Bowed Tendons - would you risk it?

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loverly

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I went to try a lovely mare. Truly perfect hacking down a main road and responsive to the leg and hand. A most important for me is that I felt safe around her.

She has mainly hunted and lightly raced (hurdles and PTP) and been to a couple local shows. But she has a low bowed tendon on her near for and a middle bow tendon on the off fore. According to the owner she has never had a days lameness after the injury a few years ago.

I'm looking to hack and low level all-rounder. The horse is very reasonably priced because of this at £500 but she does also windsuck which isn't too much of a problem for me. Owner will let me have the mare on a trial for a month.

I have never come across a horse with bowed tendons before so any info would be appreciated.
 
Mine has a very badly bowed tendon from an accident a year ago., so far he has stayed 100% sound. If the horse is £500 and otherwise perfect it may well be worth taking the risk. I have been advised not to jump mine so if you want a jumper it might not stay sound. hope that helps a little.
 
The owner is being sensible about the price. She's worth a trial of a month if you really liked her. It's a risk, but at that money, for what you want to do, worth taking if she is otherwise what you want. Ask her to authorise her vet to release her record to you and check it out first.
 
My boy has a bowed tendon that he got before I bought him. I've had him 4 years and he's never been lame on it or had any trouble from it (touches wood!). We normally just hack and school but he's jumped, gone xc schooling, fast (unitentionally :D) pleasure rides etc and been fine. :) In his previous home he hunted regularly too. :)
 
We have an ex point to pointer who we 'rescued' when he was 19 as he was going to be PTS due to owner having no home for him and after him being returned from failed loan homes. He broke down racing years ago and both tendons on his fronts are bowed petty badly (our vet likes to use them as an example to any students that come with him!). Anyway, since his racing days, his previous owner to us used to hack him and compete him at hunter trials etc without issue. He is 28 now and since we've had him he has never been lame (well not anything to do with his tendons anyway! :) ). Granted we,'ve not done loads with him as we never took him on as a riding horse anyway but we did hack him out and jump him a bit amd my sister did a show-cross on him once.

I am pretty sure had he been regularly hacked with us he'd have still remained sound though, he's no slouch in the field (he runs about more than his younger field mates!).

I think it sounds like she's priced accordingly and, if you like her and feel she's suitable for your needs then I would take the chance.
 
My old horse had bowed tendons from his racing days ... he came to me after the vet had suggested box rest for months and months on end ... he lasted a few weeks, we put him into the 'poorly paddock', he jumped the fence into the main field and buggered off ...

My friend has him now and she does a lot of dressage on him ... no real problems with him :D

I personally wouldnt be too interested in a windsucker though :confused::(
 
A mare of mine did a tendon racing (and just when she was healing from that she had a colic op) then a foal, so in all her leg did have 2 years to heal. I had her for 12 years after that, she had foals, did endurance and hunted - hard. Never had a problem with that leg in all that time.

I didn't mollycoddle her either, I never booted for support, but I did always make sure she was fit enough for what she did, and I got her fit slowly.

So no, a bowed tendon wouldn't put me off if the rest of the boxes were ticked. :)

Windsucking would put me off more, purely because it annoys the hell out of me to see and hear a horse doing that.
 
We had a TB (ex-pointer) with a bowed tendon. He was fine for years as a steady hack, but we avoided riding him in wet, heavy ground conditions, and in winter we mainly only did road walking with him. he stayed sound for years being worked like this. However he broke down when we started to introduce jumping, and we had to have him pts.

Another horse (ex-eventer) I knew who had previously injured his suspensories, was fine for hacking, and after 2 and a half years of lots of road hacking and flat schooling, it was decided he would be ok to jump, and he broke down during the second time he went out for cross country schooling.

If you don't want to jump, or do any long distance gallops, I'd say the horse would be suitable for you, but if you might want to start jumping, then I wouldn't touch any horse with previous tendon injuries with a bargepole.
 
i would not get rid of one i already had if it happened but i would not buy one with it either-you could just be buying trouble:confused:
 
No I wouldnt buy a horse with a tendon bow.

I had my mare blow a tendon last year and I was told she would be fit for hacking and flatwork only. So if your wanting to do a bit of everything Id save your money and get a TB for that that HASNT had any injuries, they are cheap and plentiful at the minute :)
 
My friends horse had a bowed tendon, and he was a fantastic event horse, first outing was at novice level and he competed regularly until he was killed in a traffic accident
 
My last horse who I had PTS in October last year had bowed tendons - badly - on both front legs. I had had him 10 years and they never caused him any problems . The advantage I had is that I knew him before I bought him, so I knew he was fine. Whether I would buy one I didn't know beforehand is another matter and not a question I could answer with all honesty.
 
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