Ascot Bloodstock Sales

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mcnaughty

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Enough time has passed now for me to be able to relate this sorry tale and to warn others.

Last year I purchased a TB from Ascot Bloodstock Auction. She was "sold as she stands". When I got her home, I noticed a soft small lump behind her whither which I initially thought was a bite from another horse or similar trauma. I got the vet up within a week of the sales just to give her the once over and to advise about the lump as I thought it was an abscess. Vet told me that if it was an abscess it would have got larger and after a bit of prodding he thought he felt a lump. Out came the xray equipment and it turnout out that she had severe kissing spines with processes touching in 6 areas all the way from whither to hip. I called Ascot and they said basically 'tough' but were not bothered if I wanted to re-sell her through the auction the following month. I called the ex owners and they basically said tough too!

I went through every option - reselling, broodmare, treatment and companion but none of these options sat well with me. So, a month later, I called out the hunt and she trotted off over rainbow bridge :-(

She was the most gorgeous, kind, gentle, beautiful girl and did not deserve any of this and nor did my bank balance! Yes, that does sound harsh but quite frankly it was a very expensive mistake!

Please be careful if you decide to go to the sales!
 
well done, it makes me cross that it was you that had to take on the responisibilty to have her PTS. That responisibilty should have ben with her old owner who's decision it was to take her to the sales in the first place. The reputable racing yards I know pts all the horses that they know cannot go on to have 2nd careers instead of sending them to the sales for a measly few quid.
 
I'm sorry that happened to you and weldone for making the right decision RE her future.. however if she was sold "as she stood/sold as seen" you wouldn't have a leg to stand on.. and that would explain ascot and prev owners response to you.. it is a risk you take when buying from sales and that's why not a lot of people do take the risk!

Very sad all the same, talking to a local chiropractor last week and she was saying that it seems all these ex racers who have/develop kissing spine most of them seem to have been broken at 2 :(
 
Its very rare that horses at Ascot racing sales are sold with vet certs or warranties. if they are too slow to race they will end up there and with some that are very slow the previous owners or trainers will not spend extra money getting xrays and just put them through the sales and get another thats faster :( yes some trainers will have horses pts at home or will investigate things but not all and I suppose in that you can also say that normal people with a problem horse will sell it through the sales as well so not just racehorses. Its something everyone needs to remember with any auction racehorse or otherwise sold as seen means no return other than for undeclared vices and even those are often read out as an ammendment and not put in the catalogue so if people don't listen to what the auctioneer says they can be caught out with that one.
 
It's a while since I bought from ascot but when I did , there was a vet there and I paid for him to check the horse over. It was not a proper vetting but enough to cut out some of the obvious stuff. The working of sold as seen would have meant the normal warranties would be invalid. The area I was wary was actually over lameness as there were some exclusions I found which werent practise in a normal sale!
 
It was not so much the "sold as she stands" it was more the fact that I told them her problems and they were not bothered about me re-listing her!
 
I say this a lot at the moment...

some studies show up to 70% of horses in the control group (ie the group with no clinical symptoms what so ever) have kissing spine. Prevelance seems particularly high in TBs. There is no reason to assume the old owner had any idea that this was the or even a problem. Loads of horses have KS on x-ray and yet lead perfectly normal lives.


What do you think Ascot should have said? Just because you didn't want her as a broody or companion doesn't mean someone else wouldn't have so totally eligible to go back through the sales surely :confused:
 
I've ridden horses in training that have KS, and are fine with it, many simply put up with it, but some don't. I'm not surprised by ascots attitude, if the horse had been in recent training then that says it was probably fine with it. I know it sounds a bit harsh, but many horses in training aren't that sound, and the sales at ascot are the bottom end, so this sort of thing happens quite a bit. They probably felt the horse could be traded back for someone who either wanted it as a racehorse, or as a broody, these sales are very much buyer beware. I would recomend Doncaster sales for buying horses to take out of training, they have slightly better quality, but aren't quite as expensive as the newmarket ones.
 
mcnaughty said:
It was not so much the "sold as she stands" it was more the fact that I told them her problems and they were not bothered about me re-listing her!
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Oh not excusing them and horrible for you that you were put through that. Just recounting another gotcha I was made aware of.
 
The only way of returning a horse to it's previous owner from the sales is if it turns out to have a vice that wasn't declared - such as box walking, wind sucking, weaving etc.
 
OK - let me get some facts straight here.

a. she was so sore there is no way you could have ridden her. The vet pushed on the lump and she nearly ended up on her knees. The lump on her whither was caused by a floating chip of bone.

b. it would have been cruel to breed from her due to the weight of a foal.

c. who wants a TB companion and the costs of keeping her when there are 1,000s of hairy ponies that live off fresh air.

Brightwells were completely out of order saying she could come back through the sales, knowing full well what her issues were and the extent of the damage.

Her ex-owners who are very well known racing people must have known her issues. I had her one week and got the vet out. There was no way should could have been ridden up to sale.

I do not need to justify my actions - this post is purely to warn others.
 
mcnaughty said:
OK - let me get some facts straight here.

a. she was so sore there is no way you could have ridden her. The vet pushed on the lump and she nearly ended up on her knees. The lump on her whither was caused by a floating chip of bone.

b. it would have been cruel to breed from her due to the weight of a foal.

c. who wants a TB companion and the costs of keeping her when there are 1,000s of hairy ponies that live off fresh air.

Brightwells were completely out of order saying she could come back through the sales, knowing full well what her issues were and the extent of the damage.

Her ex-owners who are very well known racing people must have known her issues. I had her one week and got the vet out. There was no way should could have been ridden up to sale.

I do not need to justify my actions - this post is purely to warn others.
Click to expand...

Which is appreciated. It's thanks to posts like this that well meaning gullible people ( freely include myself in this category ) are warned.
 
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