What would you pay?

[Selahswobblylip]

Hello beautiful people,

I am not certain this is the correct tab to post something like this so I apologise if this isn't.

I have been closely watching a bay gelding in Spain who I am very interested in. He is 17 and has been trained to higher level dressage while also being a designated Vaquero horse (a cow horse, not a hybrid?, for herding!).

I asked the gentleman for more photographs, and upon receiving them I discovered large serreta scarring.

I do not agree with this whatsoever and if possible has made me want him with me even more.

But before anyone says anything overly smart, I was interested in him before seeing the scars and am still.

His price is listed as 2500 euros, what would you pay?

Thank you ❤

 

[The Xmas Furry]

I wouldn't.

However, if you like the horse, the price suits your pocket, then it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, surely?

 

[doodle]

What is serrata scaring?

 

[Selahswobblylip]

I wouldn't.

However, if you like the horse, the price suits your pocket, then it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, surely?

Hello and thank you for responding ❤,

I just wanted to know others thoughts about the price before I decide to do anything x

 

[Selahswobblylip]

A serreta is a type of noseband used mainly in Iberian countries. Most made of metal with spike like teeth x

 

[Abi90]

What is serrata scaring?

The serreta nosebands on some Spanish bridles have metal in them and it’s often not padded and even if it is if and isn’t done up correctly then it can cut and even break the horses nose.

 

[Gingerwitch]

What is serrata scaring?

I have no idea so off to Google

 

[Gingerwitch]

The serreta nosebands on some Spanish bridles have metal in them and it’s often not padded and even if it is if the nose and isn’t done up correctly then it can cut and even break the horses nose.

Barbaric

 

[doodle]

Oh goodness that sounds horrible. I had never heard of it

 

[Abi90]

Oh goodness that sounds horrible. I had never heard of it

The scarring is usually just a cosmetic issue though, unless it’s really gone wrong.

 

[shortstuff99]

What is your aim for the horse and do you have experience riding this sort of horse?

 

[Sleipnir]

The scarring is usually just a cosmetic issue though, unless it’s really gone wrong.

Knowing how close the facial nerves are to the skin in a horses' nose, it is most likely not just cosmetic and could affect the horses' body deeper than one could initially imagine. I'd pass.

 

[sport horse]

Unless you are wealthy and running an equine chairty I would leave alone.

 

[honetpot]

I just do not get it, could anyone explain? I have bought unseen off the internet, either young stock or breeding stock, I researched their progeny, siblings and their breeding and basically paid meat money, in other words not more than I can afford to lose. Why would anyone buy an old ridden animal, unless it had an extensive competition history, or at least be able to try it/vet it. No even at 500 euros it's not cheap, it's a money pit.

 

[planete]

A properly schooled Spanish horse will usually have been schooled with a well-padded serreta in the early stages and will have NO scarring. Some more brutal old school trainers do scar their horses unfortunately. As for buying him, at least go and see him, Spain is not far. When you have seen him, tried him and possibly have had a vet look him over, then you can decide on his value.

 

[ycbm]

Hello beautiful people,

I am not certain this is the correct tab to post something like this so I apologise if this isn't.

I have been closely watching a bay gelding in Spain who I am very interested in. He is 17 and has been trained to higher level dressage while also being a designated Vaquero horse (a cow horse, not a hybrid?, for herding!).

I asked the gentleman for more photographs, and upon receiving them I discovered large serreta scarring.

I do not agree with this whatsoever and if possible has made me want him with me even more.

But before anyone says anything overly smart, I was interested in him before seeing the scars and am still.

His price is listed as 2500 euros, what would you pay?

Thank you ❤

I wouldn't even pay the £1000 that it will cost you to transport him home, without seeing him first. A 17 year old horse working at GP could already be at the end of his working life.

.

 

[TPO]

What anyone else would pay is irrelevant, if you want him then it's what the seller will accept.

Years ago a friend was looking at buying horses from Spain and Portugal and that's been my limited experience of it. The horses she looked at were kept on dry sand lots, no real turnout and didnt have field buddies. It was a massive change in lifestyle to q busy livery yard in glasgow, as she had planned.

I have no idea of your experience but the actual horse and suitability riding wise aside do you know how to deal with the management side? I always think something with a lot of years on hay and sand pens to field of grass in a herd is possibly asking for trouble.

Obviously no idea if all Spanish training yards are like that but certainly the multiple ones she visited were. Just remember that I had a physio who also imported two but she had her own land and yard so could set things up specifically to suit her needs.

 

[Gearchange]

My concern would be that although 17 is not old for your everyday riding club horse, for a horse who has been working at a high level, for a long time, it may well be. I just hope they aren't throwing him on the scrap heap because he's no use anymore.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

I have a Spanish mare who is with me on loan but I think is likely to stay with me to the end of her days.

She was imported a few years ago, and we believe she is now around 15. She has permanent nerve damage from a serreta so her lower lip hangs loose. She has scarring on her nose and brow. She also has small scars over her eyes which give her trouble if the flies are bad. Her dental situation is dire to the point that she is probably unfixable. I can see how hammered her hocks will have been, and how stiff they get if she has been using them too much. She also gets very worried if she thinks she has got something wrong. She has clearly had a very hard life.

Reading your post above, I suspect all of that will appeal to you in that you will feel like you are rescuing the horse but I would really, really, really recommend against buying unseen from Spain. If that horse has had a life like our mare, you may only be giving him a few months and kind bullet. For that, you will be sending him on a long, stressful journey and into an environment that he has never had to deal with, with a completely foreign management, feeding and work regime.

Our mare is very unlikely to make old bones, and she costs me just as much in worry, time and money as a well, happy horse. Unless you are prepared to buy something and have it put down if it isn’t comfortable, then I really would steer clear.

There are some fabulous horses in Spain but you need to be so experienced to shop in that market, and unless you are linked in like someone like Cortez on here is, I think you’re unlikely to get anything without problems for that price.

 

[HashRouge]

Is there an advert that we could see OP?

I'd be worried about the horse's prospect for longterm soundness. I know a lady who imported a really nice 15 yr old Luso from Portugal, who had been extremely well schooled and was absolutely beautiful. But his hocks were knackered and he wasn't rideable for that long from what I remember, and ended up being put to sleep. Class horse, but he'd had a really hard life.

 

[Lintel]

I think I'd pass.
At least 12 years of hard working on those legs/mouth/back.. I wouldn't be taking my chances.
The transport fee alone would be enough for me. Sorry.

 

[Cortez]

At 17 it is likely that the horse is past his useful life, horses are often worked hard in Spain and if you are interested in him I would recommend a thorough vetting, with X-rays. A vaquera horse will have been trained to do some pretty fancy things that are thrilling to see, but not necessarily what you will have much use for and certainly not conventional dressage in the BD sense.

The marks from the serrata are not anything to be worried about, they are fairly common with traditionally trained horses and occur because the first training is with reins to the nose rings, not the bit in the horse's mouth. The resulting scars are sometimes visible, unlike the extensive scarring inside horses mouths that we don't notice in horses ridden with little skill over here (extremely common, if invisible from the outside).

If it was me, I wouldn't buy this horse without going to see and try it.