How do you look for a new horse after lameness

[zoon]

After some complicated lameness issues with my horse and his subsequent retirement, I’m looking for another.

But my god am I finding it hard. I’m picking apart every little thing, wondering if every horse is lame or broken. I’m refusing to consider horses that are already started as I’m terrified they’ve all be started too early or done too much in preparation for sale. Every advert I look at has a “reason” why it’d be no good. I use “” as maybe I’m being overly cautious but it’s really stressing me out!

I’ve only just started looking and already hating the experience.


How do you do it? Is it meant to be fun?

 

[Vodkagirly]

Fantasy horse shopping is great fun, actually looking to find a horse you intend to keep forever is horrible. Even worse when you drive to find a horse that is very different to advertised.

 

[Comet1]

I’m in a similar position. I think it’s very hard when you’re looking following lameness or retirement.

I’ve been looking for months, but not to the point of actually viewing anything! My budget is quite small for today’s prices, and I'm quite specific what I want. But, I’m happy to put work in, don’t want something quiet, and happy to take on something that’s maybe been a bit on the cheeky side and taken the mickey with someone.

I’m not sure if it’s now worse with Facebook. Saw a nice one for sale recently, had a snoop, just to find out he’d been jumped a lot as a rising 3yo.

I did a wanted ad (quite specific ) and whilst I received lots of replies, I don’t think I received much that was anywhere near what I’m looking for. I’m 5ft9, want a 15.1 plus and put that in the ad, but was being sent quite a few 13.2!

 

[nutjob]

Not fun at all. I just spent 6 months looking and have driven about 1400 miles in my search. One horse failed the vet and one owner pulled out, the rest had a variety of issues. The right horse for me has now come along and I am keeping my fingers crossed everything works out.

If you haven't been looking long then it might be just a case of waiting until the right one comes up. Otherwise you can expand your criteria, there are not so many 4/5/6 yo on the market which are not backed. If you don't know the horse, there's no guarantee that it wasn't started, had issues and is now being sold as not backed anyway. I would be inclined to go for a 3yo which will be ready to do some in hand stuff straight away and there are more unbacked 3yo's around.

I was looking for a backed, 4-6 yo and did come across a variety of undesirable issues in what I thought were quite expensive horses eg. hind limb lameness, dropping fetlocks, camped under, muscle wastage which I missed on the videos.

Many people now buy unseen and unvetted, which I was not prepared to do, so I have missed out on some which have been snapped up.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I bought unseen and unbacked from Ireland - I figured as long as conformationally good, how broken can they really be?! (and I got very lucky)

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

After some complicated lameness issues with my horse and his subsequent retirement, I’m looking for another.

But my god am I finding it hard. I’m picking apart every little thing, wondering if every horse is lame or broken. I’m refusing to consider horses that are already started as I’m terrified they’ve all be started too early or done too much in preparation for sale. Every advert I look at has a “reason” why it’d be no good. I use “” as maybe I’m being overly cautious but it’s really stressing me out!

I’ve only just started looking and already hating the experience.


How do you do it? Is it meant to be fun?

I feel for you, I am looking for something 9-14 now after this current mare. Anything that has been started early and jumped before 4 is out, known too many ending up pts or worn out.

 

[Birker2020]

Zoon I'm in the same position after getting ripped off with last horse to the tune of around £17k with cost of horse/vetting/saddle and vet treatment and pro rider hire. I like you are constantly studying horses on videos to see if they are sound, and reading between the lines of ambiguous and misleading adverts.

Its a total nightmare, buying again and rarely see anything that is sound when sent the video.

The idea that you can use a five stage vetting to 'mop up any mistakes' that you may have made in selecting the horse for vetting is a joke. I had a five stage and horse passed but subsequently was found to have loads of issues very quickly after purchasing (first time ridden in fact) and was totally unrideable in the end, is now ensconced in retirement for the rest of his day (he's 14 now). I don't begrudge him his life, certainly not his fault and he is the love of my life, I adore the bones of him, but his retirement hasn't been without issue, he got a severe DDFT /SDFT injury and I spent two months rehabbing him back 'home' on the yard where my stable is being held before returning him to the retirement herd and he got severely bullied plus encountered a lot of winter issues last year/early this year in the form of mud fever, weight loss, rain scald and repeated abscesses. TBH he'd not be alive now if he hadn't quickly put on weight and thrived during the spring, but he did and now looks amazing! And has loads of friends, and dare I say it, can be a little bossy even!

