Buying an older hunt horse - advice please

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Rurallass1973

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Hi all,

my mare is out of action with an injury and prognosis for returning to work is guarded so on the look for another ridden horse. One has come up that may fit the bill, but is an older horse (15) and does have some niggles but reflected in price. He's an ex masters horse so has been hunted hard and now looking for an easier life. Had coffin joints (fronts) and hocks injected to keep comfortable through the season. I would be wanting to mainly hack, bit of schooling and odd local show - so considerably less than the horse has been doing. My questions are:
Cost of injections - anyone know roughly what these are likely to be?
Is it fairly common for a horse in hard work at that age to need as maintenance? Or is it more likely there's a bigger issue? If so what?
Would being in less work then exacerbate any issues?
What sort of price would you expect to pay?
Would you take a risk on it or would it be a flat no?
I'm 50/50 at the moment so any advice/experience of this will be really helpful.
 
We've retired our hunters at exactly this point in the past. We haven't sold them though - the last 3 have been permanent loaned or given to their respective new homes.

Bony changes l(ie arthritis) eading to maintenance through joint injections will be degenerative over time. Reducing the workload, maintaining exercise and turnout, being careful on hard ground.... these will all slow the speed of the degeneration.
You'd hope the injections would last longer. We go for arthramid rather than steroids as that does last longer, although more initially expensive.

I wouldn't be looking to pay much (if anything!) though for the horse.
 
Are you prepared to be the last home this horse has? In other words as these conditions are degenerative and the horse is now 15 there will become a point when it will no longer be able to perform the job you are buying it for which is light work. Once no longer fit for light work do you either have the funds/space to retire or the courage to PTS to avoid this horse entering terrible downward spiral of being passed from home to home and bin end dealer to bin end dealer?

If the answer is yes then I would certainly consider it. Any horse that has got to 15 in hard work is fundamentally sound in my opinion and the issues it is now experiencing would seem commensurate with it's age and workload.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Defo try him hacking alone at the least, hunt horses often don’t do much solo hacking or much care for it.

I wouldn’t expect to pay much at all. As a master’s horse he will have been hammered. He might be a gem to tootle on quietly with, or he might be a lame money pit.
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I’m really surprised to hear that, every hunt horse I’ve made or ridden has had as its number one priority to go off on its own.
 
Ceifer said:
Same here.

There has been the odd one that has been nappy so found a life hunting but the majority go out alone.
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I think if you want a horse to just hunt in the field it can be a good place for a nappy horse. But a proper hunter (master, whip, huntsman, on point) needs to be forward and willing.
 
I’d want to see the horse in the school if your planning to do that
Some of them absolutely hate it after just hunting
 
Joint injections won't keep working forever, it's not a case of just re- injecting every so often. The joint will still degenerate. Steroids inparticular destroy the ligaments/ tendons
It's possible something like arthrimed could help secure longer soundness. If it works it can give help for a couple of years.
Personally I wouldn't buy a horse that was already needing joints medicating
 
If he'd just retired out of hunting due to age I'd consider it, but if he's been injected to keep hunting my spidey senses would say he's been hammered and the injections are no longer keeping him sound enough to hunt.

I personally love an ex-hunter, as I find a good hunt horse has to have a lot of qualities I like in a horse - they're brave, bold and fairly level headed. I'm on my third I've retrained to event but the 'niggles' and age would put me off this one sorry. I've seen too many tragic tales of people being unwittingly fobbed off with these sort of issues (undisclosed) and having a nice field ornament as a result. They are normally wonderful horses, but a few things to bare in mind:

They generally travel well but are not great at standing around when you get there. Not every horse of course, by my hunters and ex-hunters have always needed a good few months at least for them to realise they're not getting off the lorry and going hunting every time you go out, the adrenaline is HIGH when you arrive anywhere.

If you enjoy flatwork, expect to completely reschool them, it can be like riding a breaker except one that has years of bad habits instilled and as much suppleness as a plank of wood.

Showjumping can be 'interesting' if they've never actually seen poles - they'll pop a 5' hedge without batting an eyelid, but refuse to go near a cross-pole.

Likewise, to jump they know one speed - forward and flat out. Training a nice showjumping canter is a whole new process.
 
That's exactly what I have, much to my surprise, as I'm a dressage diva through and through. I absolutely love him - even though on paper he's not my type at all. I'm most likely having both my knees replaced in the not too distant future, so wanted something that would stand like a rock for me to get on, and not fool around too much out hacking. He absolutely fits the brief, and I rather enjoy the slower pace of life that he has most definitely earned.
He doesn't hack alone apparently, although I haven't tried, and don't feel the need to. He also sighs a very deep sigh if you head down the drive and then turn right to go in the school, where his performance is spectacularly underwhelming. That all pales into insignificance when you're out hacking and can drop the reins on his neck and leave him to it while you have a chat, then pick up canter and lob along at an easy pace with no spooking, tanking, bucking and farting. So different to anything i've had before, but he's perfect for me right now.
He's also terribly handsome, which helps!

502663580_10164698137235730_3623364403653542645_n.jpg
 
Auslander said:
That's exactly what I have, much to my surprise, as I'm a dressage diva through and through. I absolutely love him - even though on paper he's not my type at all. I'm most likely having both my knees replaced in the not too distant future, so wanted something that would stand like a rock for me to get on, and not fool around too much out hacking. He absolutely fits the brief, and I rather enjoy the slower pace of life that he has most definitely earned.
He doesn't hack alone apparently, although I haven't tried, and don't feel the need to. He also sighs a very deep sigh if you head down the drive and then turn right to go in the school, where his performance is spectacularly underwhelming. That all pales into insignificance when you're out hacking and can drop the reins on his neck and leave him to it while you have a chat, then pick up canter and lob along at an easy pace with no spooking, tanking, bucking and farting. So different to anything i've had before, but he's perfect for me right now.
He's also terribly handsome, which helps!

