When Purchasing a young riding prospect.

When purchasing a young riding prospect the buyer should look first for an outstanding four beat walk with a natural swing of the back and tail, and a natural usage of the lowering and raising of the head and neck. The walk should also have a good rhythm and a good overstepping of the limbs. Then the buyer should look at the canter, the horse even if young, should canter correct in the right seque...nce of the footfalls, and not disunited constantly, especially an older youngster, say a three or four year old. The horse should clearly push off his outside hind leg and lift himself with ease without much trouble, all talented horses can do this at a very young age and continue to do so most of their lives. The trot is fine to look at, so we can see that the horse steps level and preferably does not forge himself, it is not too important if he does for this can be fixed with training, not shoeing, training, but keep in mind that these faults take long to correct and in my personal preference I rather focus on the development of the horse than in the correction of his morphological faults, which is part of the reason a horse forges. If the horse flips the toe at the trot, it is a sign that he does not step level, but again not to worry too much since this too can be corrected with training if done correctly. If the horse has good qualities in the walk and canter, the trot is not important to look at because it will surely be good as well, and if not it can be improved with training. This is a fact in any kind or breed of horse that is being looked at. A good horse is a good horse regardless of breed, color, lineage or pedigree.