Buying a horse with a pre-existing health condition or "quirk" - Yes or No?

[Expo]

My mission to find another horse continues and I have a couple of local possibilities which I will be viewing this week (hopefully). But I have looked at many, many For Sale ads and have noticed quite a lot of animals of all shapes and sizes, for sale with existing injuries, health conditions or other issues. Most ads are honest about it and then add "priced to reflect. .... <insert condition> ..."! Generally, this means that an otherwise expensive animal is much more "affordable" (ie cheaper), but the potential for buying future trouble is ever present, of course.

So - would you purchase an otherwise suitable horse which had previous suspensory injuries (now resolved), a previous check ligament injury (now resolved), an intermittent cough (controlled with medication), hock spavins, "thrives with regular physio treatments", had "been know to throw in a buck or two", needs remedial shoeing for some reason, or - my personal favourite - "can be caught with patience" .....

I kid you not ... I have seen all of these in adverts in recent days. I truly feel sorry for the horses in these instances

 

[outdoor girl]

Be careful. Any prexisting conditions or injuries will not be covered by insurance. A buck or two could be the sign of a problem as yet unsresolved, remedial shoeing is mega expensive as is physio. Poor horses, being passed on to who knows where. Good luck with the hunting though. Your horse is out there somewhere.

 

[Peglo]

I’ve never had to deal with any of the issues above and my lack of knowledge on the conditions would mean no I wouldn’t take on any of them examples. If it was my own horse I would of course work around them. Unless I couldn’t afford to keep horses anymore etc, I wouldn’t sell my horse with those conditions so I wouldn’t buy someone else’s.

 

[SantaVera]

depends on the conditionor "quirk" some things i could put up with, some thnigs i couldnt

 

[I'm Dun]

suspensories would be a hard no as would a kissing spines op, but most other things I'd consider. My current bunch one had sarcoids, one was lame and aggressive and one was a youngster in the depths of winter who looked more like a yak than a pony. He was the only one who, so far, hasnt had a quirk or soundness issue, but he is only 3!

 

[conniegirl]

Depends what you want it for, how severe the injury was and what your budget is.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

My general approach is 'don't knowingly buy trouble' but I wouldn't be worried about buying one that is 'difficult to catch'. I findthat the usually react differently in different homes/to different people

 

[Caol Ila]

I did but I knew the quirk and its causes (the arena issues described my recent thread). It definitely made him cheaper, as a ten year old Highland who was great on hacks and went sweetly in the school would be a lot more than I paid for him.

I would be leerier of health issues, ie suspensories, sarcoids, needs remedial shoeing (why?), etc.

 

[Winters100]

I am with Pearlsasinger on this one. I bought one of mine from our YO, his groom told me in advance that he was a good horse but "impossible" to catch. Took about 2 weeks to solve that problem and have never had an issue since (carrots fix a lot).

Regarding medical problems I would want a careful discussion with my vet as to whether the horse would most likely be suitable for what I needed it to do.

 

[twiggy2]

Depends on the quirk, catching issues yes I wouldn't hesitate and have bought these before within 2 weeks have not had an issue anymore the worst case scenario I would build a pen and feed in it, its really not a big issue for me.
Check ligament yes
Cough I wouldn't touch with a barge pole
remedial showing would depend on why and the price but mostly yes.
the others would depend on each case

 

[Snow Falcon]

Health issue no. Quirk yes, unless it could be related undiagnosed health condition.

 

[millikins]

That's a how long is a piece of string question. I'm an older rider with an older pony. He'll probably need to retire before I do so I would certainly consider something which needs to step down a few levels when I want another because I will still want something active and forward, if it can only step over a twig, not 1 metre that'll be fine and would put it within budget. But I would want full vet details.

