6 y/o ex-racer with bowed tendon - do I buy him?

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princestar

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Should I buy an ex-racer with a previously bowed tendon that has now healed?

I have seen a horse that I am interested in buying, however I am going about this with caution as he is an ex-racer with a healed bowed tendon.

He is 16hh, 6 year old gelding, who was retired as a racer due to a bowed tendon. He goes lame without front shoes on, although he is not shod on the back feet. So he has shoes on all the time.

Do I go and look at this horse, maybe even buy him?

Could this injury re-occur even though it has healed, am I likely to always have to shoe him and will I be able to jump, ride regulary and compete or would this damage his leg again?

Also, as he ages could this be something that causes him to be retired early or cause him to become lame at times...?

Would this also cause issues when getting him insured? Would I be facing a likelyhood of vets bills (due to the tendon)?

Can anyone give me some advice on this, or knowledge if they have a horse with the same problem?

Thank You x
 
Alot of your questions are impossible to answer....no one can see into the future and a lot depends on how bad the orginal injury was and how long ago. I wouldn't buy him unless he's been back in work for a while and the leg has been fine with the kind of things you want to do with him. Alot of horses go on to have a perfectly normal life and it never causes any bother. That leg would I imagine be exempt from insurance. Go and see him and if you like him ask questions about the leg and take it from there.
 
I bought my boy as an 11 yr old ex racer with a bowed tendon. It happened 2 years before I bought him, he'd had a year off to heal and a year back in work. That leg is excluded on his insurance. But he's never had any problems with it in the 4 years I've had him. (touches wood!) So I wouldn't say write it off, like Bonny says go see him, ask questions, take it from there :-)
 
Personally not. There are plenty of perfectly sound/non injured exracers out there that are going for free without buying one with a ticking timebomb in his leg.

Having had a horse blow a tendon then find out that the horse had done it previously and not shown a sign I would no never knowingly buy a horse with tendon issues and I would certaonly place MUCH more importance on a vetting.
 
I personally would never buy an ex racehorse that has had a leg problem - I would only take it on as a give away. As there are so many looking for homes.
I have had 3 ex racehorses (all give aways) and my first one had broken down on his near fore, he had his year off and I never had a problem with him on that leg after that. He low level evented and hunted and all sorts. I was very careful what ground I picked for him and made sure I never over did it etc, basically took extra care of his legs.
You need to find out just how badly it broke down as some are worse than others and try to establish if it will suit for what you want to do. :)
 
There are lots of very nice little ex-racers out there for very little money that have absolutely nothing wrong with them.

So, no - I wouldn't buy this horse.
 
Do not touch even with a very large bargepole!

If the tendon has actually bowed then it will always be highly visible even if it has essentially healed.

Don't go and see the horse as you risk falling head over heels with it and making a potentially costly mistake - probably a field pet. Sure, it may stay sound, but chances are if you start jumping and galloping, it won't.

There are hundreds of free or cheap TBs going at the moment who will have clean legs and no issues.
 
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