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Anatomy and conformation of the horse
Book by Edwards, Gladys Brown
218 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1973
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August 2, 2025
This was a hard row to how, indeed. I finally gave up on the last few chapters and just skimmed the rest.
The author and illustrator did a series of articles on anatomy and conformation for the magazine Thoroughbred of California, which apparently were a hit with readers ... which kind of makes you wonder just how bad the articles were in that mag. All of the articles were put together in book format. As befitting the audience, about half of this book was devoted to the legs and hooves.
Most of this book isn't written by Edwards, but consists of quotes from others. Some quotes go on for multiple pages.
The text is soporific and extremely hard to follow. There are also observations which are just useless trash and others that are just rumors. The basic takeaway is that very little is known about good conformation of a horse, outside of obvious genetic problems, like toeing in or having a roach back. What's considered normal in one judge's eyes is considered a major fault in another's.
There are a few things like capped hocks which are not considered problematic to the horse, but just look odd. That was about the most useful information to be gleaned from the book ... that, and Edwards has a bee in her bonnet about bulldog-type Quarter Horses.
Edward's background was in the Arabian horse industry, although she does not tout the party line on Arabian history and "facts" like the Arabian always having one less vertebrae than other horse breeds.
Lovers of Morgan horses should note that she mostly refers to Lippit type only. The Saddlebred type (the most prominent at publication and today) is dismissed with a shrug.
There is a chilling bit in here about docking and setting tails that I have yet to see in breed books about cruel showers of such horses, like Hackney ponies, Saddlebreds and Tennessee Walkers. Edwards rightly points out the cruelty in the showing practices of these breeds, especially the Tennessee Walker.
There are many photographs, most of which are helpful -- some, not so much. The only reason I gave this two stars instead of one was the artwork. Quite frankly, you're better off skipping the text and just looking at the artwork and photos.
The author and illustrator did a series of articles on anatomy and conformation for the magazine Thoroughbred of California, which apparently were a hit with readers ... which kind of makes you wonder just how bad the articles were in that mag. All of the articles were put together in book format. As befitting the audience, about half of this book was devoted to the legs and hooves.
Most of this book isn't written by Edwards, but consists of quotes from others. Some quotes go on for multiple pages.
The text is soporific and extremely hard to follow. There are also observations which are just useless trash and others that are just rumors. The basic takeaway is that very little is known about good conformation of a horse, outside of obvious genetic problems, like toeing in or having a roach back. What's considered normal in one judge's eyes is considered a major fault in another's.
There are a few things like capped hocks which are not considered problematic to the horse, but just look odd. That was about the most useful information to be gleaned from the book ... that, and Edwards has a bee in her bonnet about bulldog-type Quarter Horses.
Edward's background was in the Arabian horse industry, although she does not tout the party line on Arabian history and "facts" like the Arabian always having one less vertebrae than other horse breeds.
Lovers of Morgan horses should note that she mostly refers to Lippit type only. The Saddlebred type (the most prominent at publication and today) is dismissed with a shrug.
There is a chilling bit in here about docking and setting tails that I have yet to see in breed books about cruel showers of such horses, like Hackney ponies, Saddlebreds and Tennessee Walkers. Edwards rightly points out the cruelty in the showing practices of these breeds, especially the Tennessee Walker.
There are many photographs, most of which are helpful -- some, not so much. The only reason I gave this two stars instead of one was the artwork. Quite frankly, you're better off skipping the text and just looking at the artwork and photos.
Displaying 1 of 1 review