No the twists and bends are within normal parameters.  The country girl was loaded from one of DM's pose sets, I modified it a bit.  Same is true of the cowgirl.  When I select the forearm of the cowgirl, rather than outlining the forearm to indicate a selection.. it seems to highlight on the bone instead.  Strange.  

 

thank you all for trying to help.  Are there any other ideas?  Has anybody ever seen this problem before?

Hydra