I've seen worse posted on this very site, but it still is a poor example of a strutting bird.

The way size would have affected the ability to mount the bird strutting would be the use of an oversized form. An oversized form will cause the skin to tighten and lays the feathers down preventing the ability to "taxi" the skin and stand the feathers up or even move them for that matter. In other words, it is likely your taxidermist used too big of a form instead of your bird being "too small".

Changing the size of a form is not that difficult, but does take some extra effort on the taxidermist's part. More than likely a properly sized form could have been purchased, but if not adjustments are easy enough to make.

I'll add one more thing. I believe most guys that mount a lot of turkeys are using silicone or latex caulk pretty extensively. That doesn't mean it can't be done without, but I think most turkey taxidermists in this day and age have seen the benifits of caulk in positioning and holding feather patterns in place. I wouldn't mount a turkey any other way.

Oh yeah, turkeys have no problem strutting on the limb. It is completely natural and done very often in the spring.