Selling/Buying a horse with sarcoids

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monstermunch

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Ok so i bought a horse knowing he has sarcoids and as i have has a string of horses with sarcoids it deidn't really bother me as they were'nt in areas that affectd performance. I am now having to sell my boy due to my personal health. he has sarcoids none of which affect his performance and are by no means bad. None that rub saddle or bridle area. he has 1 small one on face and on leg, and 1 on stomach.
I have had 4 offers on my horse but when booking the vetting the vets have told them "don't touch with a barge pole", "don't bother looking at him", "wouldn't buy any horse with one". Don't get me wrong I fully understand sarcoids and there implications but this horse is absolutely stunning and is advertised at half his value - a reflection of his sarcoids.
I find it increasingly infuriating that a vet would make such comments having not even seen the horse, and find it not only narrow minded but slightly un professional. I have never come across so many vets suddenly being so closed door on any horse that has a sniff of a sarcoid.

just wondered if anyone knew why vets have become so blatently dismissive of any horse in this situation, as they never used to be like this.

Also would you personally buy a horse with sarcoids. honest opinions appreciated as I really have to sell him. he is on for around £3500 but is extremely well bred and classy and worth much more (without sarcoids).
 
I think the potential for problems with sarcoids and the risk of them being spread to other horses is reason enough for me to avoid a sarcoid horse. Sorry, don't mean to be harsh ,just my opinion.(:
 
vets aren't supposed to say that, they're supposed to give some speech about how sarcoids are unpredictable and that they they seldom affect a horses usefulness unless in a position to be abraded by tack (i quoted alot of that from my horses vet certificate). obviously there is a risk that the sarcoids could spread and form in other areas but i think buyers should be made aware of that risk and then be able to decide for themselves whether to take it or not. I've bought two with one sarcoid each and had both prices altered slightly to allow for treatment. there's so many different types of sarcoid and i think its really unprofessional of the vets to dismiss a horse without even seeing it
 
I sold a horse with a small one under her belly.
She was 5 stage vetted and the although the vet reported the sarcoid on the vetting sheet he said he could not fail a horse for a sarcoid in that position and in his opinion at the time it wasnt a problem.
 
That was my feeling to. absolutely I would expect a vet to give the speech on what they are, the unpredictability etc but i have been gob smacked that all 4 vets were so dismissive having not looked at my horse. These people absolutely loved him and becasue of the vets harsh words won't even consider him now. I am extremely worried now that i won't be able to find a good home for him becasue of the vets un-profesionalism. One of my friends thinks it's becasue so many vets have been sued over sarcoids and vettings
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We recently baught a horse with sarcoids on his inside hind leg, which do not effect hin, at a very good price.. it doesnt put everyone off. So i'm sure you will find a good home. Good luck!
 
I bought a mare with 3 not knowing what they were and i cant see how they effect her, yes they do not look very nice but as long as u keep them clean and fly free theres no problem. My vet said ppl just make them out to be worse than they are,
 
I recently bought an arab mare with sarcoids - she had loads! Two big ones and lots of tiny ones. I paid £2500 for her and I don't regret it at all. I've had the two larger ones treated. As long as you know what to expect, I can't see a problem. Plus, i fell in love with her and i just had to have her (had her on loan for a year first). After all, someones got to love them! It wouldn't put me off at all. As long as they were fit and healthy in every other way it wouldn't bother me.
 
5 of my horses have had sarcoids, the last 4 of whom I've bought within the last 3 years. I don't consider sarcoids a particularly big deal, and the vet who has vetted my last 3 purchases knows my view by now and mentions them to me but that's it. None have been in any positions for particular concern, except a warmblood mare who had a tiny one on her upper eyelid. Obviously that could be a huge problem but I bought her anyway and within 2 months of doing absolutely nothing to it, I noticed one day it had gone completely! We think it was stress related as she had recently been imported from the Netherlands. I sold her six months later (personality clash more than anything!) and her vetting then noted no sarcoids at all, even a tiny one on her upper leg that he missed!

My current 3 horses, one has one on his sheath, never changed in the time I've had him; one has 2 on his nose, not huge, might put some people off his looks (even though they're tiny), but I don't really notice them and adore him completely so who cares - sometimes I call him Wart! My new mare (arriving Saturday - way hey!) is grey and has one on each ear, but I'm not bothered.

