Margo Ball

Evaluate and place these breeding stock Paint geldings. Then see how your choices compare to our expert judge’s.

Ball holds judge’s cards with the Paint, Quarter Horse, and Palomino breed associations and NSBA, as well as with the National Reining, National Reined Cow Horse, and World Conformation Horse Associations. From her Ball’s Quarter Horses in Fort Collins, Colorado, Ball breeds all-around horses; trains Quarter Horses for halter, Western pleasure, and ranch riding; and shows in NRHA and AQHA reining events.

She’s trained and shown horses to multiple AQHA championships and superior event titles in halter and performance, as well as to PHBA and IBHA world championships. She also coaches a select group of amateur competitors.

Iwant good overall balance and structural correctness. A horse’s shoulders should be long and well-laid-back and complement well-sloped hips of equally adequate length. He should have a short, strong topline; good depth to his heartgirth; and a long, trim neck. The topline of his neck should be twice as long as the bottom line of his neck, with a high tie-in to his shoulder.

While some variation from textbook structure is okay, too much deviation from ideal causes undue stress to other body structures, resulting in poor performance and diminished longevity. Ideally a horse’s hocks should be adequately angled so that a straight line can be drawn from the point of his hips through his hocks and straight down through his cannon bones to the heels of his hind feet. His pastern angle should be similar to his shoulder angle and not be excessively long. Long or overly angular pasterns can lead to soft-tissue issues.

A gelding’s overall attractiveness is based mostly in his form to function. In terms of muscling, the main difference between a halter-only horse and a performance horse is the expression of the muscle. A riding horse will have a smoother look to his muscling. →

To submit a photo of your horse to be evaluated in Conformation Clinic, send us a left-side profile photo of your horse (for digital photos: high- resolution, 300 dpi, in at least 3" x 5") to with your contact info and your horse’s breed, age, gender, and height. (We welcome all breeds!) Visit for additional instructions.