 

[Jango]

One person's quirk is another person's normal. For example in a 5yo sporthorse something like has been known to throw the odd buck is pretty typical behaviour. My old mare was very spooky, it didn't bother me or her loaner (then I sold her as a recipient mare) but would be a quirk some people wouldn't be happy with. For myself I wouldn't touch any previous soft tissue damage, I don't mind excitable naughty behaviour but not keen on anything nappy. Don't mind sarcoids not near tack. I'm on livery which isn't very flexible for things like pens, so I wouldn't want anything difficult to catch. I wouldn't want tricky to load as I'm on my own a lot.

It also depends on the job! A saintly 20yr kids first pony with hock arthritis or sweet itch that needed management would be absolutely fine.

I'm seeing a lot of wanted ads on FB with completely unrealistic expectations of their current budget. If you want a 15hh all-rounder at the moment for 3k you are going to have to compromise somewhere ?

 

[ycbm]

So - would you purchase an otherwise suitable horse which had previous suspensory injuries (now resolved),

only if it did the injuries working at a much higher level than I would do with it

a previous check ligament injury (now resolved),

yes

an intermittent cough (controlled with medication),

only for meat money

hock spavins,

for non competitive work, controlled with medication, at the right price, maybe

"thrives with regular physio treatments"

never

had "been know to throw in a buck or two",

not at my age, I did in the past, made a lot of money on him after sorting out his weak back

needs remedial shoeing for some reason,

yes I'd take it barefoot, only for meat money

or - my personal favourite - "can be caught with patience" .....

yes as long as I had one that was good to catch which it would follow

 

[irishdraft]

I wouldn't purchase a horse that had any of the conditions mentioned recovered or otherwise .

 

[Flame_]

No. No way. Its like buying a ferrari that won't start, you're better off with a fiesta, it's more use (and tbh probably more practical than a ferrari that will start!)

 

[Auslander]

I knowingly bought a horse with issues (psd and hock arthritis), because he was (and still is) an amazing horse, with all the GP moves installed, and he was absolutely worth a gamble. I knew he might not be sound enough to ride, but I liked him enough to keep as a pet, and any ridden work I got to do was a bonus.
I've had him nearly 10 years now, and he's the horsey love of my life. I've spent a bloody fortune on him, spent way too much time being scared to ride him in case I broke him, and agonised over every off step he's taken - but I've also had an amazing time playing with his party tricks, had a load of fun being bounced around out hacking, and he puts a smile on my face every day. He's still in light work at 24, and I still have to keep my wits about me!
Not sure I'd do it again though!

 

[spacefaer]

Soundness iasues, no
Sarcoids, maybe
Behavioural issues - depends what they were but probably not any more. Too old and broken to take on someone else's problems.

 

[iknowmyvalue]

No to soundness/physical issues for what I want to do. For low level hacking, then maybe for the right horse and the right price.

Behavioural things, possibly for the right horse and the right price. Something that’s hard to catch regularly probably not in the current situation, as mine is on full livery so that’s not fair on YO. And nothing that I thought stemmed from a physical issue.

But I’ve always bought horses with “quirks” so nothing new there ?

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

I wouldn't touch a ligament injury to a hind leg.

Tendons and front ligaments wouldn't bother me depending on what I wanted to do with the horse. I have worked with many horses with these injuries so I know what I am dealing with.

Bones - again it depends on which ones and what treatment they got. I wouldn't touch a horse with pins in its legs. That's just a walking vets bill in the future.

Sarcoids - nope. Sorry. Can't be bothered with them.

Quirks - depends what it is and why it does it.

Catching - some of mine have had quirky ways of being caught over the years so unless the horse was completely wild it wouldn't bother me.

 

[Melody Grey]

Only at pocket moneys prices where I’d be prepared to cut my losses fairly promptly if I couldn’t keep it doing the work/ job I wanted.

 

[MuddyMonster]

I would. My boy has at least one of those things on the list.

I'm more likely to want to take a chance on a physical issue (with vet guidance) as I'm happy to self-insure. I mainly ride out so we're on straight lines the majority of the time & have access to varying off-road terrain - IME that can often help with some things.

