Pony conformation chart

Having fallen under the spell of Friendship Is Magic, I have of course watched the entire first season. By far my favorite episode is “Suited for Success”, not only because it is one of the best-written but because, as a freelance graphic designer and production artist, I can identify painfully well with Rarity’s pleasures and problems as a self-employed clothing designer.

A prominent feature of the episode is Daniel Ingram’s song “Art of the Dress (Stitching It Together)”, based on “Putting It Together” by Steven Sondheim. It serves as a musical montage, summarizing Rarity’s design and production process. One line in particular lists several body parts, but the song’s tempo is fast enough to make the terms hard to understand unless one happens to be a horse person already.

Croup, dock, haunch, shoulders, hip

Intrigued, I looked up first the lyrics, then articles on equine conformation. There was a degree of conflict, as some sources claimed horses don’t have hips, while others included the term. Still, I found enough consensus to get a pretty good idea why Rarity singled out those particular body parts: their proportions are indeed critical to the fit of the designs shown on screen!

Looking at a bunch of labeled diagrams gave me an idea—and this is the result: a pull-down chart such as might exist in the Ponyville schoolhouse. It’s purely a lark and a little design exercise, and gave me something to post after too many months of inactivity.

Credit where it’s due: My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, its characters, and their distinctive likenesses are trademarks or registered trademarks of Hasbro Inc. No trademark challenge is intended. Pony images were generated using Pony Creator (interactive Flash) by “generalzoi” here on Deviantart.