Has anyone bought a horse with sarcoids?

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Hedge_pig

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I've noticed over the past few days a few posts popping up stating that the poster would never buy a horse with sarcoids, I just wondered how many people had knowingly bought a horse with them and, if you don't mind saying, what you paid for them?

It's not a purely academic question, I've found a horse who is absolutely perfect for what I want him for with a wonderful temperment, but he has one small sarcoid on his right hind which has already been treated once but returned.

I'm trying not to let my heart rule my head, but I don't want to write him off completely as he's so perfect in every other way. Considering the number of horses with sarcoids out there I thought there must be people willing to buy them, so I'd love to hear your stories, successful or otherwise.
 
I have a livery horse that was purchased with sarcoids, just a few small ones on his face, some had gone with various treatments but he was perfect, was owned by a friend and we knew all his history from birth so less of a risk than buying from an unknown source where you may get less than the truth.
The sarcoids have now gone after treating with thuja and have not reappeared in the 3 years since, he was 2 stage vetted with the vet being told we did not really want any input on the sarcoids, he gave it anyway and said don't buy they will cause nothing but trouble, luckily he was wrong.
He was priced accordingly, probably 2/3rds of his true value.
 
When you say small sarcoid, how small? Athough I would hesitate to buy a horse with sarcoids, it is possible to clear them out if you start soon enough. If you google it, you will find that the concensus of opinion appears to suggest that you shouldn't touch them from the outside, e.g. ringing or surgery, as this can make them come back with a vengeance. Also, there are many different types.
I am currently treating two of mine with Global Herbs Sarc x. With success so far. The one with just two or three small (2-3 cms) ones is going brilliantly, after 4 weeks they are drying up and flaking off. I shall keep her on it for a year more, to make sure it is out of her system.
The other one has two larger ones on his chest which were open, and a series of bulbous one the size of large marbles by his sheath. I stopped the flies with Aluspray on the warts, and I started him on Sarc x at the same time. Now the open ones have dried up, and the bulbous ones haven't got any bigger and MAY have got smaller, I can't really tell yet.
It is not a quick cure, I will have to keep them on it until I think they may be clear, and then for another 6 months JIC.
So in answer to your query, buy with caution and at an appropriate price bearing in mind the costs that may [/Bbe incurred.
If you do buy him, don't wait to see what happens, start straight away. I have a great interest in natural therapies and use them all the time, but, I also have a fantastic vet! Everything has a place, natural remedies too.
 
Isn't it funny in Ireland they wouldn't be considered to be such a massive deal-breaker, but we all know the English won't buy a horse with sarcoids!
I guess its up to you to take a decision on a calculated risk if its the perfect horse at an affordable price. I know several people who have got the horse of their lifetime because something they couldn't have afforded at full price they got for less due to cribbing, weaving, sweet itch, wind etc.
If you will need the input of your vet then they are the place to start for advice as they will potentially be the ones helping you along the way...
 
I would be wary if a horse was covered in them but I bought my mare who had one nasty fibroblastic on her hind leg just inside her stifle area - she was a chance buy anyway as she was only £50 :) two pots of sarc ex and it was gone and didn't return in the two years I had her.
 
I have had numerous horses over the years develop sarcoids and have had all of them sucessfully treated - even the ones treated back in the 1980's with cryotherapy to the new Liverpool ointments. Obviously, I'd prefer a horse without them and would avoid one riddled in them, but if the horse was perfect in every other way and only had one, I'd definitely go ahead. I'd expect £500 off the purchase price to cover potential vet costs for treatment though.
 
I have just bought a horse with sarcoids. He has a couple of small nodular ones and a few flat ones on his sheath area. I went into this with my eyes very, very wide open and did not take the decision lightly. I researched them (I'm a scientist so I read through plenty of papers on DNA transference and viral mutations) - I even spoke with two leading experts in the field and I took pictures and sent them. The response was that they were small, well spaced, leave well alone but if the nodular ones started enlarging, get them tied off. My vet, who also saw the pictures, also explored costs of laser surgery just in case and I took the decision that it was something that we could, if necessary sell the car for - I mean save up for.