View attachment 164945
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He is terribly handsome.
 
Auslander said:
Bizarrely, I thought he was ugly when he arrived! He was hogged, which is not a good look on him!
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All the grey hunt horses near me are hogged - i guess hard enough to keep clean without plaiting too! He does look better with his mane.

The horses owned by the hunt hack alone here. I guess some of the field probably like a tail to follow but you can put solo hacking to the test with a trial ride.

Is the horse cheap? Arthramid can run to around £600 per joint.
 
SEL said:
All the grey hunt horses near me are hogged - i guess hard enough to keep clean without plaiting too! He does look better with his mane.

The horses owned by the hunt hack alone here. I guess some of the field probably like a tail to follow but you can put solo hacking to the test with a trial ride.

Is the horse cheap? Arthramid can run to around £600 per joint.
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And last a year or so at best. I definitely wouldn't buy a horse already needing this to be comfortable.
 
I had a hunt horse on loan , she was the owners favourite, was home bred and was hard hunted. The owner felt that at 18 she needed a slower pace of life and wasn’t ready to retire . I only hacked but she was great, really forward going but sensible and easy, would hack alone happily , unfortunately it was me that broke after 2 years so she went back to her owner who had a friend who wanted a horse to hack out with her grand daughter and she had her for a few years and now she is fully retired with her owner. I would think you might be ok if you just want a hacking horse but not sure that schooling or competing would be a good idea as he sounds slightly broken already
 
Auslander said:
That's exactly what I have, much to my surprise, as I'm a dressage diva through and through. I absolutely love him - even though on paper he's not my type at all. I'm most likely having both my knees replaced in the not too distant future, so wanted something that would stand like a rock for me to get on, and not fool around too much out hacking. He absolutely fits the brief, and I rather enjoy the slower pace of life that he has most definitely earned.
He doesn't hack alone apparently, although I haven't tried, and don't feel the need to. He also sighs a very deep sigh if you head down the drive and then turn right to go in the school, where his performance is spectacularly underwhelming. That all pales into insignificance when you're out hacking and can drop the reins on his neck and leave him to it while you have a chat, then pick up canter and lob along at an easy pace with no spooking, tanking, bucking and farting. So different to anything i've had before, but he's perfect for me right now.
He's also terribly handsome, which helps!

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Blimey, talk about eye candy 😍
 
FieldOrnaments said:
PER JOINT?!?! holy sh1t.... Presumed it wouldn't come for less than 3figs I didn't know it was quite SO expensive.
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Yes this is about right!

Have they injected steroids though? That is considerably cheaper but as others have said it doesn’t work for that long, 6 months tops, and over time it stops working.

I personally would only get one if it was very cheap and you only really wanted to hack..if he’s the masters I suspect he’s been ridden very hard and may have had other injuries? Depends how honest they are being. All the ex hunt horses sold out out of our old yard had some sort of injury that led to them being sold on sadly…
 
I’d be very cautious about taking on this horse for the purposes that you want. Hunting takes place in autumn, winter and early spring when the ground tends to be softer and given that the horse is still struggling with soundness then, working on hard summer ground might be even more of a problem for him, especially with dodgy coffin joints. And if his hocks are dodgy too then he might find the frequent turns required in schooling and showjumping/showing to be uncomfortable. Although hunting is hard work in there is a lot of fast work it is sometimes easier for a horse with joint issues because of the lack of frequent turning/circles and the softish ground conditions. I speak as a Master’s wife so have quite an insight into the sort of horses in this role. Also, generally Master’s horses are used to being ridden by bold, firm riders and can be easily take the mick if a new owner does adopt the same approach.
 
TGM said:
Also, generally Master’s horses are used to being ridden by bold, firm riders and can be easily take the mick if a new owner does adopt the same approach.
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All excellent advice, but also this - yes. It’s taken me a few years to really click with my latest horse, though he never made a masters horse he was a fabulous hunt horse that took on big, bold country and he was always favoured by the strong male riders out on the field. I’m a quiet rider by nature and he thoroughly takes the pee out of me out XC. We’ve reached a compromise but it pains me when my trainer (6’3 very fit even rider!) gets on him and he goes sweet as anything :rolleyes:😁
 
Bobthecob15 said:
Have they injected steroids though? That is considerably cheaper but as others have said it doesn’t work for that long, 6 months tops, and over time it stops working.
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I agree with the sentiment but I would say that steroids can work better than that - my horse has been having them for the last 5 years and for him, they work brilliantly for about 10/11 months each time, then it starts to bother him again. For a horse who is pretty saintly in all ways I don't mind paying for them.

If it was me I would be wanting vet records so I could see for myself exactly what he's had and when. If he's being treated annually, looking good on it, and you only want to hack (and don't mind easing off when the ground's hard) I would still consider it. But that's assuming he's cheap and you have space to retire when necessary.
 
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Being very pedantic, a hunt horse is one that has been used by the people hep are employed by the hunt - the. huntsman or whipper in.
A horse that has been ridden in the field, has field mastered or belonged to a Master is known as a hunter.

There's also a big difference as to whether the horse has field mastered ie had to go in front, lead the field and jump in cold blood (and was not necessarily ridden by a Master) vs a horse owned by a Master which is actually more of an administrative role. They can pootle along happily at the back and barely raise a canter.

The amount of work a horse does also depends hugely on the pack. Some have more demanding country, some have big hedges, some tiny rails and some no jumps at all.

I'd confirm more of his history if I were you!
 
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