My view is NOT to treat them; I keep an eye on them but leave well alone; some people treat them and they disappear but then come back far worse. Your horse sounds great and neither me nor my vet would be put off by his sarcoids; unfortunately I've just bought a new one so no way hubby will let me have ANOTHER one!!! Good luck, you just need to find someone like me out there - I'm sure there is, god help them!
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i've bought a horse with them, my vet was very sensible about them and said, quite rightly, that i wouldn't be able to afford the horse if she didn't have sarcoids. we managed them, for about 12 years. some people get hysterical about them, ridiculous imho, particularly if they aren't anywhere that would impinge on tack. are you making people aware that this is a £7k horse on the market for £3.5k because of his sarcoids? i would!
 
i have a horse who had a sarcoid (now gone, fingers crossed!) and i would have another with them too.

my cousin who is a vet herself, had a horse with sarcoids for 8 years and when it came to sell him she was infuriated with vets for the very same reason you are.
she ended up actually selling him to another vet who couldn't uderstand all of the fuss!
 
i bought my mare with 3 sarcoid and the vets gave me to speech about them being unpredicable etc but said that would cause no problems as they were.

However within 2 months of buying her 2 disappeared and one decreased in size. So 2 of them obviously werent sarcoids but possibly warts instead which have not so far returned ( I have owned the mare for 10 years now).

Do you know for sure they are sarcoids as I have known people have horses vetted knowing about the sarcoid and been told that actually it isnt one!!

It wouldnt and hasnt put me off buying a horse with sarcoids but it would definately affect price i paid tbh. People are less likely to buy them if the horse is to be sold on aswell.

I think Vets are just becoming increasingly closed to any thing that may come back on them and understandably so in the current climate of people making claims against them. I know of a vet who said that a horse was to old to be worth the money it was advertised for! the horse was most certainly worth the money as it was competing at top level.
 
My friend lost her horse with sarcoids that spread internally too. I had a horse with a fibrolastic sarcoid on his neck halfway down between his throat and his chest over his windpipe area. It did not affect him other than getting it snagged on barbed wire and I was conscious of it getting infected. The vet came out and removed it with local anaethetic and the use of a scalpel but did warn me that it could come back again. He described it as an angleberry (a large sarcoid). We lost the horse shortly after so it could well have come back. My honest answer is that if it was a sarcoid on the face I wouldn't touch with a barge pole.


This link to the University of Liverpool has some of the latest research about sarcoids. http://www.liv.ac.uk/sarcoids/index.htm
 
Think you so much for everyone's opinions. It has made me feel at least a little more positive that there will be someone out their who will want him. I know that some people won't buy a horse with sarcoids and I completely understand and respect their choices, it is just the vets that I am finding hard to believe at the moment. I have indeed made it clear that he is a very expensive horse on at half what he is worth because of his sarcoids, but again vets haven't even seen him to make a professional opinion.
i am pretty sure that they are sarcoids as the one on his belly is reasonably large and doesn't resemble a wart. Some of the others however, I do think are warts but becasue he has sarcoids everyone assumes they are all sarcoids.

Thank you again for all your comments. i will keep my fingers crossed that i can find him a nice home. he deserves the best.
 
I have just posted a message asking for help with my decision to put my horse down, due to sarcoids.
Sarcoids are not to my knowledge passed to other horses, either by touch or by flies biting, none of my other horses who are in clsoe proximity to my mare with sarcoids have ever had them.
My mares sarcoids did spread though her, it is like a cancer but each horse is different, she started with one which then went to 13 at one time, all removed now about 6 new ones sprouting out.
I would not buy another horse with sarcoids EVER sorry but I do believe they can get worse and even that in a lot of cases like ours there is no cure.. Good luck though
 
It's one option - but have you had her to Liverpool? Prof. Derek Knottenbolt is THE world expert and he has some treatments up his sleeve for the really bad cases.

I own a WB gelding that - when I first saw it just before it went to Liverpool - my reaction was: "Why is owner wasting diesel?" He was plastered with the damn things - the inside of both hind legs were covered in them - from fetlock to groin!! Half of them were ulcerated and bleeding because the horse kept scratching!

DK treated him with an immuno-suppressant drug and within a matter of weeks they were going - and I bought him a month later (very cheaply) as a hunt horse. He's in his 7th season with us and is still sarcoid free. It wasn't cheap - and of course it's not without risk because the horse is left with NO immunity to anything (this chap got Strangles when he returned to his livery yard where there was an unidentified carrier.)

[ QUOTE ]
I have just posted a message asking for help with my decision to put my horse down, due to sarcoids.
Sarcoids are not to my knowledge passed to other horses, either by touch or by flies biting, none of my other horses who are in clsoe proximity to my mare with sarcoids have ever had them.
My mares sarcoids did spread though her, it is like a cancer but each horse is different, she started with one which then went to 13 at one time, all removed now about 6 new ones sprouting out.
I would not buy another horse with sarcoids EVER sorry but I do believe they can get worse and even that in a lot of cases like ours there is no cure.. Good luck though

[/ QUOTE ]
 
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