WEAVING

S

SAL66

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If you had found a horse that was very close in ticking all the boxes of your wish list , but the owner said that he was known to weave occasionally at meal times , would this put you off? I have never owned a horse that cribed, windsucked or weaved so know very little about them, which is the worse one to have?
Does weaving ever go, can it get worse, would it affect him being ridden,any thoughts please
 
If he really did just weave at feed times I would probably consider him, have you observed him in the stable to see if you can see him doing it at other times? Perhaps get there at feed time to see how bad it is? Sorry I'm no expert, just my opinion.
 
I'd ask for a discount on the price, then hustle him into the horsebox asap! Weaving is just a locomotory stereotypy caused by a horse's frustrated desire to move, therefore it's worse when he wants to go somewhere i.e. when he can see a loose horse galloping about from his stable, when he can hear/see his feed being made up, when he's kept in for the farrier and he wants to be out in the field.
It isn't a big problem and is often improved by buying a stable mirror, widening visual horizons, giving plenty of turnout etc.
Buy him!
S
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when i bought my mare she was perfect but 'weaved at meal times' but actually she dosent, she weaves when shes stressed or left really bad! so id think twice about buying a horse who weaves now, as my mare got injured and is now on box rest for quite a few months
 
I'm sorry to hear about your mare hope she gets better soon, it has certainly made me think about buying him, I only have the owners word that he does it occasionally and he is too far away for me just to pop down and see him as i was passing.I would hate for him to do it really badly.
 
my horse weaves pretty badly when stabled - never really bothered me though. he lives out as much as poss which stops him - never had any probs due to it, definitely never affected his ridden work. would happily buy another weaver, after asking for a large discount!
 
My boy weaves when he is UBER stressed and it has certainly never bothered me or caused him any problems whatsoever. If you really like the horse I wouldnt worry and you could always ask your vet for advice when you have the horse vetted.
 
Not really. We went to see a horse in england, then apparently he was moved to a different box and it became obvious ??? They told us this, the groom actually rang us personally as she had shown us the horse and felt put out that she had been possibly to blame and assured us they didn't know.
Mind, he weaves a bit more than feed time but not hugely. We bought him anyway as i'd already fallen in love! Clever selling tactics or accident, who knows!
 
A slight weave wouldn't put me off. But I have not progressed with viewing anything that cribbed or windsucked.
 
I would definitely check it out to see how badly it weaves. Weaving is no big deal if the horse only does it gently and occasionally, but I used to have a horse who weaved to the point where he threw his weight from one side to the other and worked up a sweat within about 30 seconds of starting to stress. Anything like that MAKE SURE you see for yourself, as people are very good at playing things down when they want to sell a horse!
 
Does it really matter whether he weaves purely at feed times or not. Unless its a really bad weaver, a grill usually stops them. I have seen one or two that have weaved behind the grill but not many!

Ask yourself, are you looking to buy the horse to ride or not! If its to ride and he ticks all the boxes for you then go for it. As a rule a horse with a stable vice is generally cheaper to buy.

I've got 3 on the yard with vices. 2 weave and 1 windsucks (Even in the field). 1 that weaves is a Grade A, the 1 that windsucks was a JA. It doesn't affect them at all, all in perfect health.

I also have one on the yard that kicks its stable door really loudly and drives me insane, yet thats not a vice but to me its twice as annoying and more likely to cause damage to its joints. Quite ridiculous really because if I sold them I would have to declare the weavers etc but not the door kicker.

Have a good think about whether you enjoy the horse to ride etc and its general personality, is it what you are looking for. Afterall we buy horses because they suit us to ride and not for what they do in their own personal time.
 
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Afterall we buy horses because they suit us to ride and not for what they do in their own personal time.

[/ QUOTE ]
True, however, as most of us have to keep our horses at livery we do have to be concerned about what they do in their spare time - as a lot of places simply will not tollerate vices of any sort.
 
I agree with most of whats being said, if the horse suits in all other
ways I would buy him. My boy weaves when he is bored or stressed but I can think of far worse problems a horse can have. We find that if we keep him stimulated he is fine. I did read somewhere about a competition horse owner that would only buy a horse that weaves as they feel it is a sign of intelligence. How true that is I don't know but good luck what ever you decide.
 
It depends on how you plan on keeping said horse. If you have plenty of turnout then it shouldn't make any difference. But if you're looking for somthing that you can keep in 24/7 for chunks of the year then possibly not the best horse for you.

We've got two weavers and it really doesn't bother me, but then ours live out for most if not all of the year. Ours only do it when they're stressed/excited/worried.
 
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