alishaarrr
Active Member
I’ve had my 12yo WBx mare for two years. About a year ago she was pretty happily storming around BE 80-90 courses and jumping 1m or so, but we brought the vet in as were feeling some little niggling thing not quite right with her. Nerve blocks, X-rays and MRI diagnosed very mild navicular in her LF hoof (no tendon lesions, just mild inflammation and minor navicular bone changes) and the tiniest touch of something in her SI joint on ultrasound, but nothing very concerning for her age. She had her navicular bursa injected and got about a month of box rest to let the tendon inflammation subside, but the vet felt the navicular would be very stable with a minor change to her shoeing protocol (no heart bar shoes or wedges or such, just angle changes and a slightly different shoe shape). Once she returned to work, SI injected to address any inflammation and pain there.
Shortly after, because horses, she had a field accident and broke her LH splint bone and got another 12 weeks of box rest while that healed. It healed very nicely without surgery, and the vet said that would present no complications whatsoever. He felt that the extra rest would have been good for her other issues and that she should now be in a really good position to return to full work, jump, etc with no issues. I opted to have our physio do a six-session course of Indiba treatments on both the LF foot/tendon area and her pelvis, just to alleviate any remaining inflammation that might be there and support optimal healing.
She has come back into work nicely — good and forward, absolutely loving her jumping, generally looking quite well. However, I am going to be moving from the UK back to the US at the end of the summer, so have made the tough decision to put her up for sale … mostly on account of us not being quite the right fit for me to pay the costs to import her.
As we look toward selling, there’s obviously a vet history here, and one issue in particular continues to be a concern with regard to her ability to pass a PPE and demonstrate complete soundness: she really struggles to canter on the lunge. She’s pretty unbalanced and swaps leads multiple times. I cannot figure out whether this is a soundness issue or just a strength and balance issue. I am not huge on lunging in general, so she doesn’t do a ton of it, particularly at the canter. But it seems to me this is likely to tank any five-stage vetting. I would really appreciate any thoughts on this — whether it sounds like she’s just unsound, whether there’s something we could be doing to help her figure out how to canter on the lunge properly, or any other advice.
My other broad question is how to sell a horse with this kind of history. Does this sound like she should just be marketed as a horse that won’t pass a vetting, and priced accordingly? Unfortunately she is not suitable for a happy hacking or dressage sort of home, as she isn’t the most confident hacker solo nor completely bombproof out with others, and does require a weekly jump or so to keep her happy. Would be really grateful for any thoughts on how to sell this mare, as she’s really a lovely horse and I think can still go out and do a lower-level job. We’re really struggling to figure out how to price her based on where she’s at.
Shortly after, because horses, she had a field accident and broke her LH splint bone and got another 12 weeks of box rest while that healed. It healed very nicely without surgery, and the vet said that would present no complications whatsoever. He felt that the extra rest would have been good for her other issues and that she should now be in a really good position to return to full work, jump, etc with no issues. I opted to have our physio do a six-session course of Indiba treatments on both the LF foot/tendon area and her pelvis, just to alleviate any remaining inflammation that might be there and support optimal healing.
She has come back into work nicely — good and forward, absolutely loving her jumping, generally looking quite well. However, I am going to be moving from the UK back to the US at the end of the summer, so have made the tough decision to put her up for sale … mostly on account of us not being quite the right fit for me to pay the costs to import her.
As we look toward selling, there’s obviously a vet history here, and one issue in particular continues to be a concern with regard to her ability to pass a PPE and demonstrate complete soundness: she really struggles to canter on the lunge. She’s pretty unbalanced and swaps leads multiple times. I cannot figure out whether this is a soundness issue or just a strength and balance issue. I am not huge on lunging in general, so she doesn’t do a ton of it, particularly at the canter. But it seems to me this is likely to tank any five-stage vetting. I would really appreciate any thoughts on this — whether it sounds like she’s just unsound, whether there’s something we could be doing to help her figure out how to canter on the lunge properly, or any other advice.
My other broad question is how to sell a horse with this kind of history. Does this sound like she should just be marketed as a horse that won’t pass a vetting, and priced accordingly? Unfortunately she is not suitable for a happy hacking or dressage sort of home, as she isn’t the most confident hacker solo nor completely bombproof out with others, and does require a weekly jump or so to keep her happy. Would be really grateful for any thoughts on how to sell this mare, as she’s really a lovely horse and I think can still go out and do a lower-level job. We’re really struggling to figure out how to price her based on where she’s at.
