Stringhalt - would you buy a horse thats got it??

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whiteclover

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Ive been told of a horse up for sale that has it & that could be suitable for me. I want to do some hunting/bsja/hacking/fun rides. Would you buy him? Im not too sure tbh.
 
If it is perfect in any other way I wouldn't discount it - maybe just mention it to your vet when vetting.

I had one for 6 yrs that had a very mild stringhalt, only apparant when stabled overnight and was just a bit 'stiff' for the first stride when coming out of the stable in the morning.

It was never an issue, never got worse, and certainly didn't affect his ridden work (hunting and SJ).
 
I think I would only consider a horse with any known health problems if it meant I got a lot of well schooled horse for my money i.e. I couldn't afford a horse like it without the problem. If he isn't 'heavily discounted' then I wouldn't take the risk of it having worsening health problems and having a lame horse / happy hacker that I needed to move on. Are you willing to gamble?
Have you asked any of the insurance companies what affect it would have on your policy? I expect it would mean he'd fail a vetting and so they may not insure at all!
 
Becki1802 - no I havent discussed it with my insurers. I dont know how bad he has it either. Also Im not really that happy having a horse with it.
 
I had a loan horse with it. He was ok to start with but over a year or two it got to the stage that his back end would 'lock' and feel like he was sinking behind. The vet advised to only walk and trot, but the owners and I thought it would be better to rename him to a lighter rider (I was on the heavy side for him- ok for a healthy version). New home was found, but within a year it had got too bad and he had to be pts sadly:(
On the back of my experience, I wouldn't buy one with it.
 
My horse passed a 5 stage vetting with a mild stringhalt. The vet noted on certificate that it might worsen with age or reduced work levels.

I've had him 6 years and it hasn't changed at all. He hunts and does all RC activities. He had 9 months off last year with an injury to his front leg and it didn't make it any worse.

I certainly wouldn't worry about it.
 
cavaletti said:
Becki1802 - no I havent discussed it with my insurers. I dont know how bad he has it either. Also Im not really that happy having a horse with it.
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Cavaletti,
I think you might have answered your own question in your reply! This must be a really exciting time for you so I think you should try to find something you are 100% happy with :) Are you running out of nice sounding horses to try or were you just thinking it through?
 
Fabio has mild stringhalt and has never affected anything i've wanted to do with him. I do keep him on a high oil diet though and he's turned out 24/7 all year round as both supposed to help. I would probably have discounted a horse with it before having Fabio though, but really doesn't affect what we can do at all.
 
A friend of mine brought a horse with it at 12 he's 23 this year and it's caused him no problems. I know of one other who has it too and passed a 5 stage vetting and again it's caused no problems.
 
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