorty) and my Dad was 6'5" tall... His legs really stick down on that horse--but Dad said that when they had to make a big sweep (50-60-70 miles in a day --sometimes up into Canada) to gather horses or trail horses to the railhead- he'd always take Shorty as he was the one that still had some gas left at the end of the day, when many of those big horses were played out.....

[HAY MAKER]

[Blkbuckaroo]

I like a stocky horse,i think they work great in most aspects of ranch work.This particular horse would be put together a bit better if he had a little bit more leg and foot on him to fit his body and was'nt so narrow through the hip,i'd like to see a better hip on a horse with a barrel like that.Also his neck from the throat latch to shoulder is a little ewe'd out which makes it harder for that horse to flex very well,although appys tend to have a fuller neck.But he looks healthy and that's important,might make you a good horse,probably has a heck of a roll back with that short stocky body.

[kolanuraven]

All I've ever owned are Appys and I've had some that were meaner than ' cat pizz' and others that were sweet and calm.....but they all tend to have a dash of ' character' built into them.

My last reg Appy was a HUGE, spotted up red leopard. A bit over 16hands and when he had to have eye surgery @ UGA we weighed him and he was 1120 lbs.

Then, he stepped off the scale,onto my foot and promptly broke it...and I was convinced he really weighed about 11,000 at the time!!!

I tell anyone if YOU like the horse and it fits what YOU want and can deal with....it's YOUR money so spend it how you like it.

[Blkbuckaroo]

[Faster horses]

From not caring for Appys at all, I have learned to respect them for
who they are. No. 1, Appys have striped feet which I have found are
the best feet of all.
Also, many times people can get along with an Appy that can't get
along with a more highly bred horse.

One of the best-looking horses I have ever seen was a registered Appy with no spots. Wow, that was one nice horse.

As for size, well, Billy Wagoner from Arvada, Wyoming probably rode a horse further and longer than most people. He was very careful not to over-ride a young horse. How he learned that was from having a 900 lb. grey mare that was a great horse. He rode her like she was a big horse and he says she was done at 7. So keep that in mind if you have big country to ride. Billy rode and cared for cattle on 72,000 acres, where you couldn't get a pickup and horse trailer. I always admired him and his son , Tom. They rode a lot of young horses and what they would do, is ride a horse and lead a colt to where they were going to sort cattle. They'd tie the colt up to the fence, gather the pasture and trail the cows in to where the colts were. They would then ride the colts to sort with and then ride the horse home and lead the colt. They never over-did the young horses this way; which was really their code...don't kill off a young horse, he'll never be the horse he could be if you do.

They were considered the best horsemen in the country. They always "considered the horse" even before the concept was popular.

Billy had a pair of horses that he rode and led. If he had a yearling to rope and doctor, the horse being led wouldn't even take the slack out of the lead rope--it was old hat to them.

His son is training horses now and his website is www.stopwatchhorses.com. I couldn't begin to tell you what a hand he
is--with cattle and horses.

Shoot, that link doesn't work. So just type it in yourself and it will work. (I think)

[Silver]

[nonrancher]

[NMCowboy]

FWIW, I don't discount a horse much based on its size. I've rode shorter horses (14.2 - 15.2) and bigger horses on up through Thorobreds. The list of bigger horses that either crippeled up, quit, or didn't have anything left at the end of a day is much, much longer than the list of shorter horses. All things being equal, I'll give a shorter, stockier horse a try before the bigger horse.

[codymccue]

I'm with you on that...plus it ain't as far to the ground

[Blkbuckaroo]