What would you do?

[Sprogladite01]

I'm booked in to go and view a pony on Saturday. This will be the first viewing I've done since I lost my boy in October. The pony sounds lovely (6 year old connie) HOWEVER his owner has told me he 'went footsore' due to stony ground out hacking and now wears pads under his shoes. Now, to me, pads sounds excessive - my previous boy had pads when he had a severe pedal bone bruise. He also is very unfit (you can see in videos) and owner admits they haven't done much with him since it got colder apart from the odd hack here and there...which makes my suspicious mind wonder if there's been some sort of injury and hence some downtime. I did some digging and can see he's been advertised since at least August too which seems a long time, but appreciate the market has slowed down a lot recently.

He sounds perfect in every other way so far, but would this be enough of a red flag to put you off viewing? It's about a 2 hour drive each way and I'd have to pay someone to come and look after the 2 special needs ponies I have at home to do it. Opinions welcomed!

 

[emilylou]

Depends how much resources you are happy to spend on potentially the wrong one.
If you're happy to loose a day/travel/etc then probably worth a look. If he is sound on the day and otherwise ticks all your boxes I'd negiotiate heavily down on price due to foot issues and long term expense of pads, whether or not you are going to continue with these. Then I'd have a 5 stage + hoof XR's all 4, confirm N/N for hoofwall (should be able to prior to viewing). If he passes that then the rest is fixable, if he doesn't then I'd walk.
But to do that you have to be comfortable with walking away after spending £500+ on travel, vetting etc.

If you're not happy to do the above, then I wouldn't bother to view.

 

[Polos Mum]

Could you ask for their farriers number to get your farrier to speak to theirs an ask them to get their vet to print out his history and e-mail that to you before you travel.

He should have had vaccinations so will have a vet record somewhere. Vets won't give it to you but vets should be happy to send a print to the owner - then the owner can do what they want with it.

I'd ask a few probing things (like the above) and if you are met with excuses then I wouldn't bother to travel 4 hour round trip to view.

 

[SusieT]

What do you want? Pads means he's not sound. Do you want a young sound pony to do things? Or a rehab project? As if the first I'd not go near it

 

[Barton Bounty]

Pads are used mainly in excessive instances, they have either been hacking a lot on stony ground to be footsore or it is recovering from something. They said he hasnt done much but the footsoreness says otherwise. Id do the 5star vetting and speak with the farrier

 

[Birker2020]

He also is very unfit (you can see in videos) and owner admits they haven't done much with him since it got colder apart from the odd hack here and there...which makes my suspicious mind wonder if there's been some sort of injury and hence some downtime. I did some digging and can see he's been advertised since at least August too which seems a long time, but appreciate the market has slowed down a lot recently.
Opinions welcomed!

Without even looking at the pad/foot issue I'd run from the long time up for sale issue, knowing what I know now.

The owner of my horse told me when I queried why he'd been for sale for so long that she'd advertised him and then had to go away to visit family and therefore couldn't answer queries or obviously organise viewings.

Turned out to be a huge lie, the horse wasn't sold because people before me had obviously clocked there was a potential issue. I was just too trusting and took her at her word, missed the potential red flag and had an ineffective vet from the area he was in, vet him and pass him.

Run and don't look back is my opinion. Sorry.

 

[irishdraft]

I wouldn't go personally, you'll probably love him & it will be difficult to be hard headed . He shouldn't be footy just hacking on stoney ground which to me doesn't sound right but as others have said see if you can speak to the farrier it sounds odd he hadn't sold since August, I was looking then & horses were flying off the shelf

 

[bonny]

I’d run for the hills particularly as he’s been for sale since August.

 

[nutjob]

I would ask for a trot up video on a hard surface showing the pony coming towards and away from the camera and lunging or ridden trotting on a circle before I would even think of viewing that far away.

Get somebody with a really good eye to take a look.

It needs to be taken to show how the pony is now, not 2 years ago which is how long ago one video had been taken which I saw being used on an advert.

I agree with other posters, Connies are very popular and it's unusual to see one hanging about for long.

 

[Gloi]

Sounds like a possible laminitis issue there.

 

[Ample Prosecco]

Footsore means lame! You can be 'footy' for a day or 2 for benign reasons but padding a footsore horse just means you are masking a lameness issue. Like shoeing one. I'd avoid. Plus they were selling very well in August.

 

[Sprogladite01]

Hmm thanks everyone. I suspect I'm gonna put a pin in this one. My last boy was an ongoing medical nightmare for about 18 months and I do NOT want to do that again. Obviously horses are horses and you can buy a perfect one and then have it fall over in the field or something equally ridiculous, but the pads thing has me feeling uncomfortable and this post has basically confirmed I'm not being overly paranoid about it! not a cheap horse either, he's over 10k! Horse buying is such a minefield!

 

[Squeak]

There are way too many red flags for me unfortunately and especially for that price I wouldn't view.

Good luck with the search, hopefully some more will come up for sale now that Christmas is out the way.

 

[meleeka]

A Connie with pads screams laminitis to me. Nobody puts pads on for minor reasons. Shoes if he’s footsore because of work, yes, but not pads.

 

[emilylou]

There are lots of nice horses available with a budget over £10k, so I'd look elsewhere, far too much money for a horse with physical issues

 

[gallopingby]

Without even looking at the pad/foot issue I'd run from the long time up for sale issue, knowing what I know now.

The owner of my horse told me when I queried why he'd been for sale for so long that she'd advertised him and then had to go away to visit family and therefore couldn't answer queries or obviously organise viewings.

