1/10th lame on vetting

[BellaStar]

I have been to see a horse who has just failed a 2 stage vetting due to being 1/10th lame lunging on a tight circle on one rein. Since he has had pour pads put into his front hooves as the farrier said he thought he had some bruising on the sole due to the hoof base being soft due to the wet weather we have been having and he was trotted up on a stoney surface. How long will these need to stay on?

Has anyone bought horse who was in a similar scenario and it was a positive story and not the start of a laminitic nightmare?

I am a novice rider and owner although have owned multiple ponies before I have been lucky and not had to contend with too many issues.

I am not looking to go around badminton, I would like a pleasure horse for schooling, hacking and some fun rides...

Would love to hear everyone's experiences with anything similar

 

[Goldenstar]

I have bought several horses that where 1/10 lame at vetting .
I can afford to investigate and spend to keep horses on the road I don’t insure .
I would not be relaxed about the pads and the lameness it’s a huge red flag for a management hassle and potentially appalling problems if you only have one horse don’t go there .

 

[ycbm]

I suspect the thin soles and lameness on a circle are likely to be related to metabolic issues and poor foot conformation.

Once pads are on they are very often permanent unless the diet is obviously wrong or a metabolic issue can be treated.

Please don't take a risk on this horse if what you want is just to have some fun.

 

[BellaStar]

I have bought several horses that where 1/10 lame at vetting .
I can afford to investigate and spend to keep horses on the road I don’t insure .
I would not be relaxed about the pads and the lameness it’s a huge red flag for a management hassle and potentially appalling problems if you only have one horse don’t go there .

Thanks for your response, much appreciated.


She said she thought he had a hoof abscess to start with but the farrier said it seemed more like bruising due to soles being soft due to wet weather? I spoke to farrier who performed the work he said nothing more sinister he could see but may need these pads on over summer if ground is hard. I spoke to his previous farrier for 7 years and he said he had never had anything like that before...hmmm

 

[AmyMay]

If it’s cheap enough, it may be worth a gamble. But if the horse is four figures, I’d walk away.

 

[BellaStar]

If it’s cheap enough, it may be worth a gamble. But if the horse is four figures, I’d walk away.

They want £6k

 

[AmyMay]

They want £6k

Take a very quick stroll in the opposite direction!!

 

[irishdraft]

I wouldn't pursue it personally, my horses have lived out this wet winter and neither of them have soft soles due to the weather.

 

[BellaStar]

AHHH I have fallen in love with this horse...is there no scenario where the bruising is genuine and pads are temporary?

 

[AmyMay]

It’s £6k and lame……

 

[Fjord]

Pads are very expensive ongoing. £6k and lame? I'm afraid I would walk away.

 

[Fluffypiglet]

Even if the pads are temporary this time, what’s caused it and will it be an ongoing issue? Yes it’s been very wet but many other horses haven’t developed foot issues requiring pads so why has this horse needed it? Our winters are unlikely to get much drier… Plus hard summer ground? It’s difficult as clearly you like this horse but it would definitely be quite a gamble imo - as all horses are tbf! If you can live with the horse needing padded feet for ever more and it’s a great price for what it is…??

 

[Flowerofthefen]

My tb has suffered with the wet weather and soft soles but has never been lame. This horse could well have a bruise. I wouldn't buy for that price and it being lame but if you like him could you wait and have him revetted in a month or so?

 

[JBM]

If you really like the horse come back in like 2 weeks and reevaluate if it’s only a stone bruise horse should be better

 

[Goldenstar]

They want £6k

AHHH I have fallen in love with this horse...is there no scenario where the bruising is genuine and pads are temporary?

The Bruising if it’s that is what caused the lameness is there for a reason the question is what yes he could have stood on a stone but why the pads that suggests a longer term issue .
Bruising can be caused by the horse compensating because of pain else where it could be nothing or a huge nasty can of worms.
Only you know what your attitude to risk is .

 

[fetlock]

I’d walk away too. It’s hard when you love the horse but another that’s not lame and you like equally will come along later.

As already mentioned, 100% get the horse revetted (with bloods) before purchase if you really have your heart set on this horse.

 

[Red-1]

I have bought one that was more than 1/10th lame on vetting. The feet were appalling on viewing, he had 1 shoe on well and one loose, the other two were already gone. He was sound though, at that time, with his overgrown feet and clanky percussion sounds.

I'd said I wanted him shoeing before vetting, as I was buying him as an eventer, but the farrier didn't just shoe, he cut them right back and the horse was then lame. I bought as I believed I knew why he was lame and the gamble paid off - he was sound and competing until 19 years of age.

In your case, however, you don't really know why the horse is lame. I dislike pads as they hide stuff and feet seem to get temporary relief and then get structurally worse.

 

[leflynn]

If you really like the horse come back in like 2 weeks and reevaluate if it’s only a stone bruise horse should be better

This! I did it with mine (albeit he was unshod and on a stony lame and less than £1k), 12 years on its his best leg lol

 

[ycbm]

AHHH I have fallen in love with this horse...is there no scenario where the bruising is genuine and pads are temporary?

Yes of course, but you don't know if this horse is one of them and that's a lot of money. You don't know why he was bruised when most horses were not bruised during exactly the same conditions. You don't know if soft thin soles are being caused by a condition which needs treatment, or even by one that can't be treated.

And even if he's fine, you're going to spend the first months of ownership having a panic every time he takes the slightest mis step. And that's not a good way to start ownership of a new horse.

