Xmas lucky
Well-Known Member
It’s depends how much I liked the horse but to be honest I probably wouldn’t view a horse if I saw that on for sale ad. It would make you think the issue is a lot worse.
Buying a horse with a pre-existing health condition or "quirk" - Yes or No?
- Thread starter Expo
- Start date
Expo
Well-Known Member
lol ... I've seen another one this morning .... a nice coloured cob which would suit me fine, until you get to the bit about "when he does buck, it's only a small one and he doesn't mean it" or words to that effect!!!
..... <holds head in despair and wanders off> ..........
..... <holds head in despair and wanders off> ..........
Melody Grey
Well-Known Member
? as long as he doesn’t mean it! What could possibly go wrong?!
Tarragon
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't buy a sweetitch pony, or one that had had laminitis.
I would buy one that wouldn't be caught because I would consider it to be a challenge!
I wouldn't buy one that needed a certain sort of management as I don't own my own land and am at the mercy of livery yards and therefore cannot guarantee i could maintain it
Other than that, it would depend upon what was wrong with it, what I wanted to do with it, what the long-term prognosis is, how much it costs to manage the condition on-going and how much it costs to buy it.
I would buy one that wouldn't be caught because I would consider it to be a challenge!
I wouldn't buy one that needed a certain sort of management as I don't own my own land and am at the mercy of livery yards and therefore cannot guarantee i could maintain it
Other than that, it would depend upon what was wrong with it, what I wanted to do with it, what the long-term prognosis is, how much it costs to manage the condition on-going and how much it costs to buy it.
Jaqa
Member
Although some things are personally a hard no in my book (and others come under- only consider if otherwise exceptional in every other way), many problems are very much "depends". Who you ask, is going to change where that "depends" range changes to a "no". It depends on how bad it is, how much it's impacting the horse, how much money you have to spend if things go wrong/to rehab, what you want to do with the horse (ie a conformation fault or injury that prevents high level eventing might be just fine if you just want to plod along some trails once a week), if agisting whether the issues will be a problem? You really need a vet check and tell the vet exactly what you want to do with the horse and get their opinion on what they think if you want to buy the horse and the only thing stopping you is the vice/injury/illness concern. The vet check could be the best investment you ever do to help prevent large vet bills or emotional distress if things don't go as planned. A cheap horse costs just as much to treat as an expensive one. Even if you think a horse looks perfect, Id still recommend a vet check. They won't pick up everything, but they're still a good start that will pick up a lot. Bear in mind, some things may need further testing (imaging, bloods) to get a good prognosis assessment that may drive the price of the check up higher, so factor that into the cost of the horse and if it's worth spending the money to see if it's suitable or not.
I have one with a previous tendon injury that was assessed by a specialist as unlikely to ever cause him a problem as it was well rehabbed (his rehab alone cost thousands BTW so treatment costs are definitely something to find out if you are going to attempt the rehab yourself), he was considered sound enough to go back to high impact exercise and had all the scans and assessment reports to prove it. I wouldn't have taken one with an injury as potentially serious as this without that assurance personally, however some people are happy to take on horses on the previous owner's word they're ok with the same type of injury, or even with freshly bowed tendons and take their chances knowing if they don't fix with time and treatment, they'll have an unsound horse on their hands. That's only a call each person can make as to what sort of risk you're willing to live with, and what you can do with the horse if it turns out not to be rideable.
Another example you have there is resp tract conditions. My previous horse developed an allergic resp tract disease late in her life that initially was reasonably serious. After work up and medication trials, it turned out to be controllable with a particular combination of herbs in her food and caused her almost no further problems as long as that was maintained. So as long as you're cool with medicating the horse in some way, in this case it would be fine. But what if it's not as the seller is saying and you're seeing the horse at it's best in the middle of winter, but it it falls apart for a few months during spring? What if what ever is causing the allergy is worse on your property? You may get flair ups despite treatment. What if it's not an allergic condition at all, and turns out to be something nasty and likely to degenerate with time like heart disease or cancer in the lungs? It's all a considered risk.
Basically, unless a horse has been rehabbed from an injury properly and the vets think there is a low chance of further problems, or it's something you're sure can be managed adequately, saving a few $$ now for the purchase price, may cost you a lot more down the track. If a horse has medication, find out how much that costs to maintain. If it needs surgery to fix, find out what the prognosis is likely to be and how much the surgery and aftercare is. Some things need maintenence (ie corrective shoeing, extra dentistry visits, chiro etc) which you need to factor in costs and probability of needing time off riding. If the horse has a behavioural problem, find out how much it impacts the horse (for example a bad weaver might put a lot of stress on it's leg joints and be a hard keeper) and if your barn will be ok with having them there. (ie Some will refuse to have certain vices like wood chewing or stall kicking.) You definitely can take on horses with a lot of things wrong with them, but you want to go into it with your eyes as wide open as possible.
