Body shape & breed type

I have a system I use for understanding breeds that are unfamiliar to me. I start by collecting conformation photos of typical examples. What I am looking for are images where the body is straight (not angled away or taken from above or below), the lower legs are visible (not covered by grass or the horse’s tail), and the head is facing forward. The goal is a complete, undistorted profile.

Making Silhouettes

Once I have several profiles, I print the images out on ordinary copy paper. If you have access to photo editing software, you can reduce the image’s opacity to save toner.

Step 1: Outline the horse using a fine-tipped black pen. You only need to include the nearest set of legs. Try to get an accurate line for the neck, but do not include the mane. Leave enough of the tailbone to indicate where and how the tail attaches to the body, but otherwise omit the tail. If there is feathering on the legs, do not try to guess the shape of the legs and hooves under the hair; include the feathers in the outline.

Step 2: Using a Sharpie or other thick black marker, color in your outlined shape. When you are done, you should have several silhouettes of the breed you want to know more about. The image at the top of this post shows a pair of finished silhouettes: one Saddlebred (front) and one Kladruber (behind).

What makes silhouettes useful

By outlining the profile of the horse’s body—and just the body—and coloring it black, you are removing distractions like tack, turnout, and color. All that is visible is the shape of the body. Most importantly, the proportions of the body parts to one another, and the angles at which they connect, are easy to see. Breed type is primarily determined by these variations.

Silhouettes like the Brazilian Campolina below can help train your eye to recognize what makes a particular breed distinctive.

Along with a distinctive head, Campolinas have significant bone while also looking tall and lanky.

It is also true that without the distraction of superficial things like turnout or color, similarities (and differences) between breeds become more obvious. 

Although also Spanish in origin, the Criollo has a very different silhouette than the Campolina.

Returning to the pair of breeds at the top of this post, here is a Kladruber (left) and a Saddlebred (right). The two breeds are not closely related, but they are similar in some respects. Both have high-set necks, an upright carriage, and long, tubular bodies. 

When comparing silhouettes, it is sometimes helpful to add a guidelines for anatomical landmarks.
Here a baseline insures the horses are standing level, and the withers and top of the croup are marked. 

The Saddlebred shares these similarities with another carriage breed. Here, the same Saddlebred silhouette is paired with one of a Friesian. Once again, both breeds have high-set necks and long, tubular bodies. You can also see the similarity between the Friesian and the Kladruber above. 

Both the Friesian and the Kladruber were originally ceremonial carriage horses. When the Czech Republic revived the black strain of Kladrubers, one of the stallions used was a Friesian named Romke. Although the two breeds were developed separately, their body shape comes from the breeding goal, which was the creation of a stylish driving horse. 

In that respect, their purpose is not that different from modern American “hitch” horses. That is why so many draft horses in the United States have a similar upright, tubular body shape. Their form comes from the purpose for which they are most often bred. 

By American standards, this Percheron is more moderate in type. Some are even more "hitchy" than this. Photo courtesy of Kim Smith. 

Saddlebreds have never been primarily bred for harness, but breeders have prioritized a similar upright frame and style of movement. That has given them an outline that is a little different from the other American saddle breeds that are more closely related to them. Here is the Saddlebred compared to the silhouette I most often use in publications to represent American saddle-type horses, which include Morgans, Walking Horses, Foxtrotters, and Mountain Pleasure Horses. 

Saddlebreds are more closely related to these breeds than to either the Kladruber or the Friesian. They share bloodlines and similar show and turnout traditions. However, their body shape is slightly different. That is why Breyer’s ‘Hamilton’ mold is not necessarily suited to other breeds that can be trained to rack. The body shape of that mold fits the typical silhouette of a Saddlebred, which looks different from the other saddle breeds. 

Comparisons like this can help model horse hobbyists develop their eye for breed type. That leads to better breed assignments. I also believe using body shapes like this can give a more rational breed list. I am going to post one more example of what body shape can tell us about breed relationships. After that, I will explain how body type was used to create the breed list. 

Breed lists & show structures

"Gezellig" is a Vanner customized by Ruth Sheridan of Portmanteau Equine Art. (Photo courtesy of his creator.)

Gypsy Horses are the breed that judges see throughout the showing day. The first ones usually end up in the Carriage Breeds class. This makes some sense, since one of the more popular hobby names for this (problematically-named) breed is “Vanner.” The next place they appear is one of the classes in the Draft section. It’s also possible that a few stragglers will later show up in the Other Purebred/Mixed Breed class in the Others section.

You could also argue that because “NAMHSA considers breeds that routinely fall at 14.2 hands high or less to be ponies” (NAMHSA Breed Cross Reference, p. 1), they should go in the Pony section. Ruth said she has shown Gezellig (pictured at the top) as a pony. (Some breeders produce “Miniature Gypsies”, which are closer to small ponies in size.) 

When the questions about Saddlebreds came up at BreyerFest, I started thinking about breeds and how American model horse shows structure sections and classes. Moving the Saddlebreds from the gaited section was unpopular, but giving the hairy cob breeds a clear place in the classlist was overdue. Were there other problems like that? What else had I overlooked because I was only focused on the current class in front of me? 

After considering those questions, this is the list that I came up with, in no particular order.