If you can wait and see him walk up an averagely stony path without pads, then I'd say buy him. But not until then, I'm afraid.

I bought a horse the vet said was only lame after a flexion because he trod on a stone in the trot away. He was diagnosed with navicular a few months later.
.

 

[Melody Grey]

Could be the onset of something like navicular with an attempt to disguise it with pads?
£6k is an awful lot of anyone’s money for something that won’t pass a vetting. Keep looking, £6k will get you something sound.

 

[Goldenstar]

6k is nothing in comparsion of what managing a chronically lame horse can cost you can spend 6k finding out what’s wrong with a horse then there’s the cost for caring for a lame horse the work the heartache the hope followed by the let down when it’s still wrong or you find another problem.

 

[Melody Grey]

6k is nothing in comparsion of what managing a chronically lame horse can cost you can spend 6k finding out what’s wrong with a horse then there’s the cost for caring for a lame horse the work the heartache the hope followed by the let down when it’s still wrong or you find another problem.

…and the £6k in finding out what’s wrong would be coming directly out of the buyer’s pocket since the leg (and likely the other 3) would be uninsurable.

 

[oldie48]

tbh I would never try to sell a horse with temporary pads, surely it would be better to say the horse has bruised soles and needs time to recover before a vetting? This absolutely smells wrong to me. Walk away.

 

[MuffettMischief]

Personally I’d give it two weeks and revet. A couple of mine had very soft soles come end of winter and as the ground then dried out very quickly, they could easily have been a bit footsore or stood on a stone and given themselves a bruise. I totally understand everyone’s concerns above but if you’ve spoken to the farrier and the horse was otherwise sound on trot up/flexion, I’d give it a couple of weeks to see if there is any improvement

 

[tda]

I would ask the seller to come back to you when horse has had pads taken off and the feet can be fully seen, oh and when it's sound

 

[Jellymoon]

Was absolutely everything about the horse what you wanted? Nothing else that worried you? Decent horses are so hard to find, very easy for people to say, just walk away. If it ticks all the boxes, and you have an experienced friend/trainer helping you who agrees, and you have done your research on the seller, I would ask the them to come back to you when she has taken the pads off and have him/her vetted again. The rush to put pads on are a concern…suggests an ongoing issue….can you ask to see its vets record?
The other thing you could do is get a proper 5 stage vetting and x-rays. Obv more money to pay out, but won’t be as much as you could be spending over the years if it’s going to have lots of problems.

 

[misst]

Walk away. The only horses (including one of ours) who I have known with pads are those with deep seated foot problems. If he was cheap (he isn't for a lame horse) and you were happy to take a risk and do a barefoot rehab or something similar then maybe. If you want a fun horse to do stuff with within the next year who will stay sound walk away and don't look back.

 

[Sossigpoker]

Horses go lame and hurt themselves regardless so please don't go and buy a already lame horse.
As my vet once said about a 7500 horse that was lame : "at that price you want it to be sound ".
Please walk away , you can get a sound horse for 6 grand

 

[MystieMoo]

I have been to see a horse who has just failed a 2 stage vetting due to being 1/10th lame lunging on a tight circle on one rein. Since he has had pour pads put into his front hooves as the farrier said he thought he had some bruising on the sole due to the hoof base being soft due to the wet weather we have been having and he was trotted up on a stoney surface. How long will these need to stay on?

Has anyone bought horse who was in a similar scenario and it was a positive story and not the start of a laminitic nightmare?

I am a novice rider and owner although have owned multiple ponies before I have been lucky and not had to contend with too many issues.

I am not looking to go around badminton, I would like a pleasure horse for schooling, hacking and some fun rides...

Would love to hear everyone's experiences with anything similar

Please walk away.

We bought a horse 1/10th lame on a circle. We were not too worried as she was 14 and had evented. We wanted her for low level eventing at Pony Club. She lasted 7 months. Long story short, the 'wonderful, lovely Pony Club family' who sold her to us as a horse who had never been lame, had covered up an injury with injections. It all came out in the wash when the mother let slip, "It's not that tendon, is it?" Oh, said I, what tendon is that? One they'd obviously lied about. We spent a year trying to get her right. £5k of insurance money used up. She is now retired and has been for a couple of years - thank god we bought her and she is safe & happy, not buted up and passed from pillar to post like she may have been. The worst of it? My daughter was 13 at the time and absolutely heartbroken. She was a smashing mare who had started life with Caroline Powell.

So, please. Walk away. There is a lovely horse out there waiting for you who is not 1/10th lame.

Good luck.

 

[Goldenstar]

Was absolutely everything about the horse what you wanted? Nothing else that worried you? Decent horses are so hard to find, very easy for people to say, just walk away. If it ticks all the boxes, and you have an experienced friend/trainer helping you who agrees, and you have done your research on the seller, I would ask the them to come back to you when she has taken the pads off and have him/her vetted again. The rush to put pads on are a concern…suggests an ongoing issue….can you ask to see its vets record?
The other thing you could do is get a proper 5 stage vetting and x-rays. Obv more money to pay out, but won’t be as much as you could be spending over the years if it’s going to have lots of problems.

What the horse needs investigation of the issue not a vetting and that’s not something a buyer should be doing
Yes its very easy to say walk away I had horses for just shy of sixty years and dodgy front feet are not something that you should walk into unless you have very deep pockets and another horse to ride .