Out of all the things you're listing, I wouldn't consider any without a thorough vet assessment except for the tricky to catch (and possibly the bucking if I can see an obvious issue with training or saddle fit- maybe.) Tricky to catch is often quite fixable if you know what you're doing although there are probably exceptions out there. You just can't make those sorts of assessments over the phone.
I have one with a previous tendon injury that was assessed by a specialist as unlikely to ever cause him a problem as it was well rehabbed (his rehab alone cost thousands BTW so treatment costs are definitely something to find out if you are going to attempt the rehab yourself), he was considered sound enough to go back to high impact exercise and had all the scans and assessment reports to prove it. I wouldn't have taken one with an injury as potentially serious as this without that assurance personally, however some people are happy to take on horses on the previous owner's word they're ok with the same type of injury, or even with freshly bowed tendons and take their chances knowing if they don't fix with time and treatment, they'll have an unsound horse on their hands. That's only a call each person can make as to what sort of risk you're willing to live with, and what you can do with the horse if it turns out not to be rideable.
Another example you have there is resp tract conditions. My previous horse developed an allergic resp tract disease late in her life that initially was reasonably serious. After work up and medication trials, it turned out to be controllable with a particular combination of herbs in her food and caused her almost no further problems as long as that was maintained. So as long as you're cool with medicating the horse in some way, in this case it would be fine. But what if it's not as the seller is saying and you're seeing the horse at it's best in the middle of winter, but it it falls apart for a few months during spring? What if what ever is causing the allergy is worse on your property? You may get flair ups despite treatment. What if it's not an allergic condition at all, and turns out to be something nasty and likely to degenerate with time like heart disease or cancer in the lungs? It's all a considered risk.
Basically, unless a horse has been rehabbed from an injury properly and the vets think there is a low chance of further problems, or it's something you're sure can be managed adequately, saving a few $$ now for the purchase price, may cost you a lot more down the track. If a horse has medication, find out how much that costs to maintain. If it needs surgery to fix, find out what the prognosis is likely to be and how much the surgery and aftercare is. Some things need maintenence (ie corrective shoeing, extra dentistry visits, chiro etc) which you need to factor in costs and probability of needing time off riding. If the horse has a behavioural problem, find out how much it impacts the horse (for example a bad weaver might put a lot of stress on it's leg joints and be a hard keeper) and if your barn will be ok with having them there. (ie Some will refuse to have certain vices like wood chewing or stall kicking.) You definitely can take on horses with a lot of things wrong with them, but you want to go into it with your eyes as wide open as possible.
Out of all the things you're listing, I wouldn't consider any without a thorough vet assessment except for the tricky to catch (and possibly the bucking if I can see an obvious issue with training or saddle fit- maybe.) Tricky to catch is often quite fixable if you know what you're doing although there are probably exceptions out there. You just can't make those sorts of assessments over the phone.
maya2008
Well-Known Member
Although to be fair, if they were being honest rather than covering themselves for future issues, there aren’t many horses that are 100% perfect all the time, especially with a rider they don’t know well. Our wonderful Shetland has running off issues with less competent children, my husband’s saint of a cob shies occasionally (and on change of rider reared a few times - his default ‘I’m scared’ reaction), and my sweet NF bucks like a trooper if her footing is compromised and she’s cantering. With all of those, we’d barely ever experience an issue because we know them well, but someone new probably would.
Shilasdair
Patting her thylacine
I would prefer to buy a 'blank canvas' with a clean vetting, then I can very quickly help it develop unique, expensive and previously unknown to science conditions all by myself.
Bitter, me?
Bitter, me?
oldie48
Well-Known Member
I can only think of a couple of our many horses and ponies that hasn't thrown the odd buck. The connie always put in buck the first time you cantered in the school, just Joie de vivre, not unseating and always accompanied by a squeal! The FEI pony would chuck in a buck or two cantering towards the first fence or two going XC, just excitement and he did grow out of it, my really reliable old TB had my daughter off with a buck when she was riding without stirrups and got very unbalanced, he thought she was falling off so thought he'd help. Rose used to buck into canter but a physio sort out and having the saddler out sorted that . And I buy for temperament! I buy older established horses for myself and always ask for my vet to have access to the vet records, doesn't mean we find out the complete history but it helps, if my vet is happy there's nothing sinister going on and we usually discuss the vet records before the vetting, I go ahead. There are conditions I'd avoid but some injuries I'd accept. I think if you are buying a nice horse at a sensible price you need a bit of pragmatism!