1. Cobs of all types do not have an obvious place. We do not even have a consensus about which section to assign them. 
2. When there is an Other Pure/Mix Breed class in an overall Others section, the callbacks will have realistic horses going up against an assortment of other species and unrealistic creatures. This takes “not like-with-like” to a whole new level! 
3. What do we mean by “Light Breed”? What rationale is used to rule a breed in or out of this section? 
4. We do not treat the ability to perform an alternate intermediate gait consistently across breeds. 
5. Some breeds are paired in classes or placed in a section that puts them at a consistent disadvantage. (Standardbreds paired with Thoroughbreds are a good example.) 
6. Our classes and sections do not necessarily distribute entries evenly. This is especially problematic when shows have the traditional two- or three-horse class limit. (Ask a hobbyist with a fondness for British pony breeds how often they have to leave competitive entries at home.

Breeds that do not have a designated horse or pony section can end up on a callback table that looks like this.
(Breyer’ Brighty’ and ‘Better Than Revenge’ appear courtesy of Liz LaRose. For more about Breyer’s dragon horse ‘Merlin’, click here.)

Those were the problems that came to mind when I began thinking about how I would change the breed list. What these issues have in common is that, while our stated goal is to group “like with like,” our show structure lacks a consistent approach for determining what needs to be similar. What aspect of breed identity governs similarity? Does having the same purpose matter? Or is it having the same show and turnout traditions? The controversial position taken regarding Saddlebreds effectively said, “The percentage of horses performing a ‘natural’ lateral gait is the primary consideration.” The negative response to this said, “That is not giving us breed groups that are alike in a useful way.” 

So, which qualities would? 

What I kept coming back to was the way breed type is so closely tied to body shape, and how body shape is really about changes in angles and proportions. When I teach new hobbyists how to assign breeds to models, I use a system that focuses on that. I use the same system to organize information in my “Painting More Realistic” series of books. I decided that if I wanted to create a breed list that made sense, that was where I should start. In the next post, I’ll explain that system.

A list of breeds

Will Shriver is depicted racking in front of the American Saddlebred Museum.

For many years, the organization that manages the North American Nationals—one of the larger competitions for equine miniatures—has published a document called the NAMHSA Breed Cross Reference. It is intended to help entrants place their models in the correct class. 

Like many judges, I hadn't actually looked at the list. Since I usually judge Workmanship, I just evaluate whatever mix of breeds and body types end up on the table. Model horse shows have given me a high tolerance for anarchy; if I have colorful, furry-footed critters of similar type and varying breed names spread across three different classes, it isn't the end of the world. 

But sometimes duplicate breeds in separate classes catch your attention. That's especially true when the sculpture is really breed-specific and the duplicates appear in back-to-back classes. That is how I found out that, in the most recent iteration of "the list," Saddlebreds had been moved out of the Gaited Breed section. Sadly, it was also how an entrant at a much-anticipated show missed her class. 

With a high bid of $23,000, this Breyer Hamilton was a top seller at the 2025 BreyerFest auction.

I was not aware of the change, or that it had been the topic of controversy. I think the best argument against it came from Jennifer Lambert. She pointed out that even if only a small percentage of modern Saddlebreds show in five-gaited classes, that is the image most have of the breed. It is the image the breed association promotes, as the bronze of Will Shriver in front of the American Saddlebred Museum illustrates. Racking is the pose depicted in the majority of model representations of the breed. 

A classic-scale Hagen-Renaker Saddlebred owned by Liz LaRose

There were also errors on the list. The Furioso-North Star, a Hungarian sport horse named for its two Thoroughbred founders, was listed as a "European Draft Breed." It was easy to find fault, but I also had to admit there were real challenges to constructing the "perfect" breed list. Some of the 'problematic' breeds did not have a particularly good fit in an existing class, while others could arguably fit in several different classes. 

I decided it would be interesting to compile a breed list based on the two factors I believe connect the breeds: body type and genetic history. I wanted to see if I could do that without changing the sections, or at least without excessive disruption to the existing structure. I thought it would take a few days. It did not take a few days.

It has taken longer because I started overthinking things. And since I don't like to overthink alone, I decided to share some of those thoughts. And since one project—especially a "small" project!—should always generate at least one other project, I decided a blog was a good place to do it. 

Something old and something new

After thirty years in Charlotte, North Carolina, I am relocating Blackberry Lane to Michigan. Having spent almost my entire life in the South, it is quite a change!

For the studio, the move means separate spaces for casting and finishing. There is capacity for a larger kiln. My husband, who does woodworking, now has a full shop of his own. Readers may see collaborations in future blog posts, as we are fascinated by how the two media complement each other. It is exciting to think of the possibilities!

It is a new chapter for us. I want to share the projects that grow out of it with friends. In years past, I would have done this on Facebook. It required little effort, and I could easily reach a broad circle of people. However, as that platform has become overwhelmed with advertising and artificially generated content, I have found myself nostalgic about old-fashioned blogging. Unlike Equine Tapestry, which was intended to focus quite narrowly on horse color genetics, this one is more like my original studio blog. If it captures my interest, you might find it here: art, science, model horses, and nerdy horse things other than color. I hope you will join me!