Judge the Percherons Answer Page This is how the horses were placed for us on our farm visit.

Horse number one, Bob was placed first.  He shows excellent Draft character, good length of neck; a solid, well muscled rump; excellent muscling overall; and good sound legs and hooves.  He does show his age a bit at 15, but overall, an excellent Percheron.

Horse number four, Sammy was placed second.  He also shows excellent Draft character, good length of neck; a solid, well muscled rump; excellent muscling overall; and good sound legs and hooves.   At over 18 hands, he was the tallest horse in the class.  What placed him second today is the fact that he is a bit too lightly muscled.  As a 4 year old, Sammy is still growing, and will probably be an easy winner in a year or two, but today, his lighter muscling earns him second place.

Horse number two, Ben was placed third.  While still a good example of his breed, Ben is a little shorter in the neck, more sloped in the croup, and with a larger jowl than the other two.  He also stands a little wider, which is a fault in draft horses. (A horse with a narrow track is less likely to damage crops in the field by stepping on them).  He still shows excellent muscle development, and plenty of draft character.

Horse number three, Stoney was placed fourth.  Stony has a lot of draft character, and a "hitchy" look. (In Draft horses, hitchy is not an insult, it refers to the traits sought for horses to use in a big hitch).  Stoney is also young and more lightly muscled, especially in teh hind quarters.  He also has a steeply sloped croup.  The final deciding factor is hard to see in the picture but you can find it if you look carefully.  He has filling in both his hind pasterns.  We were told that he has ringbone.  Again, a nice horse, but fourth here today.

How did you do?  Some of us who saw the horses in person judged the class the same way, and others saw other things.  Maybe you found something we all missed! Did you enjoy judging on line?  If you would like to send me similar sets of pictures of other breeds, I will put them up here also for you judging pleasure!

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