“Horse Conformation: Principles of Form and Function” (2022), represents a significant expansion and upgrade of my “Principles of Conformation Analysis” (1986). It’s a large-format, full-color, three-volume set containing over 900 pages of information. There are hundreds of photos of horses with good vs. poor conformation plus charts, diagrams, analyses and detailed dissections that clarify the link between anatomy on the inside and conformation visible on the outside.

Volume I explains basic anatomy and function and includes growth and maturation and how to predict what a foal will look like when it is mature. Volume II looks at the back, loins, withers, ribcage, neck, skull and teeth and includes a chapter on saddle fitting. Volume III focuses in detail on the fore and hind limbs and hooves. Each volume presents a “twinned” structure — first there is an overview chapter that explains how a particular body part works, then this is followed by a chapter showing good and bad conformation.

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 16 in Volume III, which pertains to the equine forelimb. In the book, this chapter covers a huge amount of material, including everything that can go “wrong” from the withers to the coffin joint — a virtual catalog including steep shoulders, mutton withers, sweeney, capped elbow, bench knees, knock knees, bowlegs, small round joints, big knee, boggy knees, calf knee, bucked vs. buckled knees, splints, bucked shins, suspensory tear, osselets, upright pasterns, splayfoot, windpuffs, ringbone, sidebone and pathologies of the navicular sesamoid. In this…