I had him 5 stage vetted, and ordinarily a sarcoid would be an obvious fail but the vets reported him sound in every other aspect. Obviously, my insurance will not cover me for any skin condition, but a discussion over wounds and infections and stitches reassured me that they would not hold out on payment. The good news was that the few small scars he has from knocks and scrapes don't show any sarcoid activity so the vet doing the check was happy. He is a BE100 horse, and not far off going Novice. So ordinarily worth a fair few squids - think between £8 and £12k. I got him for very, very much less but that was largely because he was sold to me by a friend of a friend. He did sell for £4k back in April but was bought back as owner's personal circs changed drastically in that time. In terms of ability and genuinely nice horseness, he's worth the 8k easily but obviously, those pesky sarcoids knock £000s off him.
 
No, I flat out wouldn't buy it. I have had a mare in the past who had one, then 3 then several then loads all over her udder and between her forelegs. They never gave her any trouble in themselves but they did get rubbed and so infected and I was using tons of fly cream every day. I had her 20 years.
I had another filly who had an infected fly bite on her cannon that developed a massive sarcoid that wept and crusted and was awful. She had cryosurgery to remove it, the wound bled on and off for months and she still has a huge scar 15 years on. I was lucky with this one it was caught in time before it spread but the surgery was horrible and expensive.
One of my friends has a young gelding with sarcoids all over, he started with only one.
You can be lucky and if there is only one you may catch it in time but you may be unlucky and it will spread. While I wouldn't think twice about buying a windsucker or weaver I wouldn't buy a horse with a sarcoid (or with sweet itch either - I've got one of those, too!)
 
I bought one, and he was also lame when I bought him! I did know him though, and paid £1000. Since then, he has been sound and the sarcoids he had have regressed, so it worked out okay in the end.
 
I had mine 5 stage vetted and he had nodular and varicose on his sheath and back legs, could on the tummy. I agreed to buy him due to where they were if the owner got him treated with liverpool cream, what happens after is up to me. The liverpool cream only removed a couple. i was racking my brains trying to decide what to do, then all of a sudden they started dropping off. It was very odd. I phoned liverpool who said it had been 8 months so the cream wouldnt be working now. I noticed the only thing i had changed is giving him global herbs restore. One sarcoid left which is a varicose, has more than halved in size and is going. Im so pleased i didnt walk away as he is a fantastic horse. Green but were working on that. I have owned him for nearly 2 years and he has not put a hoof wrong.

To me you need to use your head but if they are around the back and quite small you have a better chance than them being around the girth or face.

Good luck
 
I've bought horses with sarcoids. As long as there not positioned where the tack goes i don't see it being a huge problem.
 
I would expect a reduction in price but depending on the type and size of sarcoids would not be put of .
Sarcoids are very common and as can be spread by flys a lot of original sarcoid free horses will develop them at some stage .

My horse developed nodular sarcoids all around his sheath area half of them were lasered of ( he developed too many to all be lasered of at once ) the rest were going to be done in the winter when flys were not around , however during the summer the rest all dropped of . ( no feed supplements fed ) .
Lasering costs about £500 a session .
 
I bought a horse about 10 years ago who had just come back from Liverpool after having horrendous sarcoids treated with a very experimental treatment (as Derek actually wanted to shoot him when he arrived - but the insurance company wouldn't give the ok.) The cost of his treatment was just under £3,000!!!

I paid £500 for him - with 3 almost new rugs (including a Rambo and a Rhino) - best bargain I ever got! He's never had a sarcoid since!
 
I bought a mare with sarcoids a couple of months ago. She had undergone Liverpool cream treatment 6 weeks beforehand. She had 6 sarcoids in total, none near tack or rug positions. They have all now dropped off and are healing beautifully, although she had one on her ear which is taking longer to clear. I paid a 1000 for her and realistically she was worth more like 4000. She's on sarc ex. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her, and consulted both my own vet and the vet who treated her and they both said I there was no guarantees but not let me be put off out if i really liked her.
 
I bought a young gelding who developed 3 sarcoids on his sheath about a year after I got him. I treated all 3 successfully (all completely disappeared and didn't reocurr) with essential oil therapy but importantly - using an appropriately qualified therapist with GEOTA (http://www.geota.co.uk/essential/essential.html) and following the treatment plan diligently. You have to offer the oils every day (twice a day), put the cream/clay on and keep an accurate record of the horses's reactions to the oils so that the therapist can retest and change the oils when needed.

My therapist was Pauhla Whitaker (www.animoils.co.uk) and she is extremely knowledgeable and helpful.

Good luck :-)
 
I expect to take £2000 off the price of a horse with a minor sarcoid issue .
I would not however buy a horse with them on the head of girth area or if they where numerous or large.
 
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