Horse Racing Forum - USA Thoroughbred Races

inspired by wallstbear's thread and Flanders' finding of vomit-inducing halter QH stallions, i decided to start this thread to discuss the racehorses with the worst conformation you have ever seen. preferably stallions, but anything pass me the fork so i can stab myself in the eyes is welcome. open to all racing breeds as well — i'm hopeful Miss Woodford might share some ?????-looking Standardbreds?!
i'll start:


HAMPTON (Lord Clifden — Lady Langden, by Kettledrum)
i had shared him already and apparently his front legs got THAT bad with age, but yeaaaaaah. i think it's a valid entry either way.

and for a racehorse, i've also shared this one, but:

CIRULNIK (Arrogate — Chiding, by Blame)
he has somehow managed to finish second and third (2x) in three career starts. speaking of him, i wanted to know if anyone (Flanders, i'm looking at you) can find his confo shots from when he sold as a yearling at KEESEP 2021 just to see if he always looked that nasty.

I'm not convinced what I found was a halter AQHA stallion... He looked more akin to this than a horse.

i have to say i don't think bulls are supposed to look like that either.

Thanks for starting this thread. Hopefully the pics work cause I just pulled them from their facebook links... they aren't racing breeds as they are also AQHA Halter stallions....but they need shared cause you said

anything pass me the fork so i can stab myself in the eyes is welcome

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1519026644998959/ from here if the pic links break.

That 3rd pic you posted of the horse that could double as a kid's slide, I saw a ton of those somewhere awhile back when I was looking for something else. I vomited in my mouth and kept looking, sadly don't remember where it was right now, I had a vague recollection it was connected to a random pic posted on here. Anyway, I think people breed horses to look like that. Pony in the front, horse in the back.

This is a racing AQHA stallion in Mexico.

Sorry I got sucked into keeping post these halter horses. I can't get the pic to work here but there are some mares on here. The next to the last photos, is just simply one that words can't describe.

http://www.bertonqh.com/shanes_bake.htm

So the thing about Standardbred stallions is, if they're that bad (or if the farm just doesn't bother), they just don't get conformation photos. I will say that I don't think any breed gets as bad as the halter QHs in terms of not having usable conformation and in terms of knowingly breeding on crippling genetic disorders.

As far as TBs go, poor Stymie got allllll the idiosyncracies of the Fair Play line. But pretty is as pretty does and he held up for 131 starts.

Into mischief popular but from from what I hear his front legs are gross


Also with halter qhs Bradshaw Quarter Horses seems to be a heavy hitter when it comes to producing these vomit inducing horses. Not the only one yes but still that name goes around alot

brunanas wrote: ↑Wed Dec 27, 2023 9:17 pm and for a racehorse, i've also shared this one, but:

CIRULNIK (Arrogate — Chiding, by Blame)
he has somehow managed to finish second and third (2x) in three career starts. speaking of him, i wanted to know if anyone (Flanders, i'm looking at you) can find his confo shots from when he sold as a yearling at KEESEP 2021 just to see if he always looked that nasty.

Flanders wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 12:18 am Sorry I got sucked into keeping post these halter horses. I can't get the pic to work here but there are some mares on here. The next to the last photos, is just simply one that words can't describe.

http://www.bertonqh.com/shanes_bake.htm

Falinadin wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 6:25 pm

brunanas wrote: ↑Wed Dec 27, 2023 9:17 pm and for a racehorse, i've also shared this one, but:

CIRULNIK (Arrogate — Chiding, by Blame)
he has somehow managed to finish second and third (2x) in three career starts. speaking of him, i wanted to know if anyone (Flanders, i'm looking at you) can find his confo shots from when he sold as a yearling at KEESEP 2021 just to see if he always looked that nasty.

thank you. yeah... yikes. i don't want to imagine what they will look like a few years from now.

Miss Woodford wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 12:40 am So the thing about Standardbred stallions is, if they're that bad (or if the farm just doesn't bother), they just don't get conformation photos.

well that's some strategy. do you remember seeing any active racers who have side photos (maybe in the winners' circle) that just look absolutely gross?

brunanas wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 7:09 pm

Flanders wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 12:18 am Sorry I got sucked into keeping post these halter horses. I can't get the pic to work here but there are some mares on here. The next to the last photos, is just simply one that words can't describe.

http://www.bertonqh.com/shanes_bake.htm

The popularity of the stallion Impressive was the worst thing to ever happen to the QH breed. Halter horses are just.......ugh...... Like this 4x world champion, Evinceable. (Can't share the pic, but here's his ad.) https://www.milanquarterhorses.com/stallions.html

MissNMecke wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 7:14 pm

brunanas wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 7:09 pm

Flanders wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 12:18 am Sorry I got sucked into keeping post these halter horses. I can't get the pic to work here but there are some mares on here. The next to the last photos, is just simply one that words can't describe.

http://www.bertonqh.com/shanes_bake.htm

The popularity of the stallion Impressive was the worst thing to ever happen to the QH breed. Halter horses are just.......ugh...... Like this 4x world champion, Evinceable. (Can't share the pic, but here's his ad.) https://www.milanquarterhorses.com/stallions.html

$2750 to breed to THAT?

