Joining the 'bought unseen from Ireland' club...

[Ambers Echo]

I considered Gerty. But passed following advice on here and elsewhere. I am very sorry you had a bad experience. But there are good and bad sellers either side of the Irish Sea! And good and bad vettings for that matter.

 

[Red-1]

I too looked at that web site, but many of the horses rang a danger bell for me so I gave it a pass. Also, she discouraged visitors, whereas the person I got my boy from encouraged me to fly over to try him. I didn't because I decided to take a chance.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I think sometimes you have to be pragmatic about it too, Dex popped up 5 sarcoids not long after coming to me, the first two I noticed quickly appeared on his muzzle and up in his thigh. They could have easily thought the muzzle one was a fly bite (as did I for two weeks, even though I have extensive experience of sarcoids) and I believe I can see a shadow of it on his sale advert so I think it was there before he travelled, albeit very small, and the other was right up in his thigh. I wouldn't expect a vet, vetting a largely unhandled in any meaningful manner 3yo to spot one in that location. The other 3 popped up I think after the stress of the journey.. it is what it is. You do what you can, and the rest you chalk up to experience.

 

[HollyWoozle]

Congratulations @dapple_grey and how exciting! When I was last horse shopping many moons ago I also didn't want another mare, another grey, anything vaguely big and wanted something a bit older... also ended up with a 16.2hh 7yr old grey mare. Typical! Our ridden journey together didn't work out long term but I will have had her 15 years this November and would never give her up.

Would love to see photos of your purchase and I wish you the best of luck with him.

 

[Mister Flynn]

I did plenty of googling of Gerty, and deliberated over it for about a year before I went ahead. The bottom line was that I believed that they would be honest and sell a healthy animal given it's their job and livelihood. Looking back, there were some small signs in the videos actually, a resting of a back foot when the front foot was picked up, a slow to move off hind leg, a swishing tail continually when in ridden work. I didn't pick up on these before buying sadly - again, naively thinking the best in people. Whether they knew or not I don't know, but it was odd that he was not put on her website as sold, as they are usually. He just disappeared off her website.

It was an Irish vetting of her choice. My vets think they would have picked it up. But you don't expect a three year old ID (as he was then) to be a wobbler do you.

How sad. 12 years ago we bought a 4yo IDx from a reputable dealer in Suffolk. He was a recent import from Ireland. He was vetted by Rossdales. They missed that he had shivers. I think the dealer knew as she was trying to dissuade us from having a vetting.

The shivers goprogressively worse and he had issues in his pelvis that we were never able to get right. He was relegated to hacking/light schooling at 8 and is now a field ormament.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Hoping the vetting goes well and looking forward to pics, sounds like a great mix.

 

[dapple_grey]

Just had the vetting and they’ve found one small, flat sarcoid in the inner thigh. They said the vet has removed it by cutting it out and putting a dissolving stitch in, which I find odd as surely you shouldn’t mess with them?! Unsure what to do now as my last one had sarcoids and they were a royal PITA

 

[Red-1]

Just had the vetting and they’ve found one small, flat sarcoid in the inner thigh. They said the vet has removed it by cutting it out and putting a dissolving stitch in, which I find odd as surely you shouldn’t mess with them?! Unsure what to do now as my last one had sarcoids and they were a royal PITA

Personally, I wouldn't. I spoke to the vetting vet in Ireland before the examination for mine and I asked for sarcoids to be looked for specifically and the vetting stopped if he had one.

Happily, I'd also had the seller scour him for them and both declared him free. I'd not have had him if they'd found some.

That said, I went to IHI in England once, a singular experience , and told them no sarcoids. Turns out they buy horses regularly with them but then have them removed as a matter of course whilst they are at the other yard. After that, they just count them as not having them. Seems many people aren't as fussy as me!