Managing something with EMS, laminitis etc wouldn't bother me as having a native, fat management is pretty second nature ?

With behavioural, it would depend - my pony came a bit nappy but literally goes for miles now on his own *but* his napping wasn't dangerous - there's no way I'd take on a nappy horse that reared. He also came tricky to catch but has also been overcome with time, patience & kindness - he now self-catches & comes over when he sees me (he lives in a herd in a big field too).

I might be being too sensitive but it saddens me to think someone would feel 'truly feel sorry' for my boy. Yes he might not pass a 5* vetting but he's happy in his work (& life in general) and generally pretty active.

 

[sunnyone]

The reasons people won't buy are numerous. I won't even go and look at a horse with white hooves as I don't think they are as strong, so I'd have turned down both Valegro and Uthopia!

I did though, take on a chestnut mare with sarcoids as a companion. She came with no history, but in foal. The foal, once born, was obviously well bred (it was before passports became obligatory) and he sold to a friend before he was weaned, so a good BOGOF. Once the foal was weaned we wondered about the mare so stuck a saddle on her and went from there. She was a lovely, brave little jumper who then accompanied us on all our rides out. Her sarcoids never really bothered her and the worst dropped off with sheep castration bands. Deffo worth the initial risk.

 

[SO1]

The horse would need to be exceptionally amazing at a very discounted price in order to take a risk and cover extra expenses related to maintenance and vet bills.

Soft tissue injuries would be a no it is not just the risk of vet bills and reoccurring but the rehabilitation of soft tissue injuries and the controlled exercise, long periods of box rest is difficult. My pony has had two on different legs n the last 18 months in part related to his age. The long periods of box rest and controlled exercise is hard even with a pony who is very quiet and easy, let alone something sharper.

The other things on the list apart from the bucking I would consider if the horse was perfect in every other way and had a good history of being sound on the management from the vet and I had the facilities and time to recreate the successful management and the discounted price was so great it would cover the extra costs of maintenance.

 

[horsimous]

Not at today’s horse prices!

 

[J&S]

A friend bought a horse out of a racing yard with a treated/mended front tendon and she has hunted it at least twice a week ever since, no problems. It must be 6 or 7 years now.

 

[ihatework]

The longer I’ve been around horses the more I’ve realised there is no such thing as a perfect horse. There is always something!! I’ve also been around so many a super horse with lists of issues as long as your arm doing wonderful jobs for their owners.

These days there are all sorts of issues I wouldn’t discount immediately, but the devil is always in the detail and that is very hard to convey on a forum.

 

[humblepie]

I had a horse years ago that I bought from a livery yard, never met the owner who I think was scared of the horse. His vaccination sheet showed a different location for his vacs every year so he had been passed from pillar to post. I just wanted a horse to show jump, which he did. When I tried him, they let me take him to another yard to jump as they had no facilities and we threw every spooky thing we could find at him and he was brilliant. He didn't hack as i discovered. We could hack just about with someone else but he didn't like it but you could pick him up out of the field after a week off and go and win show jumping. When I came to sell him I was so careful to highlight the issues as i didn't want someone to hack him and have an accident. A family bought him for their 14 year old daughter and I sold with full warning as to what he was like. They borrowed the saddle I had until they had one made and when they returned it, they were so happy with him - she was already on the pony club team and winning all over the place though did say they thought they would just hack him from the field to the yard and that hadn't worked out. They were the right people for him though as he was super fast show jumper and where they lived on the edge of a bit town they didn't really have hacking anyway so weren't bothered. So the quirk wasn't an issue for them in that case.

 

[Expo]

Thank you for all the feedback. I am continuing my search and have a prospect lined up to view later in the week, found by personal recommendation. Hopefully this one will be what I'm looking for, but maybe not - it's a bit on the small size but otherwise sounds spot on. (If anyone has a sensible happy hacker for sale within easy reach of Burton on Trent, let me know!!).

Onwards and upwards ............

 

[AUB]

Depends on the condition, the horse and the price.