At the time I involved my vets in his investigations they both said that the vet I employed to do the five stage vetting (North West England) should never have passed him and should have realised something was wrong. They both agreed that he was sound on his sales video although one did caveat that by saying in his entire career he's literally only seen a handful of horses that were technically 100% sound.

Very hard lesson to learn. This is why this next horse has to be bang on. Its not just the money, its the anxiety and depression that goes with it, it really affected my MH.

Its very hard to buy something suitable and really is not enjoyable in the least. Doesn't make it easier that my best friend is a vet physio so I hear all the horror stories as well as all the issues on here, and on dodgy dealers website. Feel like I have more chance of meeting Elvis than I do of finding a sound and sane next best friend.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

After some complicated lameness issues with my horse and his subsequent retirement, I’m looking for another.

But my god am I finding it hard. I’m picking apart every little thing, wondering if every horse is lame or broken. I’m refusing to consider horses that are already started as I’m terrified they’ve all be started too early or done too much in preparation for sale. Every advert I look at has a “reason” why it’d be no good. I use “” as maybe I’m being overly cautious but it’s really stressing me out!

I’ve only just started looking and already hating the experience.


How do you do it? Is it meant to be fun?

Sorry to hear about your horse. An unstarted 5 year old ID has just come up for sale near me. 17.2 though.

 

[Birker2020]

Sorry to hear about your horse. An unstarted 5 year old ID has just come up for sale near me. 17.2 though.

Take my advice. Without getting shot down in flames I strongly believe anyone who is looking to buy a fast growing youngster of that height should be prepared to spend money in the future.
The bigger the horse the more joint issues it will have simply because of the additional weight on its joints, coupled with the fact that it is growing fast and work doesn't always correspond to its age, i.e. done too much, too young.

 

[LEC]

You can’t. If you can get them past 7-9 years of age then you are winning as the classic age for going lame and being a write off. Young and blank page is no better IMO. You can’t tell if they will be tough enough or how they have been bought up.
@TheMule and I have our 2yo in a small herd on a hilly field with a covert which has undulating ground and they look very different to a friends who is same age and bought up very differently.
So many different factors come into it all. Ultimately now I spend a fortune on shoeing and feet now and really direct my attentions at that and try to stay off artificial surfaces as much as possible.
I also think rider balance has a huge impact and we don’t take that into account enough.
Don’t buy a horse which hasn’t been bred for the job you want - if you want a dressage horse don’t buy one who has been bred to pull a cart…. If you want to hack don’t buy one with fancy movement.

 

[lme]

It's hard. If you want unstarted you could go for vetting + X-rays but do be prepared for a few failures which can quickly eat into your budget.

 

[lynz88]

Depending on what you are looking for, I've read and heard and had people say to me that the British Thoroughbred Agency may be a place to start. They are incredibly honest about what a horse has/hasn't done, the job it is suited for, personality, vet issues, etc.

I think I will be in a similar boat when I have to look. I have seen ads floating around my FB and I've looked at the horse and thought "ummm...." It's almost as if the more knowledge you have, the harder it is to make any sort of decision because you've seen far too much, sadly.

 

[maya2008]

Spend less, lose less. It’s just luck though, at any age.

Seriously, you can buy a beautifully bred foal and it can have a career ending, or life ending field accident. You can buy a mixed breed with slightly random conformation that goes on for ever. They can never be lame but end up with neuro issues, or a tumour giving them life ending colic, or something horrible and autoimmune like canker. You can buy an unbacked one with lovely breeding that is sound and they can prove to have a screw loose mentally (both a friend of mine and I did that once, mine became a games pony for an adult and hers a field ornament). Just…buy a type you like, look after it as best you can, and always have a savings fund available (and a spare horse if possible) is all I can say!

