Conformation for the Purpose: The Make, Shape and Performance of the Horse

Rating:
Summary: Disappointment
Review: I happened to see this book on the "new" bookshelves of the local library. The cover looked promising, so I checked it out.

I liked the cover because of the skeletal diagram and diagrams of three very different conformations. I was disappointed by the fact that there were not enough pictures and drawings in the book to illustrate the text. The author had some good information, but more diagrams would have augmented the text and provided a visual context for the information. When there were diagrams or photographs, arrows or circles indicating exactly what the author was discussing would have been appropriate and more educational. Many of the photographs were rather generic, representing the conformation of a particular breed. Those photos were fine for the final chapter "Breeds, Crosses and Types for the Job." However, in the other chapters, more specific, annotated pictures would have been more appropriate.

The first two chapters, "How Horses Developed" and "Domestication and Specialisation," and the last chapter, "Breeds, Crosses and Types for the Job," were interesting and fit the title: Conformation for the Purpose. However, I think the author should have put less effort into that material and more into illustrating the meat of the book in the central chapters.

I own gaited horses (horses that do intermediate gaits other than the trot) and was interested in what the author had to say about gaits and conformation. I did not expect a classical riding teacher from Great Britain to know much about gaits and was not reading the book for that purpose, but I was very disappointed by the discussion of gaits. Most of the information was incorrect. The author would have more credibility in my mind by totally leaving the discussion of any gaits other than the walk, trot, canter, or gallop out of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointment
Review: I happened to see this book on the "new" bookshelves of the local library. The cover looked promising, so I checked it out.

I liked the cover because of the skeletal diagram and diagrams of three very different conformations. I was disappointed by the fact that there were not enough pictures and drawings in the book to illustrate the text. The author had some good information, but more diagrams would have augmented the text and provided a visual context for the information. When there were diagrams or photographs, arrows or circles indicating exactly what the author was discussing would have been appropriate and more educational. Many of the photographs were rather generic, representing the conformation of a particular breed. Those photos were fine for the final chapter "Breeds, Crosses and Types for the Job." However, in the other chapters, more specific, annotated pictures would have been more appropriate.

The first two chapters, "How Horses Developed" and "Domestication and Specialisation," and the last chapter, "Breeds, Crosses and Types for the Job," were interesting and fit the title: Conformation for the Purpose. However, I think the author should have put less effort into that material and more into illustrating the meat of the book in the central chapters.

I own gaited horses (horses that do intermediate gaits other than the trot) and was interested in what the author had to say about gaits and conformation. I did not expect a classical riding teacher from Great Britain to know much about gaits and was not reading the book for that purpose, but I was very disappointed by the discussion of gaits. Most of the information was incorrect. The author would have more credibility in my mind by totally leaving the discussion of any gaits other than the walk, trot, canter, or gallop out of the book.