 

[DressageCob]

I'm surprised they cut it out if it was small and flat. I find that type of sarcoid inoffensive, so I'd have left it in place if it was my horse. I don't know what I'd do if it was a horse I was buying.

 

[dapple_grey]

The fact that it’s now been messed with concerns me even more than if they’d just left well alone. I knew sarcoids were going to be a risk in a young horse, with the stress of travelling over from Ireland - maybe being grey heightened the risk too. However he was going to be a bit of a project to potentially sell if he didn’t make the height for me, so I have to think about re-sale value too.

 

[TheMule]

No to sarcoids if you might want to sell on.
I don’t mind them on my own, but it’s a risk because of how nasty they can turn

 

[Rowreach]

I'd be extremely annoyed that that had been carried out during a vetting I was paying for with a view to buying the horse, and nobody had told me before the scalpel came out.

 

[ycbm]

That would be a definite no from me in a young horse with a stressful journey ahead, there are so many examples of travel and changing home making the horse pop out more. I've had two of my own do it.
.

 

[dapple_grey]

That would be a definite no from me in a young horse with a stressful journey ahead, there are so many examples of travel and changing home making the horse pop out more. I've had two of my own do it.
.

Thanks YCBM, this is my thoughts too. The fact that he’d still have a long, stressful journey ahead, god only knows what more are going to pop out. I’m pretty annoyed I wasn’t consulted before they cut it off, I’m only on the other end of the phone.

 

[ycbm]

Thanks YCBM, this is my thoughts too. The fact that he’d still have a long, stressful journey ahead, god only knows what more are going to pop out. I’m pretty annoyed I wasn’t consulted before they cut it off, I’m only on the other end of the phone.

If it helps, I bought one which came from Ireland with a cluster of 3 by his navel and a suspicious looking fly bite on his face. Dealer sold him to me with disclosure in England, and I saw them before I bought, about half what he should have been worth. She was furious he'd been clipped around them so clearly shipped with them. . Over the next 3 years I removed a string of them from the centre line of his stomach, several from his sheath, the bite near his eye, which clearly became a cluster of 5 or 6, and a carpet of the damned things of the inside of his thighs where they were following the blood vessels.

The other came to me with none, and then popped a new one out every time he was stressed - by the move, gelding, a journey out somewhere, etc.

Both were clear by 6 and, supposedly, according to the vet, unlikely to get any more after that age, but neither would have been sellable at any realistic price until they were 7.

If you do get tempted by a price reduction, you could ask for good clear photos of the inside of his thighs. You can often see the little circles of changed hair colour that gives away the "seedlings" waiting to pop out when they get a chance.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

I would walk away, having bought a young grey that didn't have any according to the vetting, but arrived with a cluster under its tail high up on the edge of the anus of all alarming places. Not in Ireland or an Irish horse it was when I was living in the UK. I returned horse and was able to put pressure on the vet to insist to the seller I had a full refund and a refund from the vet for vetting. I was only able to do this as in front of witnesses seller had told me he did not know the vet at all, after the vetting I was in a conversation at the sellers yard about the issues with vet and seller, again with independent witnesses. The vet asked the buyer 'how is your mother, I haven't seen her for a long time' ! Job done full refund from both 'gentlemen' who apparently didn't even know each other existed.

Unless the horse is extremely cheap I wouldn't take the risk, the vet removing and stitching it raises huge alarm bells for me too.

 

[dapple_grey]

Thanks all, gutted but I’m going to walk away. I think after the issues I had with my last young horse (PTS for unrelated reasons) I’d be daft to take another on knowingly. His sarcoid was tiny and flat exactly like this one, he had Liverpool cream but it grew back. So he had laser surgery and it still grew back again! The amount of tissue they took out during laser surgery was astounding, he literally had a gaping hole in his chest. Which makes me think if they’ve just cut the top off this one (and probably angered it in the process) it’s very likely to make a comeback, possibly with a few friends in tow

 

[Ambers Echo]

What a shame but wise decision x