Perfect horse, short in walk! what to do?

[Lajc91]

have finally found a horse after a few failed settings and he seems lovely! I have 1 problem, he is short on front left in walk! Totally symmetrical in all other gaits and has always been like this and was identified in the owners vetting upon purchase. has apparently never caused any problems? I am looking to do low level dressage and riding club! Is this an indication of something being wrong? I'm not in a position to pay for yet another vetting for him to fail! I've never came across this before so just looking for a bit of advice! what would you do?

 

[Daniel_Jack]

No horse is perfect. Mine had poor confirmation but is sound.

Would they do lwvtb?

Personally I wouldn't want to risk buying a horse with signs of lameness - save yourself some possible heartache and a huge vet bill and walk away.

 

[be positive]

Has it been investigated at all? it would be very unusual for a horse to be lame in walk in front yet show nothing at trot after flexions so I would be considering whether it could be a training issue where the walk has become slightly towards a lateral walk due to tension somewhere, how obvious is it and do you have a video of walk and trot?

 

[Goldenstar]

You can’t afford not to get a five stage vetting .
I have seen this recently we put steroid all along the back from the withers to the croup and it fixed it .
the horse clearly has some arthritis in his back.
The horses back was not symptomatic it was a hunch on my part based on his conformation.
But this horse is rising twenty .

 

[Leo Walker]

if you cant afford to lose your money, then don't vet and walk away. Short in walk = lame. It might be nothing, but its almost certainly something and its a huge risk to take. I'd take it for something that was meat money, but I like to gamble like that sometimes. I certainly wouldn't be paying market value for a sound horse and buying a lame one!

 

[Nari]

I'd walk away. If you can't afford to lose money on a potentially failed vetting then you can't afford to buy a horse with an undiagnosed problem that, even if it can be fixed, is going to cost money to sort. I'd be amazed if it's short in walk but not in trot, but if it's bilateral it may be that it's harder to spot in trot.

 

[Melody Grey]

I wouldn’t consider it for dressage- as a happy hack maybe at the right price subject to investigations?
Something somewhere will be compensating for that shortness.

ETA: that shortness might not do your back any favours either!