Buying a horse with a historic pastern injury

DrSeuss

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I'm an intermediate rider looking to buy my first horse. There is a horse available near me that might be what I'm looking for. However, the ad says he fractured a pastern while doing X country a few years ago. I don't know anything about pastern injuries and I'm worried it will mean he goes lame easily. He's eight. The ad says he's recovered. I'd vet any horse before I bought it, but I want to know if this is one best avoided from the start. Grateful for any advice!
 

Abi90

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I’d want to see x-rays. The fracture may have caused the pastern joint to fuse in which case he’ll be alright just may move funny.

However, I’ve got a young mare who had a pastern injury as a youngster, the result is ringbone.
 

C1airey

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I have a 9yo WB who broke his pastern in a freak stable accident as a 2yo. He was okay for light duties until a couple of years ago when he went very lame on that leg. He now has ringbone and suffered with mild navicular which we think was a result of him compensating for the injured leg. I only recently found out about the past fracture.

Six months as a field ornament with some very expensive shoes, and he returned to light work last year. Turned away in normal shoes over the winter and he has come back stronger than ever. So much so, he’s too much horse for me so I’ve had to find him a rider. Whether he will hold up to more work, who knows?

But to put it in perspective: I took a punt on him and bought him for £1. As someone said above, there are plenty of horses on the market with clean legs.
 
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For quiet light hacking you wouldn't be too fussed. For anything more I'd walk away.

Saying that there have been a couple at work who had broken theirs and had it pinned back together. They never raced again though as it would have been too much for the leg.
 

SlinkyMinxy

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My horse broke her pastern about four months ago in a field accident. Although her recovery has been better than expected, I have been told by the vets that she will never be able to do anything more than light hacking. I've also been told that arthritis in the joints is more or less inevitable, the only unknowns are when it will happen and how bad it will be.

As others have said, there are plenty of horses out there without this problem - personally, I would walk away.
 

DrSeuss

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Thanks for the advice, everyone. I'm not much of a jumper and I doubt I'll ever want to do more than go over a small course in the school, but I do enjoy dressage and I occasionally compete locally. I'm not looking for a horse who's championship material or a perfect schoolmaster, but they need to be responsive and ready to learn with me. I think I'd better give this horse a miss. It's a shame, as he sounds perfect in other ways! I need a horse with good manners on the ground, as I'm disabled and I take longer than most people to tack up and untack. This horse has apparently been ridden by someone with similar problems before and he's very patient. I think I'm probably better getting a 100% sound horse, then asking an RDA trainer to help me out if the horse needs any extra training to be safe for me.
 

Melody Grey

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I considered an OTTB with a fractured pastern history recently. Unfortunately in this case, it wasn't sound on a circle a couple of years on, so couldn't even consider it for hacking really. In a young horse, I was wary also of what knock on effect it could cause in the horse compensating for the injury in its formative years. That said, it was token money and had it been sound enough to hack I would have taken my chances with it but been quick to draw the line if it broke down.
 
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