If you show conformation or model hunters, the time will come when you have to “strip for conformation” and stand your horse up for inspection by the judge. In order to look for obvious conformation flaws, blemishes, etc., the judge will want to see the horse presented at its best stance.

Randy Roy of King, ON, has been judging and showing horses for decades, and knows a thing or two about proper presentation in the show ring. “They need to stand square in front; absolutely square, with one hind leg slightly ahead of the other.” While it doesn’t matter which hind leg is straight down and which is offset, Roy warns, “Make sure they don’t have their hind leg cocked; they should be standing with weight evenly on all four legs.”

Make sure the horse is not “camped out” in an unnaturally long stance, either. “You don’t want them stretched out; you have to line them up so they’re ready to walk off or trot off, or come forward with their hind end underneath them and not splayed out.”

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