It's Friday, I'm a Judge! Breed: Other Draft

 It's Friday, it's time for a judging clinic! We're back to breed this week. 

For those new to the blog, my credentials can be found on my About Me page. 

This week, we'll be looking at a traditional breed class: other draft. In the previous breed judging clinics, we've looked at entries who shared the same breed. This week, we're going to look at how to evaluate different breed assignments against each other. Each entry this week will have documentation for their respective breed assignment. 

The Entries: 

Noriker stallion

Noriker Documentation: 

• Big head with a straight or convex profile, short arched neck, long back, round muscular croup
• Thick and wavy mane and tail
• Acceptable colors: liver chestnut, black, bay, roan, and spotted.
• Five lineages – Vulkan (typified and heavy), Nero (comparable to Vulkan), Diamant (typed coldblooded, typically lighter), Schaunitz (lively temperament and forward movement) and Elmar (spotted, baroque influence, lighter)

Image courtesy chladnokrevní hřebci (1152 White Tiger – Noriker stallion) https://chladnokrevnihrebci.webnode.cz/products/a1152-white-tiger Information courtesy Rousseau, Élise. Horses of the World. Princeton University Press, 2017, p 206 and Noriker Ranch https://norikerranch.de/en/noriker-horse/

Horse A: Oak

North American Spotted Draft gelding

North American Spotted Draft (Shire/Clydesdale type) Documentation: 

• Large head with a straight, sometimes convex profile, arched neck, straight shoulders
• Strong back, strong legs, powerful croup, high set tail and wide hooves
• Thick and sometimes wavy mane and tail

Image courtesy Spotted Draft and Drum Horse Fan Page (Sir William – NASD stallion) https://www.facebook.com/NorCalDraftHorse/posts/the-spotted-draft-and-drum-horse-fan-page-3rd-annual-stallion-showcase-presents-/834711953236578/ Information courtesy Rousseau, Élise. Horses of the World. Princeton University Press, 2017, p 472.

Horse B: Vahana

Drum Horse mare

Drum Horse Documentation:

• Square muzzle and jaw, long and well-muscled neck, deep and broad chest
• Slight slope to hindquarters, strong and proportionate back
• All colors acceptable

Image courtesy International Drum Horse Association (HORSE FEATHERS BUCEPHALUS – Drum Horse stallion) https://www.drumhorseassociation.com/2023/02/13/horse-feathers-bucephalu/ Information courtesy International Drum Horse Association https://www.drumhorseassociation.com/breed-standard/

Horse C: Rhiannon

Evaluate these three, check them against their documentation. How well do they fit the breed standard? Are there glaring issues? When you're ready, my placings are under the jump ↓

The Placings:

🥇1st: Horse A - Oak

Coming in first today we have Oak. The Georg mold is a very correct European type draft, and it works nicely as a Noriker. He has the big head with a convex profile, a short arched neck, long back, and a round muscular croup. When we compare him to the reference image in his documentation, he is nearly identical, and it's very clearly where Breyer got the inspiration for his color. He doesn't have any glaring condition flaws, and his color is well-executed. 

🥈2nd: Horse C - Rhiannon 

In second, I pinned Rhiannon. Rhiannon is not a sculpture meant as a draft breed - Breyer calls her the Vanner Mare. That being said, her and her foal fill the space in the Breyer lineup as a modern, updated draft mare and foal sculpt. This is partially why I have her breed assigned as a Drum Horse - they have a lot of influence from Vanners, as well as Clydesdales and Shires. She has the square muzzle and jaw, the long and well-muscled neck, and the deep and broad chest listed in the breed standard. Her hindquarters have the slight slope, and her back is proportionate to her body. She has lovely shading and mapping as a Premier model. Placing Oak over her comes down to personal preference for me - I find Oak and the Georg mold more pleasing and correct. Rhiannon is a correct mold, and she has a good breed assignment, but there are aspects of her sculpt that I personally can't look past, like her extended right hind leg giving the illusion it's a different length than her left hind leg. 

🥉3rd: Horse B - Vahana

Vahana ends up third through no real fault of his own. Shannondell is a wonderful, correct Shire sculpt, and the North American Spotted Draft registry breed standard states that Spotted Drafts conformation should reflect the draft type they most resemble, be it Belgian/Percheron, Suffolk, or Clydesdale/Shire. Unfortunately, in a case where we have three correctly conformed molds who align with their assigned breeds, we have to split hairs a little. For me, the execution of Breyer's roan often makes red roans look pink, and bay roans look purple, and that's exactly what happened to poor Vahana. It unfortunately makes him seem less realistic than the other two models in this class, and it knocks him below them. That's not to say he's not competitive - the right Vahana may appear less purple, or there could be entries on less correct molds, or with breed assignments that don't fit. In the right class, he could place well, but that is not this class this time. 

How did you place this class? This could have gone any of the three ways, so I'd love to hear how and why you placed this class!