How NOT to Advertise: Leopard Friesian Stallion

I stumbled across this video a few days ago on youtube, and I wanted to share with you guys. This video pretty clearly illustrates how you should NOT advertise a stallion. Enjoy the show!

Let's start with the basic qualifications for breeding to a stallion. We want to make sure they have good conformation, temperament, and movement. These are the bare minimums! Generally we would like to see that they have been successful at something, but that's not important to everyone. It's also helpful when shopping online to mention the basics of height, weight, and life experience. They call this a "Leopard Friesian Stallion" but he's really just a grade appy friesian cross. Sure, you might get a spotty baby from him, but it's hard to tell what else you might get. Certainly not something you can register!

Let's talk about the good from this video: rider and horse both appear to be well groomed and have on appropriate equipment for the activity going on. That's about it.

Now let's talk about the bad! Starting with the definition of video shall we? Generally, when posting a video, one posts video footage... not just photos. Clearly these shots were taken the same day, would it have killed them to grab a video camera too? This is important for someone who may be thinking of breeding to this horse without actually being able to see him in person. You can catch a photo of almost any horse looking beautiful,  but video doesn't lie. So big FAIL in the movement department. Temperamnet is a crap shoot, although in one photo, you see the rider is quite obviously having trouble making his ride look easy (in the open field, cattywompus hands, and his legs always look like they're working waaay too hard), and in one of the side views you can see how far forward his saddle has slipped. This is either due to poor conformation/saddle fit OR (as I've seen on many a kids pony) this guy has pulled himself up onto the horses neck just trying to keep the beast under control. We'll never know, though, because the two measly conformation shots themselves are at a poor angle, and the background makes it difficult to see him.

What do I see in this video? A barely green broke, grade stallion who was bred out of two completely different types of horses. He has a weak hindend, possibly downhill build, and a ridiculously upright neck. Needless to say, I won't be breeding to him under any circumstance.... even if I might get a Sooper Speshul Krazy Kolored baby!