Turned out to be a huge lie, the horse wasn't sold because people before me had obviously clocked there was a potential issue. I was just too trusting and took her at her word, missed the potential red flag and had an ineffective vet from the area he was in, vet him and pass him.

Run and don't look back is my opinion. Sorry.

l’d try and find out more! I’ve had a pony for sale since the summer 100% reliable but no one has made it to view him although a few people have said they thought he would have sold! Everything isn’t always as it seems but def worth asking for vet records and going to see if you think he’ll do the job you want As long as he’s likely to be sound long term. Two hours isn't very far away it would take most people longer than that to reach me. Some of my ponies are barefoot others need shoes depends on loads of things Ut there’s nothing worse for sellers than people who seem desperate to view and then don’t turn up!

 

[maisie06]

At 10k I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole. You can find plenty of sound horses for that money. even more will be up for sale soon the way prices are going too

 

[Sossigpoker]

Hmm thanks everyone. I suspect I'm gonna put a pin in this one. My last boy was an ongoing medical nightmare for about 18 months and I do NOT want to do that again. Obviously horses are horses and you can buy a perfect one and then have it fall over in the field or something equally ridiculous, but the pads thing has me feeling uncomfortable and this post has basically confirmed I'm not being overly paranoid about it! not a cheap horse either, he's over 10k! Horse buying is such a minefield!

Hahaha over 10 grand for a lame pony essentially sold from the field ?!
Tell them to jog on!

 

[ester]

Putting pads on a pony that isn’t doing much is expensive and would definitely make me walk away.

 

[Ample Prosecco]

Hahaha over 10 grand for a lame pony essentially sold from the field ?!
Tell them to jog on!

This! I'd have walked away at any price but at that price.
There is a reason a nice young Connie has not sold. Pony is native type and overweight at a very bad time of year for being overweight. Add footsoreness into the mix bad enough to need pads and shoes while not even in work and you could not pay me to take him. Recipe for heartbreak and bottomless pockets.

 

[blitznbobs]

Id run a mike - sounds like heartbreak and vets bills to me. If it was 18 then maybe as a childs first pony but a 6 year old screams serious issues to me .

 

[Barton Bounty]

A Connie with pads screams laminitis to me. Nobody puts pads on for minor reasons. Shoes if he’s footsore because of work, yes, but not pads.

Me too, i was going to say the L word but glad you have now. The pads scream pedal problems

 

[SEL]

Hmm thanks everyone. I suspect I'm gonna put a pin in this one. My last boy was an ongoing medical nightmare for about 18 months and I do NOT want to do that again. Obviously horses are horses and you can buy a perfect one and then have it fall over in the field or something equally ridiculous, but the pads thing has me feeling uncomfortable and this post has basically confirmed I'm not being overly paranoid about it! not a cheap horse either, he's over 10k! Horse buying is such a minefield!

At that price I've seen a nice Welsh X TB for sale near me. No time or money for another but if Ox / Bucks is a useful area.....

 

[marmalade76]

Laminitis would be my first thought, how much are they asking?

ETA just seen your post with the price - £10k!?! No wonder they haven't sold him!

 

[Hormonal Filly]

Think head over heart.. would I view him? No I wouldn’t. Sounds like he has under lying issues. Your find another!

For that money you’d expect a fit, sound horse in work. I’ve always bought unbroken or broken in work, sold unfit from the field always sounds a bit fishy to me.

 

[Merrymoles]

Connemaras can have something called Hoof Wall Separation Disease which is untreatable and therefore can be fatal. Unless you can be sure this pony does not have it, please run.

ETA to add link Hoof Wall Separation Disease - British Connemara Pony Society (britishconnemaras.co.uk)

 

[Sprogladite01]

He isn't overweight but you can see he is unfit (lack of muscle). No concerns re HWSD as he is N/HWSD so only a carrier, not affected. But am very much planning to cancel the viewing now. Owner is quite a smooth talker which I find difficult when having the actual conversation but when I examine what's been actually said after that's when I start to have doubts!

 

[dogatemysalad]

I wouldn't go personally, you'll probably love him & it will be difficult to be hard headed . He shouldn't be footy just hacking on stoney ground which to me doesn't sound right but as others have said see if you can speak to the farrier it sounds odd he hadn't sold since August, I was looking then & horses were flying off the shelf

There an Arab custom in horse buying, where the horse is viewed from behind a screen and only the legs and its gait are visible. The reason being, never look at the eyes before you've seen the feet. We have a saying, no foot, no horse.
Don't look before you have a sound horse in front of you.

 

[marmalade76]

Connemaras can have something called Hoof Wall Separation Disease which is untreatable and therefore can be fatal. Unless you can be sure this pony does not have it, please run.

ETA to add link Hoof Wall Separation Disease - British Connemara Pony Society (britishconnemaras.co.uk)

I had one with this, even though his hoof walls would crumble away without shoes, he was never, ever footy.

 

[Sprogladite01]

I had one with this, even though his hoof walls would crumble away without shoes, he was never, ever footy.

My last boy was a connie so am aware of the HWSD issue with them. He was untested but was 11 when I bought him and had very nice feet so thought he'd be ok. His feet were good when I had him (no thanks to a questionable farrier - later found a super farrier who still does my other pony), unfortunately he had PSD and SI issues and then went into kidney failure after going through extensive rehab for his lameness issues. Hence why I am so paranoid about buying a new one and embarking upon another heartbreaking medical journey!