Advice wanted re wonky legged pony please

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Clare N P

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Hi,

This is the first time I have posted and I would really appreciate some advice from anybody that may have experience of this.

I had a horse vetted yesterday. He’s 7 and an Irish import being sold from a source I am happy buying from.

He is green, which I am fine with and the vet liked him however she mentioned the following:

“His overall confirmation is OK however his left fore is slightly poorer as he has a low slung fetlock and this leg deviates inwards”. By that she explained that the access is less upright. She said there is no thickening of the tendon and no signs of previous injury but that it could make it weaker as it would be under more strain – therefore my 1 legged slightly wonky boy. She said that she knows top end competition horses with wonky legs that never have a problem and that most horses have a quirk and this may be his. She also said that some vets may not have even mentioned/picked up on this.

I only went for a 2-stage vetting and sadly she the vet is having to go back out next week to complete the second stage (unusual I know) but his feet were long overdue and supposed to have been done last Friday but due to a wayward farrier had only been done Wednesday (vetting Thursday) and he was a little footsore. This was the first time he was being shod since arriving in the UK. The vet was very good and said as she liked him she felt it only fair to give him chance to settle and go back for the second stage.

Has anybody had any experience like this? I would be grateful for any feedback.

I am looking at a horse for general hacking, RC to include low level dressage, SJ & XC.
 
How much do you like him and are you prepared to take a punt? Also is he currently in full work? If he's not in full work I'd be wary.
 
i would not touch him i am afraid. i had a horse pass a 5 stage with a wonky leg - just over a year later he was put down. i have done a lot of research since. toe out i would consider if perfect in every other way but toe in i would not touch with a barge pole. gd luck what ever u decide.
 
Thank you - that makes sense and I hadn't thought about that logically! Sorry to hear you had such a horrid time. I'm still a little burnt having lost my mare last year and this is the first purchase since. I have had 1 that I vetted and they picked up a flat sarcoid (I had felt all over and hadn't picked it up, it was up on his sheath) and now this - I had said I was wobbly when vet rang yesterday but she said she still felt it was worth while going through with 2nd stage next week as if he was completely sound on flexion she would be very happy to pass him. However as I didn't know much on this thought opinions of others may be useful.
 
Sometimes poor farriery can cause this (if the farrier has taken more off the toe or heel of one foot than the other) so I would want to see with my own eyes before making judgement.
 
We had a 20YO competition pony on loan with a very wonky front leg, she competed at a high level, hard, into her early 20s and as far as I know retired sound :) We have a wonky one too and he's still going at 17 though has never been the most fluid of movers he's never changed. Up to you if you take the risk, very few horses at any level are totally straight and straight moving and for what you want temperament could be a more important factor. It is an additional risk so up to you to decide, but Im sure most of us know perfect looking horses written off in their early life for various issues so straightness doesn't work as a guarantee.
 
One of ours has a toe turned in - had him 4 years, no problems so far *frantically touches wood* He's only doing low level dressage and eventing, though.

It would depend on what you want to do with him, and how that compares to what he's doing now.

Have you seen it yourself?
 
I think if you really like this horse, and the vet can be honest with you about the likely hood of anything going wrong due to the conformation issue for the level of work you want to do, then at least you can make an informed decision. It is always good being cautious, particularly when you don't have a huge budget for another if things go wrong, but it is whether you feel the pros outweight the cons. Personally, aside from as long as a horse is sound and can do what I would like to do comfortably, the most important thing is the personality of it!
 
What do you want to do with him? If you want to do a lot of competing, maybe it's too much of a risk but if you want to do a bit of hacking and maybe the odd local show, he might be ok. My boy has pigeon toes and had lameness issues in the foot when I was doing a lot of jumping which resulted in 6 months field rest, but since he's pretty much stopped (just pops the odd log out hacking and does the odd show jump here and there) he's not had a day's lameness in 6 years. The vet who vetted him (to be fair 3 years before he went lame) pointed out his pigeon toes but didn't think they'd cause problems. Whether they play a role in his foot issues or not I couldn't know for certain, but I did a fair bit of research when he went lame and there does seem to be a correlation.

ETA - sorry just spotted you said you want him for low level RC stuff - I suppose you need to think about hoe much you want to jump and whether you have a plan B if it turns out he can't cope with much jumping.
 
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Thank you for all the replies.

As I have paid for the vetting I will wait and see what the 2nd stage throws up next week as he will have had his new shoes on for a week by then and hopefully soreness setlled down. It's so frustrating when we waited a week for the vetting to give him time post the farrier and then it only happens the day before.

Annagain I do wan tto jump as this is the thing I love most, espeically XC, so this is a big consideration for me.

I know when you have a limited budget (mainly due to only recently paying off whopping vets bill from loosing my mare after 9 months of lameness) then there are some compramises but the bottom line is I don't want the heartache of through everything I did with my mare all over again!
 
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