Buying 'neglected' horses...should we?

Underfeeding is a kind of (often unintentional) cruelty though.
I always wonder if the thin horse is thin because of underlying health issues, or lack of food...it can be hard to tell. And I always worry that I'll get reported for them being thin before I get the weight on them (this has happened to me when I ran a yard)
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I know exactly what you mean. I have to admit to having a field at the back of my main corral - it is not an "on view" field as the big barn is right in front of it. This is the field that I always put neglect cases in to begin with, mainly because I run a business and I can't have people thinking that these are horses who have been with me for some time. Winter is easy as I just rug them, but Spring underfed horses have to be kept out of eyesight for a couple of weeks till I get some weight on them.
 
he had been neglected in the sense that he had been left in a field the previous winter (i bought 3rd july) with no food or a rug to fend for himself (i know in the wild they are like this but he is a skinny TB) His previous owner didnt go up to see him, im not sure she even new he was her horse (is an alcoholic and is just generally very scheming. His case is not as extreme as others i know, but i think he could have been if i didnt buy him.old owner has now been prosectued by the ILPH as another of her horses (one of many!) couldnt stand up it was in that much of a state.

hehe the first pic was a few weeks after id got him and i was trying to get his mane to lie on the same side rather than all over the place hence the bunchies.

Though i do accept that there was little else wrong with him apart from being underweight he was a sorry horse beofre i got him, which put other people off. He had no confidence and got badly beat up within the heard.
now he is loving life and his work is the top male in the field and is one in a million... all the peple ive had up to look at loaning him, said they have never know a horse like him so im
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He was fairly easy to put weight on, it was more building up correct muscle, i know he still has a way to go but were getting there.
 
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Buy the best looking, soundest one, with the right price.
Condition is irrelevant.

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to me what it looks like (unless i want to show it) itsnt relevant (if by best looking you mean attractivenss/prettines rather that conformation). ie if i want a jumper i dont care if its got a face like a moose...

whereas if in a neglected state id worry how it got that way, and if lack of proper worming has caused internal damage, or it had liver damage caused by grazing ragwort, and if the lack of farrier attention had caused long term damage to joints etc.
 
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