Horse Hunting - Part II

[Helga1980]

I've phoned about the horse I mentioned the other nite and have decided to go and see.

So far he matches my criteria and sounds like he has real potential, he also a realistic price. The one downside is that he has been known to weave slightly in the stable when stressed / alone. How bothered would you be by this?

Our yard has 24/7 TO in the summer, and daytime (i.e. 06:30 - 19:00) in the winter. He would be on the smaller stable block with 3 other horses, 1 next door and 2 opposite. There is a fair amount of activity to keep a horse interested (working farm) but not so busy as to cause further stress. All in all I'm confident that I could manage his environment to minimise additional stress.

 

[henryhorn]

Provided the yard has no objection to a V grill on his door it wouldn't put me off.
One of our stallion's weaves when excited but it doesn't affect his condition and with a grill he doesn't do it at all.

 

[Parkranger]

If he'll be out most of the time I doubt it would cause too much of a problem.....as HH says, stick up some anti weave bars and it should solve the problem......

 

[dieseldog]

I had a horse that used to weave in the field as well, would do it along the gate, fence, other horses backs and all by himself in the midlle of the field. So just because it is turned out doesn't mean it will stop weaving. so find out how bad it is and make a descision what you can live with, it is quite upsetting seeing them do it all the time.

 

[Helga1980]

Thanks HH, I'll have a word with the YO tonight (other liveries I spoke to this morning haven't heard of any objection).

Think I'll start investigating stable mirrors as well.

 

[Helga1980]

When I spoke to the owner she described it as occasional, never in the field and only in the stable if he is bored / alone / stressed.

The price reflects the vice so I feel fairly confident in not discounting him due to it (he'll probably turn out to be a frog anyhow!)

 

[Petrie]

I bought a horse two years ago knowing it weaved, and am coping OK with it, most of the time.

He's best kept out as much as possible with company. He will get in a state if another horse gets taken out of the field, even if he has other horses next to him, and might do a bit of weaving and charging about in the field.

He weaves mostly in the mornings when he's waiting for breakfast/turnout, and a bit in the evenings. Summer is great when I can keep him out most of the time.

He recently got kicked in the field though and had to have some time on box rest which was an absolute nightmare. The weaving became so frantic he was sweating constantly. and he also started box walking and head banging. It was incredibly stressful for me - not only upsetting, but difficult to deal with him in the box.

He's now out during the day again, but his weaving is still worse than normal. It will take him a while to get over the box rest and go back to the way he was before. And it was only a week - I can't imagine how I'd cope if he ever needs months of box rest!

Life with a weaver is OK when things are calm and it's only occasional, but weavers are stressy by nature and all sorts of things can set them off. When they're having a frantic episode, it's almost like their brain goes, it's very odd, and pretty hard to cope with. They also lose weight very easily, which can be hard, especially if you have somewhere with limited grazing.

Mine has been fab, he took me from PN to Intermediate, and I love him dearly.

But I'm not sure I'd buy another!

I would think very carefully if you can cope with a very stressy horse, as the stress may well come out in other areas as well as the weaving, as that is just their nature. I had problems hacking mine alone and he went through a phase of not wanting to load - all down to insecurity and not wanting to leave the other horses.

We overcame these things, but it has been hard work with him sometimes, but worth it as he's so talented. If this horse is exactly what you want in every other way, it might be worth it, if not, I would think very seriously about whether you would be able to cope.

 

[Helga1980]

Thanks for such an honest answer. Maybe I'm underplaying it but am hoping it is just an occasional thing rather than him being a complete stress head. I will look into the separation aspect though and find out more about how he copes with others leaving him.