 

[Annagain]

I hated horse shopping. Ended up in A&E twice - one incredibly explosive horse who had me off within 30 seconds of getting on (having been fine for his seller) and one very silly fall off a very sweet horse. I had a whole list of fussy criteria, top of which was not grey because I'd spent years dealing with melanomas. It took me 14 months (albeit with 6 months off due to covid in the middle) to find Charlie.... who was grey. On vetting, the vet picked up an irridal cyst which is no big deal but I knew from grey ownership that, in greys, they can be mistaken for melanomas and vice versa and the only way to tell for certain which is which, is an ultrasound. £200 more to find out it was an irridal cyst and not a problem. It was only my grey paranoia that made me do that, most buyers would have just accepted the cyst at face value and, as it turned out, would have been justified in doing that.

18 months later, he was diagnosed with kissing spine, very mild and treated successfully. I ended up selling him (with full disclosure and access to vet records) for mostly unrelated reasons (although some of the behaviour that led to the investigations was part of the reason). No matter what you try to rule out health / soundness-wise something entirely different could come up. Also, no matter what extra checks you do, they won't necessarily tell you anything. My old Sec D never had a day's lameness but when he stopped at a fence twice in one day, aged 24, for the first time in the then 11 years I owned him, I took him to straight to the vet as it was unheard of. He was slightly off on flexions with his front legs so we x-rayed his knees. They were a total mess and would have been for years, the vet said. Despite that, he was still never lame and went through life with a joie de vivre that meant we never had a clue there could be a problem. Had I x-rayed his knees at 13, I'd have missed out on a decade of the best fun I've ever had with a horse.

When I was looking for the second time, Wiggy was the first horse I even enquired about, my search took 10 days from start to finish as he was still under assessment at the sales livery so I had to wait to see him. I was nervous about taking the plunge again and wasn't sure I could trust my own judgement after Charlie but it's the best thing I ever did. Sometimes you've just got to jump and hope it's a soft landing.

 

[lannerch]

In my experience do not buy a youngster backed or not backed , they can and frequently do go wrong .

If you want to buy for soundness my vet used to say buy a 9-10yo who has done some work with no lameness history , as by then any genetic problems , growth weaknesses etc will have shown already .
Trust me unbacked youngster is not the solution.

 

[irishdraft]

Yes buying a new horse should be an exciting experience but in reality it's a nightmare, the only way I think you can be reasonably sure of what your buying is if you know the horse & owner and have seen said animal perform. I have bought weanlings, brought them up carefully only to lose them for various reasons. I bought an 11 yo who never had a days lameness but lost him at 14 with tumours in the gut. I now have a 9 yo old who was supposed to be suitable for a novice, luckily I'm not, who is the most overreactive horse I've ever had. So all you can do is tick the required boxes and pray, good luck with your search.

 

[zoon]

In my experience do not buy a youngster backed or not backed , they can and frequently do go wrong .

If you want to buy for soundness my vet used to say buy a 9-10yo who has done some work with no lameness history , as by then any genetic problems , growth weaknesses etc will have shown already .
Trust me unbacked youngster is not the solution.

I have plenty of experience with youngstock. All but 1 of my horses have been purchased under 2 years old. I actually love working with youngsters

Seeing all these 3 and 4 year olds for sale having done so much breaks my heart. I saw a 6 year old for sale advertised as working PSG the other day

 

[maya2008]

I have plenty of experience with youngstock. All but 1 of my horses have been purchased under 2 years old. I actually love working with youngsters

Seeing all these 3 and 4 year olds for sale having done so much breaks my heart. I saw a 6 year old for sale advertised as working PSG the other day

To be fair, a lot depends on the horse/pony. I have a 3yo. She was walked out in hand every summer since birth and is extremely tame. Everything she has ever been asked to do, she’s done first time. I have a long list of things she can do…that she’s actually only ever done once or twice, but was perfect first time. Load? Fine. Hack out alone? Fine. Rush hour main road traffic? Fine. Go on the bit round an arena in w/t/c? Fine, natural outline on second ever attempt. Very little physical work has been done, and we certainly don’t have the time for sessions beyond 20min max a few times a week. She plays harder in the field than she has ever worked!

In contrast, I have a 7yo, 2 years under saddle, who still balks a bit at hacking alone and is spooky as anything. He’s taken endless time and effort to get as far as he has, in contrast with the 3yo who is so very easy.