MissNMecke wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 7:14 pm

brunanas wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 7:09 pm

Flanders wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 12:18 am Sorry I got sucked into keeping post these halter horses. I can't get the pic to work here but there are some mares on here. The next to the last photos, is just simply one that words can't describe.

http://www.bertonqh.com/shanes_bake.htm

The popularity of the stallion Impressive was the worst thing to ever happen to the QH breed. Halter horses are just.......ugh...... Like this 4x world champion, Evinceable. (Can't share the pic, but here's his ad.) https://www.milanquarterhorses.com/stallions.html

So unnatural. The chest and the quarters.......

MissNMecke wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 7:14 pm The popularity of the stallion Impressive was the worst thing to ever happen to the QH breed. Halter horses are just.......ugh...... Like this 4x world champion, Evinceable. (Can't share the pic, but here's his ad.) https://www.milanquarterhorses.com/stallions.html

I know AQHA requires genetic testing for the 5 genetic diseases and wont register a foal that is homozygous for them but if they just didn't allow ANY of them, heterozygous or homozygous to be registered it would be great. Yes it would mean a ton of horses couldn't be used anymore, a great amount of the halter horses, but its to take out serious genetic issues and to stop suffering and improve the breed overall. I wonder how many AQHA foals are produced each year that can't be registered and thus end up in the slaughter pipeline, well its not any of the ones with GBED cause they are dead by 4 months. Here is a link to the diseases if anyone wants to become massively depressed. https://www.aqha.com/-/genetic-test-roundup Its just so sad. And its not just AQHA, there are lots of breeds of domestic animals that humans have bred for specific looks over health, soundness, and quality of life.

You mean like brachycephalic cats and dogs? And so many of them are hugely popular breeds, leading to more and more animals suffering from what comes with having a hard time breathing.

BaroqueAgain1 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 11:43 pm You mean like brachycephalic cats and dogs? And so many of them are hugely popular breeds, leading to more and more animals suffering from what comes with having a hard time breathing.

Yeah, there are simply too many to list. A newer one is achondroplasia in cats, which is short legs and numerous severe health issues and extremely shortened lifespans. Grumpy Cat becoming popular probably started the craze, she was 7 when she died. They were just a genetic mutation at first and had the health issues immediately. But people don't care and want them. So now unscrupulous people are breeding them to make money so can only imagine what health issues the cats will have multiple generations down the road.

brunanas wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 8:09 pm

MissNMecke wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 7:14 pm

brunanas wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 7:09 pm

The popularity of the stallion Impressive was the worst thing to ever happen to the QH breed. Halter horses are just.......ugh...... Like this 4x world champion, Evinceable. (Can't share the pic, but here's his ad.) https://www.milanquarterhorses.com/stallions.html

$2750 to breed to THAT?

Yeah. Which is about $2749 too much.

Flanders wrote: ↑Fri Dec 29, 2023 1:43 am

BaroqueAgain1 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 11:43 pm You mean like brachycephalic cats and dogs? And so many of them are hugely popular breeds, leading to more and more animals suffering from what comes with having a hard time breathing.

Yeah, there are simply too many to list. A newer one is achondroplasia in cats, which is short legs and numerous severe health issues and extremely shortened lifespans. Grumpy Cat becoming popular probably started the craze, she was 7 when she died. They were just a genetic mutation at first and had the health issues immediately. But people don't care and want them. So now unscrupulous people are breeding them to make money so can only imagine what health issues the cats will have multiple generations down the road.

Very true with the cats. I adopted a stray kitten in about '95 that was built on wiener dog lines. As an adult, she weighed all of two and a half lbs. Smartest and sweetest cat I ever owned. Breeding more 'micro mini wiener cats' never occurred to me. She lived to be 13, though it was dementia rather than any physical issue that took her.
But social media has become a big problem. People actually WANT to create oddball animals to profit off of. My best friend volunteers at an animal shelter and he said that at least once a month he hears 'But do you have any that are, like, deformed?'

I always thought that Count Fleet had a rather interesting conformation.. maybe not the worst, but interesting nonetheless...

I can't find the one photo I'm looking for, where his back looks like a banana, so this is the second worst I could find.

Also worthy of mentioning is our beloved Into Mischief