 

[lannerch]

I have plenty of experience with youngstock. All but 1 of my horses have been purchased under 2 years old. I actually love working with youngsters

Seeing all these 3 and 4 year olds for sale having done so much breaks my heart. I saw a 6 year old for sale advertised as working PSG the other day

So do I you’ve been very lucky zoon
Mine have never been rushed either , but I have still had a lot of problems ocd for one , tendon problems from the field , silly injuries , young horses love injuring themselves . I’ve been lucky mine have all made it to adulthood but they have cost me a lot of vets bills and stress on the way.
Actually now I have thought about that’s not true , I lost one found dead with a broken neck in the field after a thunderstorm as a 5yo, and another was retired at 7 with severe hock arthritis , he had not been backed until a late 4yo was 16.1 certainly not particularly big and had certainly not rushed .
I also know of a several youngsters friends have had again not rushed , less than 50 % have made it sound to adult hood .

Obviously if they are rushed as well. Well I’m sure their chances are next to nil . How sad for the psg

 

[BBP]

My advice to myself now is just to buy ones that I like enough as a person that I can enjoy their company even if they go wrong.

 

[kchgax]

Very interesting thread. I was just browsing HQ and out of the 6 or 7 adverts I looked at, only 1 horse looked sound on the videos.

1 was advertised at 15K and had obvious stringhalt at the walk (which wasn’t declared in the advert). Another was almost 20K and started head-bobbing as it turned across the school on a circle just as a few examples…

I wonder if the sellers know and hope the buyers won’t notice? Or are they just ignorant to it themselves?

I don’t know if I’ll ever buy another. Having been unfortunate enough to have a few horses with lameness issues over the years, you start to analyse every horse and you see lameness everywhere. It takes every ounce of joy out of it when you’re constantly paranoid about your horse being lame. I trot mine up regularly as a matter of course, which isn’t something I see many people do.

 

[Welly Boot]

I'm looking to and don't have a massive budget but hoping i can find something quiet to have some fun with... lots of awful adverts and lies told about the horse.

I've never been a fan of vettings but I will get a 2 stage to get a 2nd opinion on soundness etc after i've seen something i like walked / trotted up and turned in a circle to see what the leg pattern is..

 

[Polos Mum]

Is it meant to be fun?

You would think spending £thousands on your hobby would be really fun but ...........I wouldn't wish it on an enemy !

Sound, straight simple horses seem to be so few and far between.

I spent a year looking - got desperate, rushed into something nearly there and ended up with another retiree - lesson learned.

I then bought a yearling each year for three years in the hope 1 would turn out OK.
1 is lovely,
1 is a write off - confirmational arthritis at age 6 in no work ever
1 is not yet started so no idea yet

Youngsters are certainly no guarantee and def not a cheap option if you add it all up over the years.
I guess the spend is spread out over a long period so it feels less

I just couldn't bring myself to spend £8k on a horse again and then retire it within six months (after passing five stage vetting)! And that was pre Covid so the same sort would be £10k+ now.

 

[Birker2020]

In my experience do not buy a youngster backed or not backed , they can and frequently do go wrong .

If you want to buy for soundness my vet used to say buy a 9-10yo who has done some work with no lameness history , as by then any genetic problems , growth weaknesses etc will have shown already .
Trust me unbacked youngster is not the solution.

This ^^

My friend is a vet physio and says that there is a lot to be said for an older horse with a checkable work and vet history and no periods of lameness. I will just caveat that by saying 'periods of lameness you are told about!'. And as for vet history, I would never trust that. If you have more than one vet and are dodgy you can easily give the seller the history of the horse that has had routine work whilst not disclosing the history from the other vet who has carried out countless lameness investigations/injections/medication, etc.

As my dear old Dad used to say "buying a horse is like buying a pig in a poke". Never was a truer word spoken.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Don't know if you like Arab's but there are 2 on Arabian lines from a very well known stud in Wales that don't breed anymore, one is a filly the other is slightly older both chestnut says home more important than price.

If I could keep a mare here I would be so tempted for myself, I love my Arab's but appreciate they are not for everyone so just a thought

 

[Flowerofthefen]

My horses physio advised to get something a bit older, 9 -10, that's done a bit. Told me to be aware that the horse would most likely have blemishes which he has but I don't show to a high standard so not an issue. He is ex NH so I could look back and see if he missed any long periods of racing, he hadn't missed any. I've had him nearly 7 years and let's just say, as not to jinx any, I've been very lucky.